Kalymnos, September 2007
Neil's 6th consecutive Kalymnos climbing coaching holiday on the magical Greek island of Kalymnos was held during the last 2 weeks of September.
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Trip Report-
by Neil Gresham
I always look forward to my annual visit to Kalymnos with Steve Golley to run our sport climbing coaching course, but this year was set to be the best yet. With a cast of guest hotshot climbers like Charlie Woodburn and Mark Garthwaite to join the team and a boat trip with Deep Water Soloing and a beach barbeque planned for the rest day, I couldn’t wait to get back out to the paradise isle. We stay at the Philoxenia hotel, which is ideally situated right on the seafront, underneath the best cliffs. Every year it makes me laugh when I think back to some of the climbing trips that I’ve endured whilst cooped up in a tent in the lashing rain. Kalymnos offers climbing in style!
I knew most of the clients on the course from my 1:1 coaching work in London and had a strong inkling from the start that there would be some worthy climbing tales to take home. Each day, Steve and I do a series of demos to demonstrate specific techniques (such as tufas or slabs), and then help the clients select the most suitable routes at their grade in order to practice these techniques. We then video them in action and do a critque of their performance in the evening back at the hotel. We send out personal reports after the trip so that everyone has an idea how to improve in the future, but I thought I would just share one of the most memorable successes of one of the members of the group.
David Sant, originally from Spain, but now living in London, had been climbing less than two years total when he arrived in Kalymnos. He had done a total of 10 days sport climbing outside and onsighted 2 or 3 6b+s prior to the trip. He has great enthusiasm and a superb technique base, but had never tried redpointing before. Steve and I took a look at his climbing on the first two days and then marched him to the base of a long, overhanging 7b+ with a powerful crux called Spartacus. David’s initial reaction was that he had never seen anything as wild. We explained the redpointing procedure to him, and to the rest of the group and let them loose on their projects. At the end of day 1, David had done all the moves and linked the route in a series of over-lapping sections. For Steve and I, that was enough to give him the green light to finish the job.
The rest day followed with boat trip and barbeque, which gave everyone a chance to relax while I threw myself at an un-climbed 8b DWS project. It’s still unclimbed by the way! A great day was had, but the next day it was time to get down to business. David put in 5 all-out redpoint attempts but each time he was spat off by the vicious under-cut move on the crux at half height. With so much pumpy climbing to follow, he had allowed himself to become pretty psyched out and was seriously questioning his capability. ‘It was fun at the start’ he said, ‘but I just want to do the bastard now’. Welcome to the world of repdointing, I thought to myself!
The next day was the last day of the coaching holiday and David knew that this was his big chance. I have to admit that I was struggling to cope with the pressure myself. Maybe I shouldn’t have recommended such a big route to him. Even though I probably shouldn’t, I will feel personally responsible it if he goes home empty-handed. It was Steve Golley’s turn to coach at the Spartacus sector that day and I was secretly relieved that I wouldn’t have to join David on his painful roller coaster ride another time. I felt quietly confident for him, but only because he had good karma. I know this sounds a touch flakey, but redpointing at this level is such a dice game and his odds were 50:50 at best. We were all out of specific coaching advice. What was needed now was a bit of magic from David to tip the scales.
Down at the Grande Grotte sector, more projects and onsights were dispatched by the rest of the group and by 4pm, they were off down to the pool to revel in their glory. I couldn’t get up to Spartacus fast enough to hear how David had got on. But the look on his face and the atmosphere at Spartacus said it all when I arrived. David had put in 5 more redpoints – all which had ended at the crux. He was mentally and physically spent. We sat and talked for a while. He seemed to have had enough and was convinced that he simply wasn’t strong enough to hold the under-cut on the link from the floor. ‘I just need to do more bouldering back home’, he said. But I detected a glimmer of hope in his eyes and pounced on it. I pointed out that he hadn’t yet climbed during the ‘golden hour’ – that special time late in the day, when the sun dips and the crag turns to crimson. David had told me before that he always feels stronger in the evenings, so this wouldn’t sound as daft to him as it may seem. I guess I was clutching at straws, but David is an incredibly positive sort of bloke. Others would have laughed at this seemingly hollow advice but a small smile appeared across his face. I think this was the moment when he seemed to understand what was required. And so he prepared to meet Spartacus one last time.
David had really dialed into the visualisation work that we had introduced during the week. He stood below the giant brown, bulging wall miming out his ritual like a Samurai performing a kata ritual. As he mimed out the crux, I saw him grimace and then he let out a deep breath and powered through. He had just climbed the route - all he had to do now was climb it! Everyone at the crag was completely silent as he stepped up to the mark. The rock had become an almost unnatural shade of burnt orange and then, one of the most exciting climbing performances I have ever seen was played out. On every previous redpoint, David had offered some brief form of communication from the rest below the crux, but this time he was so absorbed that he didn’t even let his belayer, know that he was heading out. He slid round the hanging stalactite before the crux with rare precision, made the clip and reached out for that crucial the under-cut. But this time he didn’t seem to need to pull. Something he did with his body, a flick of the hips sent a pulse through him that just meant that he was through, hanging from the jug. And then it all went to pieces. ‘Where do I go? I’ve forgotten my sequence!’ he exclaimed. I’ve shouted at people before in this situation – sometimes you help them and sometimes you fluster them and make things worse. I knew he hadn’t forgotten his sequence. ‘Take your time. Breathe.’ I said. He just needed to be left alone to gather himself. This he did and continued with the battle to the top. The exit move right has taken so many scalps, but as David built his feet I had no doubt as to the outcome. He crossed through and pulled over onto the slab. My only advice to him now: ‘Enjoy this moment now - this is your time’.
