Last climbing day
Chloe started the day by getting slightly turtled by a too heavy pack
And then we did some nice routes at a new crag (to us): Arginonta. We started on some 6's, then moved on to the left, where I flashed Lysistrati (yay!),
and then got shut down on No Sleep til Hammersmith (booo). We coordinated with Carl, to FINALLY, after all of these years do the above water traverse in Vathi, but could not convince his beautiful American climbing protege Rachel, who lives in Berlin, to come join us. We had lunch in Emporios and then putt-putted out to Vathi by way of Massouri to rent shoes and do a few other errands. It was a lot of mopeding. Maybe we'll rent a car next time. The traverse turned out to be a blast. I had planned on using a makeshift chalk pot,
but instead came up with a cunning and brilliant plan: fill my pockets with chalk! And because I am such a good husband, I would leave little chalk stashes at random places for chloe. So the traverse is long -- 350 meters, and there are a few easy cruxes, then some harder ones and then one stopper move. I latched it for a millisecond and then took the plunge. Being a pretty terrible swimmer, I exhausted myself doggy paddling back to port. A must do for the summer though! From there, we rinsed the shoes off, bought a gigantic load of baklava (to take home to Grenoble), had the moped guy check the bike over, returned the somewhat soggy shoes to the climbing store (note to self: bring our own shoes next time), then back to Emporios to pack :(.
One of the cacti was blooming -- apparently it only blooms for one night of the year
And then we did some nice routes at a new crag (to us): Arginonta. We started on some 6's, then moved on to the left, where I flashed Lysistrati (yay!),
and then got shut down on No Sleep til Hammersmith (booo). We coordinated with Carl, to FINALLY, after all of these years do the above water traverse in Vathi, but could not convince his beautiful American climbing protege Rachel, who lives in Berlin, to come join us. We had lunch in Emporios and then putt-putted out to Vathi by way of Massouri to rent shoes and do a few other errands. It was a lot of mopeding. Maybe we'll rent a car next time. The traverse turned out to be a blast. I had planned on using a makeshift chalk pot,
but instead came up with a cunning and brilliant plan: fill my pockets with chalk! And because I am such a good husband, I would leave little chalk stashes at random places for chloe. So the traverse is long -- 350 meters, and there are a few easy cruxes, then some harder ones and then one stopper move. I latched it for a millisecond and then took the plunge. Being a pretty terrible swimmer, I exhausted myself doggy paddling back to port. A must do for the summer though! From there, we rinsed the shoes off, bought a gigantic load of baklava (to take home to Grenoble), had the moped guy check the bike over, returned the somewhat soggy shoes to the climbing store (note to self: bring our own shoes next time), then back to Emporios to pack :(.
One of the cacti was blooming -- apparently it only blooms for one night of the year
