Turkey "wildlife"

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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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Flame of fame

Trebenna west hosts several good routes. The perhaps best two of the ones I´ve climbed are Raki on the rocks and Flame of fame. Two routes similar to each other in many ways. Both share the same start leading up to a middle anchor at the bottom of an overhang. From there it's possible to climb either straight up to do Raki on the rocks, or turn slightly to the right as I've done in the picture below.

Flame of fame 8a. Photo: Mikael Ylinen.

Regardless of which way you choose, you will be in for steep climbing on good holds, leading up to a crux just before, or at the lip of the overhang. Hard routes to take down for someone with bad endurance like myself.


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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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Ange de l'oubli 7c

 

Tabitha Buma trying Ange de l'oubli in Anatolia.

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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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Gözleme

Classic Turkish meal in the making.

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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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Turkey and back

After 2.5 months of working on my tan in sunny Turkey, it feels a bit sad to be back in Sweden knowing that all those hard hours of lying in the sun will probably be bleached away by the end of the summer. Partly since Swedish summer does not often provide much sun but also since I will be spending most of the time indoors, working as usual. Even though the stay in Turkey did not rob me on more than a couple of pennies since I was fortunate to be able to work at the campsite, it still is time to fill up the piggy bank.

Apart from working in the Jo.si.to kitchen and on my sun tan, I have also been climbing a lot. The total amount of routes I climbed equals to about three times as many as I had totally done in the past since I started climbing. From this I have learnt a lot and come to enjoy sportclimbing more than ever before. Being on a trip where weather did not keep me from climbing for a change, has sure been amazing. At times I was almost wishing for rain so that I could rest. At the same time, the few times when it was raining it was of course also cloudy. That made it possible to climb in the areas where it got too hot on the days when the skies where clear and I could not miss out on opportunities like that.

Towards the end I became more and more tired. The only reason that I actually made it to the crag the last days was the thought of not knowing when I would get a chance to try the awesome routes again. With a lot of will power compensating for my lack of energy, I also made it up a some routes during these days. A couple of them where routes I had been waiting for to dry up ever since I arrived.

Flame of fame 8a, Trebenna. Photo: Mikael Ylinen.

To sum it all up, I'm very happy with the stay and would like to thank Mike and Victor for letting me tag along on their trip. Also I want to thank the entire Jo.si.to-crew for their hospitality aswell as all the nice people that I've been fortunate to meet and hang out with during the time. I hope it won't be to long until I see your faces again!

Right now I'm in the midst of a weeks rest. Both my body and mind needs to recover before I can start trying all the routes I have not climbed here on the Swedish west coast. I'm intrigued to see how climbing on granite will feel after 3 months of moving on limestone.

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