#7 Climbathon Kalymnos September 2018

The time has come. I finally get to write about THE ALMIGHTY CLIMBATHON, THE TRIP of our lives.

Getting started with this piece gives me mixed feelings: I am extremely excited about being about to capture all the beautiful moments; but equally, I feel slightly anxious about getting into the piece as I know there are so much to write about, this is going to be a much bigger project than all the other pieces, it requires some "corporate" skills to structure the piece and frame the story 🤣.

I went through the photo album and there are 490 photos plus videos. Challenge number 1: which ones do I select as they are all beautiful, carries a story, and brings back fond memories of the trip. I think I have shortlisted 69, so you will have to bear with me going through the pictures on this post. Good photos and videos are worth more than a million words.

There are so much experiences to share, so much inspired thoughts to capture down. Challenge number 2: how do I go about it? Then I remember, it was during this trip, I started these climbathon journals on instagram, for exactly this reason. I guess I just knew one day, I would want to document this chapter in life so I put up my draft then and there. This makes things much easier, what an incredible foresight *giving myself a pat on the back...*.

DAY 0 - THE EPIC JOURNEY TO CLIMBER'S PARADISE

I remember very well, the week leading up to it was full of excitement. So excited that I had to reward myself with the matchy matchy set of North Face duffle bag and the wheeler. This is entirely necessary to compliment the rest of our travel collection.

The first sector of the epic journey was a late evening flight from KL to Singapore. Thinking we do have plenty of time, I put in a full day at work and and we left home at 7pm, the Friday rush hour! It took us more than double the time to get to the airport and we had to RUN to our boarding gate. We made it, just.

We knew Mui and Kz love the Irvins salty egg fish skin. So we bought some for them, and these fish skins had travel from Singapore, to Greece, then we passed to Mum where to brought to France, and probably somewhere else that I can't remember, before landing back in Hong Kong, finding their way to Discovery Bay. Mui and Kz, I hope you have enjoyed these well travelled Irvins.

The journey took 26 hours in total, but all the travel fatigue and troubles faded away the moment we have this breathtaking views placed in front of our eyes.

We checked in with a local B&B called Alfonso's and we have the best balcony, facing the sunset which we then get to enjoy every evening for the rest of the 9 days.

DAY 1 - SEA BREEZE & ARGINONTA VALLEY

Quite amateur like, we were climbing under the sun for most of it, but that doesn't stop us enjoying the first experience especially for me and Shang.

We were so taken by the picturesque Aegean Sea and the goats freely running around the hillside.

DAY 2 - ODYSSEY & THE LAUNDRY DAY

After the first day at a friendly crag, we went to the popular crag where overhang routes were awaiting. Still climatising to the environment, we took it easy with some easy climbs again.

So the highlight of the day was actually the evening family activity: laundry at the launderette. I can't remember the last time I was at one of these, maybe decades ago, but experiencing this together with the Rockers' family had made it fun.

DAY 3 - GHOST KITCHEN

Another day another crag. On Day 3 we went to the Ghost Kitchen, oh boy, the approach was steep and much longer but we made it. I think I had to have my pack lunch the moment I put down our gear bags haha. Shang onsighted an interesting route and UP and I tried on top rope. It was fun and I liked the moves and the way it goes. So I decided to make that my first outdoor project: 2046, a 6c+.

Later that day, and the two days after, I got consumed by the project, I kept watching the video of Shang and memorise where the holds are (back then I haven't yet acquired the ability to memorise them in my head while I move) and was climbing in my head throughout.

DAY 4 - REST DAY

Half way through the climbathon, we took the day off, took the car around and explored the island. We went to the Kalymnos museum and looked at some artefacts from 4000 BC! We also went to this highly recommended restaurant called Anna's Tavern for lunch. OH, MY, GOD, we had the most delicious mussels, the most fresh calamari, the amazingly simple yet flavourful octopus spaghetti. Shang and I wouldn't stop raving about it and it was then and there we decided, we have to come back one more time before we leave.

Shang and I had our date night at the Aegean's Tavern. Quite a posh dinner but we get to enjoy the beautiful sunset over a bottle of bubbles, so it was worth it. So we thought.

