Turkish airlines

Tobias Haug climbing Turkish airlines 7c in Citdibi.

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Looking back...

...at a March afternoon in Turkey. Flo, Mette, Ry and I went to check out Antalya and eventually rounded the day off with an epic 14 course meal at 7 Mehmet restaurant.
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Showdown 7b, Geyik bayırı

Sander Mundos struggling to find a working foot-sequence to do the crux of Showdown.

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Duyugu

During my time in Turkey I was fortunet to get to meet Duygu Yarsur. A person that not only is extremely friendly and fun to hang out with at the crag, but also an incredibly talented climber (and a master at baking cakes). She gave me more than one technique lesson for climbing on limestone. The perhaps biggest epiphany was seeing her using kneebars. The first route I climbed with beta from her was Turkish airlines in Citdibi. I think I used about half of the kneebars she recommended and still my knee's where blue the next day.

Dyugu climbing Turkish airlines in Citdibi

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Ry and the Küllun project

Ry invested many of his days in Turkey working a project in the Küllun sector. After seing how much soul and effort he put in to doing it, I was very happy for him when he got rewarded on his very last day in Geyikbayırı.

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Citdibi project

Tobias working one of many projects on the main wall in Citdibi. This one takes you up 70 meters of

perfect limestone, before reaching the anchor.

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Showing how it's done

Sander and Victor sure showed me what being psyched is when working Showdown. One day, after having climbed since just after breakfast, they came in to the bar around dinnertime and placed an order for a large plate of fries. At this point I was sure their climbing day was done and did therefor not believe my eyes when looking out the window ten minutes later. The fries was apparently just an "in between goes-snack" since they kept trying the route until dark.

Next day that they got on it, they both cruised it and where surprised over how much easier the moves felt than last time. I can't say I was as surprised, having seen how wasted they where on their last tries the day before.

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Finding supplies

Since there are no proper grocery stores close to Geyik Bayiri except for in Antalya, the best way to get supplies is by visiting the weekly market that is held every Sunday in the neighboring village, Akdamlar. A great site to buy for example vegetables or dried fruits and nuts to incredibly low prices (at least compared to what I'm used to).

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Hitchhiking

The by far easiest way to move around Geyik Bayiri, if you don't have a vehicle and are not keen on walking, is simply to stand on the side of the road holding out your thumb. It won't require much patient to get picked up, as long as you are not too picky with the state of the ride.

Better use the right finger though...

Flo and Mette on their way to Antalya.

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Citdibi

I don't think I've ever visited a more stunning climbing area than Citdibi. A crag under development, located about a forty minute drive from Geyikbayırı. When approaching the wall it looks huge and as you reach the middle sector you will discover that the foot of the wall actually is about 30 meters bellow what you first think is ground level. Thus you will be adding these meters of climbing to the already 70 meter high limestone ocean.

Tobi working his 8b+ project.

It was inspiring to watch Tobi spotting lines and working on opening new routes. Seing how much time and effort he put's in to each new route, I can't even begin to imagine how many hours he has put in to open over 500 climbs in Geyikbayırı.

 

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Photo friendly people

Never before have I met a people so excited to have their photo taken. Most of the times when I pull out my camera in front of someone they turn the other way as fast as they can. Not in Turkey though. There where actually times when people came up to me and begged to be photographed. When I tried explaining that I could not pull a photo out of my camera like it was a polaroid, they still insisted. They did not care about the finished product but where only keen on being in front of a camera.

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Spanish thanks giving 7a+

Viktor climbing an awesome route in Alabalik Balkon 2.

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Heroes go left

Sander Werelds climbing Finger food in sector Alabalik. The obvious way for him to go after having looked in the guide to find the name of the right-variation of the route - "Heroes go left".

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What does the Turkey say

Since about a month back my life has been pretty sweet. I'm in Geyik bayiri, Turkey. Climbing of course, but also working in the kitchen at the Josito campsite in return for food and accomondation.

Just before Chritsmas I injured my finger and due to this I did not climb at all until the beginning of February. When starting again, I could at first only do very easy moves on jugs and when two friends told me about going to Turkey to ropeclimb, they caught my interest. I thought of it as an opportunity to try something new since ropeclimbing should be more gentle on the finger.

Every other day I'm off from work and those I spend desperately trying to learn how to get along with the limestone tufa's. So far I have not been very succesfull. It's almost like doing a new sport too me as I have not been doing much ropeclimbing before. At least not compared to how much I have bouldered. Also it's my first time climbing on limestone which sure takes some getting used to. At first I was super-frustrated and felt completely lost on whatever climb I got on. Then I realized that I had to change my approach towards it all. I lowered my ambitions, started looking at every climb as training and now I'm trying to do as many routes as I can, regardless of style or difficulty. It has made it all much more enjoyable and I'm slowly adapting to the climbingstyle.

Hugo, one of the local dogs chilling at the campsite.

I'm planning to stick around for a while longer, before returning to Sweden to spend my summer working as usual. I'm looking forward to keep working on my endurance and that hopefully summer in Sweden will allow for me to use it on the routes around where I live.

Two shots from nearby city, Antalya.

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