[BD]

My exams are almost over so at the beginning of February I'm off to geyik bayiri in turkey for 11 days of sportclimbing heaven. should be very good with lots of potential still undeveloped. has anybody ever been there? some recommendations, tips, nice secret spots...(actually almost everything) would be nice. I prefer top end 6Th and 7Th grade. heard a lot of good things about the josito-camp too.

it looks like this btw:


and this one is already on the ticklist:

funky planet, X- (7b+), I'd climb it for the name alone
bring on the tufa's 

BD

[Houdini]

Am I right in thinking that this place is the same that Streaky, Ug, Waywoo woo woo, Jude et al visited 18 months or so back?  They spoke of a German campsite.  Though as Germany has such close links w/Turkey there could be many German campsites.

Tufas you say?  Oooh, I'd be on a powerball regime before arriving, me . . .

[BD]

I'm going for the tent at the moment, have to keep it as cheap as possible being a student. my plan is to spend all the money i have at the moment on climbing trips but i want to do as many as possible. I'll have my masterdegree soon, so don't need to save it up i guess (let's hope i don't blow it). maybe a stupid question with a crag like that surrounding you, but is there some multipitch stuff on the bigger walls you can see in some pics? can be a nice change for the restdays. maybe i should mail the josito guys for this one, but do you think it's possible to open some nice new routes on still undeveloped walls and do they have the equipment for that over there?
anyway tnx a lot already.

BD

[Duma]

spent a week @ JoSiTo easter 2006, ace time, no need to hire car, main crag walking distance, its massive.
Classic routes are all tufa lines, you need to do Saxaphone, Dragonfly, and Fire Spire can't remember exact grades, but they're all lowish 7's.

[BD]

and I'm back (already a couple of days, but i had no time to write anything). Geyikbayiri is awesome and the climbing as good as it looks (and better)! we stayed in a tent at Josito which lays at 20 seconds from the closest sector, although you better do some more effort and go to the higher sectors like sarkit, magara,... Don't spent you're holiday within a 1min walking distance from your tent like a friend of mine did. Some nice routes but there is so much more. Mentioning must-do routes is useless (except for jaja-city maybe), because there are just too many gorgeous lines and tufa's. I tried to go to as many areas as possible and almost every route was worth it. I never spent more then 2 tries in a route (went up to 7c+) and tried to onsight as much as possible(managed up to 7b+). Grades tend to be a bit soft so it's good for your mental health as well. Not wanting to spend time finding a project i didn't enter the 8Th grade but if you climb in the 6Th and 7Th grade there's plenty to do. There is still a lot to be developed despite the effort of Tobias (one of the josito owners) who is bolting new routes every week. whole sectors with amazing lines are still waiting and 30min. from geyikbayiri in another valley they found a new crag. At the moment they still don't have the permit to bolt anything there, but from what I've heard it is an even bigger crag as this one. 3km wide and up to 100m high, packed with tufa's and cave's and with room for dozens of 8c's and 9a's next to each other. sounds promising . The weather is very good. We had only 1 day of rain/storm and 2 days afterwards with a lot of clouds so it was a bit cold. On all the other days you could climb without a shirt, get a color, get sunburn, chill out in the sun with a view over the snowy mountain peaks surrounding the camp,... Keep in mind that when the sun sets (around 5.30 at the moment), temps drop very quickly and it can easily freeze over night. Luckily the josito-bar is always warm with a stove to keep you warm. The chalets don't have any heating so you won't sit there a lot. Apart from climbing and the bar there is nothing there. On a restday you can walk to the ruins or hike to the village down the valley. there is also a big market a bit down on every sunday where you can buy fresh oranges and enjoy a Turkish breakfast. Very friendly people too btw (that is if you can laugh with a hunting local pointing a huge gun at you while climbing, for fun of course)! I was pleasantly surprised by the hospitality and openness. Let's hope some more people take the risk and go there, it's really worth it. If somebody has some questions about the area, let me know.

Bart
btw: i heard a rumour Steve McClure might be there around this time, wonder what he will fire off.

[SA Chris]

Sounds great, any pics?

[BD]

Sounds great, any pics?

I haven't taken any myself( ), because a friend took his canon 400D. unfortunatly he didn't use it very much, but i'll try to get some asap.

BD