TEAM BLOG
Over The Top
February 11, 2011 at 11:37 am | Dave Pickford | No comment
I returned from 3 weeks climbing in Geyikbayiri, Turkey, at the end of January. Where else in the world can you go to the beach, go deep water soloing, then climb a world-class sport route – and then go skiing – all in the same day? There is no question that this relatively new climbing area will mature into one of the world’s pre-eminent limestone areas in the next decade. Exploring the valley to the south of Geyikbayiri, with its vast quantities of undeveloped cliffs and caves, tells as much as you need to know.
Whilst I didn’t find time on this occasion to climb any new routes, I did manage to claw my way to the top of probably the best hard sport route I’ve climbed to date, the awesome new addition to Sarkit: Over The Top (8b+). Taking the central and most impressive line on the region’s most impressive cliff, it has everything you could want from a single pitch climb. The crux comes right at the end, at circa 35 metres, and is made more entertaining by the fact that clipping the penultimate bolt is impossible (unless you have 8c + fingers…). Therefore several spectacular 10-15m falls from the top of the crag are likely to ensue before a successful ascent is made. My airtime definitely gave the local goatherds some light entertainment, temporarily silencing their ubiquitous curses!
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