Half way through the dinner, we saw two familiar figures walking past our table which was by the road. Mum and UP had just finished their date night at Food Street having a 2 euros pork souvlaki, greek salad and a pint. An economical place just two minutes away on foot, and they got to enjoy the same view while munching on their souvlaki.

We laughed.

The island is pretty small, so we had to find ways to keep ourselves entertained...

DAY 5 - GHOST KITCHEN, PROJECT DAY

After a full day of rest, carbo load, and climbing numerous times in my head, I was ready to go back to the Ghost Kitchen and give my project a go.

First attempt was full of nervous energies, so it didn't happen. After lunch charging up the battery, I went on it again. Looking at my own video three years later, I realised I have made quite a lot of progress with my outdoor climbing since. I was so indecisive and not trusting my feet during this sent attempt on 2046. Luckily, I had my trusted trios there to patiently support me, it was more the mental that got me this sent than the techniques. In particular, when I was not good at controlling my pace and restoring my endurance, I was almost going to give up at the crux when I got really bumped. My dear husband could see that and shouted: 唔好放棄! I listened to him and followed his advice and got to the anchor.

I was so happy, I treated all of us ice-cream after dinner. Life really is that simple in Kalymnos.

DAY 6 - ODYSSEY

By now, our engines are more warmed up and we went back to Odyssey where you will see more stronger climbers. Shang spotted another 6c+ where we did his trademark approach: nap and send. I went onto the same route but didn't get too far with it. I attempted this again in 2019 and almost red pointed, I guess this is going to be one of the first routes I will get on when we get to return to Kalymnos after the pandemic.

DAY 7 - SECRET GARDEN & THE BEACH

With only a couple more days to go, we decided to check out more crags. We went to the Secret Garden where the famous wall full of tufts awaiting. This crag is not only characteristiced by the stalactite, but also the scenic path getting there. The hour-long approach was very enjoyable.

We all went onto the the famous Frapogalo, where the tufas are so prominent you could sit on this one half way through the route. I didn't sent it as my overhang strength back then were pretty poor. But I did send it when we return in 2019, it felt so good to send an unfinished project from last time as this is the most direct way to show your progress.

The rest of the routes at the crag were pretty hard, apart from the almighty Shang, none of us would be able to enjoy the climbs so we decided to take another hour long approach and head to the other side of this hill, to a crag called The Beach. We thought that was a good idea, but we forgot to look at the watch when we set out for the long march: we started the walk at 12nn, it was really, really, hot.

But we made it to the beach, though not much energy left to climb hard. So we just did some really easy but fun climbs, and chill by the rocky beach. By now, we knew we would come back to Kalymnos the following year so we just take these exploration as recce, getting ready for 2019.

DAY 8 - ARGINONTA FIRE WALL

The recce continued into Day 8, by now, we were feeling quite tired, probably because we went to two crags the day before, so we decided to just explore different places. The Arginonta Fire Wall has some interesting routes, it became the crag we returned a couple of times in 2019.

DAY 9 - THE LAST DAY

On our last day, Shang and Up went out to one more new crag to explore while the folks stayed in to rest and pack. I couldn't really climb anymore as a result to not pacing myself, but this become great learning for the future climbathons.

We spent the afternoon washing and thanking the gear before we headed out for UP's favourite pork souvlaki one last time.

DAY 10 - GOING HOME

The day of our returning trip was also full of drama. First our taxi driver was a little late to take us to the airport. While we were all anxious about missing our schedule, we turned up before the sun rose and was locked out of the airport: it was not open yet lol!!!

Eventually we got in but the check in didn't take place so we asked. Turned out that, due to the strong wind, the incoming flight may not be able to land, and if that's the case, Shang and I will definitely miss our connecting flight back to Singapore. Luck was on our side and we managed to complete the rest of the returning journey, but with the very stressful and tight schedule, we have gained much experience of what not to do in the future trips.

It was at this Kalymnos airport, I believe, we decided for the return of three weeks in 2019. Looking at the following videos still put a big smile on my face. As this trip drew to its close, I also realised in one year, Shang and I had been to 日本欣賞櫻花 and 希臘感受愛琴海 while we climb, and all along we have Mum and UP along with us to make these memories more complete. Thank you.