More unbelievable climbing in the Grande Grotta Cave. Here I am flashing a cool route called Ivi 7b or 12b.

Papa Whitey. Here on the island there are cats everywhere. Some not as fortunate as this one. Many are stray and just left out to survive, or in most cases die. The little guy I'm holding is named Tigre or tiger in Spanish. Right now he is being watched by one of the girls that works in the climbing shop. I visit frequently and give him some loving. He gets passed off often between climbers. Still trying to find a home for him so keep your fingers crossed for El Tigre.

Finally sending Alexis Zorbas 7b or 5.12b. Turns out that the way I was trying it was definitely not the easiest.  Oh well I eventually got it and it feels good!

Team Oly in Kalymnos! here we are rocking our new shirts. We are all wearing them not only for the picture but it was the only thing we had that was clean! From left to right Whitey, Laura Hurson, Dom Kehoe, and Andy Dahlen.

NO I'm not giving the camera the finger! here I am using a mono ( a handhold only usable with one digit) with my middle finger and trying to figure out where the heck to put my other hand. this was a beautiful route called Amphora 7b or 5.12b located at the Oddessy Wall.

Entering the final steep section on Omeros 7b or 5.12b. another awesome route at Oddessy Wall. One of the coolest things about the climbing here is that all of the anchors/chains have a steel carabineer at the top, so all you need to do is just clip the rope through it and you are done. Then lower down and take off the quickdraws that you used along the way on the route. This is different than climbing like that of Little Si a.k.a. exit 32 or 38. When climbing there, you get to the top and there are only chain links and you have to anchor into those with a sling, then untie your knot and feed it through the chains, re-tie into the rope, and then get lowered down. a much more complicated and sometimes scary system. Here in this picture I flashed this route (did it first try) and when I got to the top I was so pumped and tired I could barely get the rope in the carabineer. It certainly made me even more thankful to have this anchor system here, because if it was the same situation as Little Si, I definitely would have taken a nice fall! 

Another example of a "no hands" rest. with the routes this steep and so long (30+ meters), it is so important to find and utilize these rests.

CATCHING SOME AIR!!!!! Here I am on, or "off" rather than, the famous route called Aegalis 7c or 5.12d. Those of you who don't know what its like to take a good lead fall while climbing are missing out. I swear it is better than any amusement park ride you have ever been on. When the climbing is steep the falls are usually clean. Falling here I was a bit worried about hitting a stalactite on the way down, but luckily that didn't happen!

I am onsiting an 7b+ or in U.S. grades 5.12b. This route felt very appropriate for me because of its name, Jellyfish Pie. and for those of you who haven seen my Rasta burger (my car) I have painted a giant jellyfish on the top! After seeing this route I had to climb it. Surprisingly, I onsited it! Onsiting a climb is when you walk up to the route knowing nothing about it and getting no beta (information) about it. It is usually quite difficult to onsite a climb at your difficulty, which 5.12b was my hardest climb ever.

Here I am at the same wall same day as jellyfish pie trying another 5.12b. After feeling really great and excited from on sighting jellyfish pie I thought I would try this route. this one I did not onsite nor have I made a clean red point ascent yet. (meaning I haven't gotten to the anchors without falling) although I onsited jellyfish pie, this climb doesn't suite my style as well. I am definitely going back to try it again and I will keep you updated.

Another perfect sunset in Kalymnos!

This route was so amazing! The name of it was called pillar of the sea. Man what a great view I had. an easy moderate route but sometimes those are the best ones, when you can really just relax and enjoy the climbing move after move. and then stop for a second and look around and just take it all in. Ahhh the beauty of climbing!

Here I am on the island of Telendos. which from some of the previous pics is the island directly across the water. In the background is the of the many on Telendos called Irox. We were suppose to take a boat right up the the beach in front of the cliff but for some strange reason that none of us could understand that didn't happen. Instead we went to the main port and had about an hour hike in. A good warm up I suppose.( Mr. Plankers sure would be proud of how much walking I'm doing!) the climbing was okay. In my opinion not as good as that of Kalymnos. It was fun to check it out. We did walk past an Au Natural beach though!

