South Africa. A country I always wanted to visit, but ending up on the “Love to but probably won’t” list, alongside the likes of Antarctica, Everest, The North Pole and many more. It seemed too far, too expensive and too difficult to travel around. But then I heard there was to be an exchange meet between the BMC and the Mountaineering Club of South Africa. I’d remembered the stories from the exchange back in the 90’s, and how it was a trip of a lifetime. Maybe this was the chance.
In fact if ever, this was the chance! A 10 day trip with hands held to the most amazing traditional climbing in the country. I applied and hoped!

Am I fat? The results are in. And they were kind of what I expected. A full body analysis at Sheffield Hallam University gave me the honest truth.

Think of climbing in Greece. The obvious crops up: Kalymnos. And then the new hot-spot of Leonideo. And that’s about it. Some may remember the old-school conglomerate of Meteora, and others know of the stuff around Patras. But just think of all those pictures you’ve seen of rocky coasts and boulder fields spread across the multitude of sun-soaked islands. Surely there has to be tons of climbing.

Its been a while since I came back from Croatia,that was back in 2015, but I wanted to put down a tad more info than a few lines on a place that felt pretty special and worth a visit.

Dry January, Choc free January, Cheese free, dairy free, sugar free, everything free…. Why is the question. It could be weight loss, but not for me, I’m lucky there. But I got sucked in half through experiment and half through challenge.

The Costa Blanca is the original Spanish destination for winter Sun. There are now a ton more places to visit all over Europe for a winter hit, but the facts can’t be ignored: The climbing around Costa Blanca is awesome, and the weather is the best in the whole country.

Word had been filtering down of huge cliffs of perfect limestone towering over the sea. 14 km of unbroken costal climbing. There were caves on a massive scale, and potential for literally hundreds of routes of all grades. And in a beautiful island setting off the west coast of Ireland. It sounded too good to be true. How come everyone wasn’t going?

More amazing places appear on the radar faster than I can visit them. But Leonidio stood out as perhaps the top of the list of venues in recent years. But is it worth the hype?

How many of us have heard tales of perfect rock in a beautiful surrounding. How many of us have promised we’d go? It must have been 10 years since Sweden appeared on my ‘must visit’ list, but somehow I never made it, or never tried...

Reading my old blog it suddenly struck me that I’ve spent a lot of time on one route, like really a lot!

Seven years. Is that crazy? Or is it just what it takes?

I stared down into the gloom through endless vertical scree. This was not a descent route. Hayden stumbled behind me; “is that the way down?”

“No way, that’s death down there for sure”

The Dragon roared again, thunder booming around me and echoing off the walls and faces hidden behind torrents of rain that enveloped me like thick frozen curtains. Shivering uncontrollably I stared in desperation at the final anchor of this 280m, seven pitch route on The Dragons Horns, Malaysia, and knew, without doubt, I was in real trouble, worse than any trouble before.

Its been a few years since I climbed this route, but it still stands out as a highlight in my entire climbing life.
This route has to be top of the list for anyone capable, a contender for one of the best routes in the world!