GALASIA PETRA - THE HARDEST MULTI-PITCH ON THE ISLAND OF KALYMNOS

After spending several decades on expeditions and hard mountaineering, freezing my ass off, suffering from pain and cold I decided to retire from this kind of climbing to spend most of the time rock climbing in a pleasant environment. After several trips to Kalymnos I found myself there buying a house and getting permanent residency.

Kalymnos is one of the best destinations for rock climbing worldwide. The island is located in the southern Aegean see in Greece. Up to now there are about 4500 climbing routes in all grades, from the 3rd to the 9th French grade. The climbing is famous for rahis overhanging tufa climbing style. Spending some time on the rock, repeating many routes I was wondering if I should start rebolting and bolting new routes. I was passing by many times at a spot called Olympic wall, which is a cliff about 150 meters high and offers some of the best climbing on the island.
One route on this cliffe is „Galasia Petra“, the only one that travels the whole cliff from bottom to top. It was opend back in 2004 by Dulac and Abert but never finished. They had a look on the third pitch and rated it 8b/8b+, then run out of bolts and never returned. I was always wondering if I should finish the climb. So, I decided if I could climb the second pitch which is already 8a+ I would start my bolting mission.
This spring Michel “Much” Mayr and Gerhard Hörhager visited me for climbing, perfect timing to start to work on the route. It took me 3 days to bring up equipment, rebolt pitch 3 and open pitch 4, cleaning the climb from loose rock and brushing the holds.I could not wait to try to climb pitch 3 which is an overhanging single tufa, spectacular and airy. One must use all the skills learned in a lifetime of rock climbing - pinching, stemming, jamming, bridging, grimping - all in one pitch.
Finally, after 20 long years, GALASIA PETRA translated as blue stone was completed and ready to redpoint. On April 4th Much Mayr onsighted pitch 1 and 2, fell on pitch 3, pulled off the rope and then redpointed pitch 3 and 4.
We rated pitch 3 as 8a and pitch 4 as 7b. The hardest and most spectacular climb on the island is ready to be repeated.