Andy and I decided that after a full day of climbing we still weren't satisfied. Therefore, we thought it would be cool to do a four pitch route at sunset. Once we were done eating the best gyro I have ever had we booked it back to the crag for more climbing. Pictured here I am pictured doing a little "route finding" after the first pitch. Good thing we brought the guide book along or we might have been lost forever!

Half way up the multi-pitch route and still smiling!

Since we did a sunset ascent, we couldn't have sunlight the whole time. This is a picture of Andy doing the second rappel by headlamp. Its amazing how much more difficult everything is when you can only see 15 feet around you. This was a really fun adventure and and an awesome experience!

Pictured here, I am on the awesome wall of Dolphin Bay. We didn't see any dolphins but we did some amazing climbing. This wall is right above the sea and very picturesque. The rock is quite different than the limestone we have been climbing on. It is like a type of salt crystal. No joke we were climbing on huge chunks of crystal!

This photo Dom Kehoe (local Olympia climber) and myself are heading up the wall above the Aegean Sea doing some deep water soloing. If we were to fall here we would simply fall in the water which was plenty deep and if you are a good enough swimmer is is totally safe. It definitely gets the adrenaline pumping!

Andy Dahlen taking a break from climbing and looking out at the beautiful landscape. This picture was taken right at the bottom of the cliff and the small town is called Massouri, which is where we are staying. The approaches are short but steep. across the water is the island of Telendos which was connected to Kalymnos a long time ago until an earthquake occurred and it separated. There is also lots of climbing on Telendos and tons more to be discovered. We did climb on Ttelendos but I haven't uploaded the pictures yet. I will soon.

With all of the stalactites and tufa blobs, the climbing can be quite different than that of the pacific NW. Some of them a very difficult to get over or around. The plus side is that once on top, they provide great rests. here I am doing an "no-hands" rest, very common in Kaylmnos.

Here is a very normal day heading to the crag. The farmers let their goats roam all around the mountains and cliffs. It is very common to come across them.  I was a bit timid  to get close to them at first because of their scary looking horns, but they are way more scared of humans than I was of them! The biggest disadvantage is all of their poop. Its everywhere!  Even in the most random places like a small ledge on the cliff. I would wonder how or why they would poop in such a strange place. I still don't know but watching these animals climb is awesome. I've heard their hooves are stickier than climbing shoes!

Here I am belaying former TAE employee Andy Dahlen in the Grande Grotta. 

See the picture below for a distance shot of the Grande Grotta

This is a photo looking out from the studio we are staying in in Greece. The huge cave is called the Grande Grotta. It is absolutely amazing! So much steep climbing and these "dripping like" rocks rock formations called stalactites. Very fun and awkward to climb!

A slopey arête and a small crimp. Here I am on one of my favorite boulder problems in font. spotting me is a nice guy who happened to be from Vancouver Canada. YES...someone else who speaks English!

WATCH OUT FOR THE HORSE COPS!!!

We thought Fontainebleau was all dense forest but this picture proved my theories incorrect. This was a sandy boulder area that was very different from anything I've ever been to. It was like a beach trip! Even non-climbers were hanging out here playing volleyball and soccer. The sand provided great soft landings.

After waiting in the line of about 10 crazy Italians I decided to jump in and try this famous roof problem in Fontainebleau. It was very awkward; I definitely should have stretched before trying it!

Climbing trips are not always fun climbing.  Here you can see how much baggage we have to lug around everywhere. We get many funny looks from people in airports and train stations with all of our stuff.  People from so many different cultures are asking us what the big pads are for and it s very difficult to explain to them in hand signals and acting it out; because we don't speak the same language.  Now I will be much better at the lovely game of Sharades!

Not the Hilton Hotel here!  Above, I am catching up on some much needed sleep near the bathrooms.  Why don't I just sleep in a tent you ask.  Well, the answer is simple.  We didn't bring one! Weight is a huge issue and the only shelter I brought was a hammock and a tarp.  When the rain gods decide to do what they do best and start dumping showers on us, we had to find somewhere we wouldn't get soaked and this happened to be the best place.  Lucky for us our crash pads also work great as sleeping mats!

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Me on an awesome 12a Tufa climb at Kalymnos, Greece.

Me flying in action on a really sweet dyno in Font

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