[shark]

Trying to sort out a venue for 8th Jan for a well-traveled team for a week ideally flying from a Northern airport.

We've all been to the usual areas so looking for somewhere a bit different with a good range of routes 7a to 8c

Between us we've already been to most popular areas Chulilla, Rodellar, Siurana, Chorro, Costa Blanca, Osp, Terradets, Margalef, Calanques, Tete de Chien, Claret, Calanques, Sardinia, Mallorca, Kalymnos...

Antalya an option but political situation a bit sketchy   

Currently Leonidio in Greece is under consideration (anyone been?) and Andalusia (could be wet?)

Suggestions? Less famous spots in France or Spain? Sicily? Ultra Finale?
             

[Coops_13]

A couple of mates have just got back from Antalya, they said it was great and all was fine (their first trip there). Cheap flights!

[shark]

A couple of mates have just got back from Antalya, they said it was great and all was fine (their first trip there). Cheap flights!

Just been looking into flights for there for this month and cant find cheap ones as its off season. Presumably the same will apply for january

[tomtom]

Sardinia? (never been - looks superb..)

[kelvin]

A fair few of my mates are just back from two weeks in Sicily. Everyone enjoyed it, some would go back - Dan Kyte would be the person to ask, if you know him? Not spoken to him yet but Paul said the grades were all over the shop and it seemed almost everyone ticked their best ever onsight or flash.

[shark]

Sardinia? (never been - looks superb..)

Sorry weve all done there - forgot to mention

[shark]

A fair few of my mates are just back from two weeks in Sicily. Everyone enjoyed it, some would go back - Dan Kyte would be the person to ask, if you know him? Not spoken to him yet but Paul said the grades were all over the shop and it seemed almost everyone ticked their best ever onsight or flash.

Seeing someone this eve who has been twice so will pick their brains. Ive heard the grades are silly soft. 

[Coops_13]

A couple of mates have just got back from Antalya, they said it was great and all was fine (their first trip there). Cheap flights!

Just been looking into flights for there for this month and cant find cheap ones as its off season. Presumably the same will apply for january

Hmm, that's weird. They did go from London though, sorry didn't register your North comment!

[slackline]

Sardinia? (never been - looks superb..)

It is superb (I've been three times).  Stayed in a lovely apartment on the outskirts of Cala Gonone (two appartments, one holds six, the other four, a Google Car came past snapping pictures for StreetView one afternoon, so we had to stand up and wave).  Lots of options within an hour or so's drive from there or there is the Lemon House nearer some of the more well-developed single-pitch areas.  Always been in November and had very good weather, might be different in January though so worth checking seasonal weather summaries.

Not much in the way of nightlife, as most things shut up shop for winter, theres one restaurant by the harbour that stays open though.

[James Malloch]

A fair few of my mates are just back from two weeks in Sicily. Everyone enjoyed it, some would go back - Dan Kyte would be the person to ask, if you know him? Not spoken to him yet but Paul said the grades were all over the shop and it seemed almost everyone ticked their best ever onsight or flash.

Seeing someone this eve who has been twice so will pick their brains. Ive heard the grades are silly soft.

Sicily looked pretty amazing but it was pretty bad weather whilst we were there (March last year) and everything just seeped. Something to consider as we had to be really selective with our choices - didn't seem like there was much permadry in the sectors we went to.

[tomtom]

Sardinia? (never been - looks superb..)

Sorry weve all done there - forgot to mention

Right.

Filey Brig?

[T_B]

Jaen?

Malta?

[tomtom]

Tenerife!!

4.5 hour flight, but you're near guaranteed good conditions...
(I can even rent you a guide )

[joel182]

Asturias? High up on my list of places to get to, but haven't been

[Wood FT]

A lot of the asturias crags seem to be quite high up in the hills so probably not the best, although saying that Richie Patterson has been posting pics from the area on Instagram saying it's good conditions so maybe it is ok in winter? In summary, this is a redundant post. 

[abarro81]

Seynes?
Datca in Turkey? (heard good things, quite new, don't really know anything about it other than that. Heason may have been?)
Leonidio looks cool from the pics I've seen
Kompanj, Pandora etc over Croatia way? (you'd need to check they'd be ok in Jan, I don't know much about them other than that I've seen nice pics)

I thought Asturias was more summer/autumn?

[T_B]

I thought Asturias was more summer/autumn?

I've been to Taverga in summer. You would not go there in winter.

Also been to some of the Basque crags in summer. V little info though and not sure they're in Richie's guide. Anyway... 

[jwi]

Mollans-sur-Ouvèze, the new south facing sector close to Saint-Leger-du-Ventoux is currently getting a lot of good press.

http://greenspits.com/fr/topo/mollans-sur-ouveze/

[petejh]

Antalya. It's brill and cheap. Was talking to Ozturk the guidebook author two weeks ago and he said it's well quiet due to people's fears of having their heads cut off..

[moose]

St Leger itself (and the nearby crags - Malaucene, Baume Rousse etc) have plenty of south facing crags too.  It was too hot to climb there all day during much of my visit last November; although, I suscept we had abnormally consistent, dry sunny weather for the time of year.  I guess if the weather crapped out, Buoux / Volx etc would be an option.

[kelvin]

It was snowing in Asturias on Sunday - my mates moved down to Chulilla.

[jwi]

Here's a scan of Grimper's article on Mollans from this summer
https://www.la-berlue.fr/pdf/Grimper-174-Mollan.pdf

[shark]

Saint Leger looks a good option. Will put that to the rest of the team

Thanks for the suggestions 

[abarro81]

What time of year is best for the Mollans? I guess it needs to be wintery if it's south facing?

[jwi]

October - April I guess. Could be cold if windy. It's pretty high up on the valley side. (I've never climbed there, just drived past a lot of times.)

[abarro81]

Ace, cheers!

[Sarnian]

I've been in Geyikbayiri (Antalya) the last 2 winters, both of which had an event in Turkey which put people off coming. It felt fine being there, the climbing area is an hour from the city and feels very safe.

[Paul B]

Give Ste Dunning a nudge as I believe he had flights booked for Greece. It was also featured in a "5 of the Best Crags You've Never Heard Of" type clickbait articles circulating FB recently.

Seynes - the climbing is good.

I didn't go to Antalya mainly due to the long wait times/transfers in and around Istanbul and the heightened threat of terror against such places as airports. It wasn't being at the climbing that I was worrying about (see other thread). I was also going to opt for one of the all-inclusive type options (again, Ste pointed me at these) but this also didn't seem too wise given the climate (even if the risk is low).

[duncan]

Always interested in this topic; any more thoughts on Greece? Had a week of ideal weather in Athens in late November on a recent non-climbing holiday. Lots of cool things to do on rest days too.

Climbing around Athens, en route from London to Turkey by train and boat. Which would avoid Ankara airport...

Tenerife!!

4.5 hour flight, but you're near guaranteed good conditions...

Almost certain to be pleasant temps. and dry; not sure if there is enough hard stuff for shark's team.

Sicily looked pretty amazing but it was pretty bad weather whilst we were there (March last year) and everything just seeped. Something to consider as we had to be really selective with our choices - didn't seem like there was much permadry in the sectors we went to.

Am I the only person who things Sicily climbing (Palermo, St Vito areas) is a bit meh? It rained a lot during my one week in February, so perhaps I missed the best spots. It's a great place if you like Mediterranean food and Greek, Roman, Norman, or Baroque architecture and I've had good weather at Christmas on a non-climbing trip.