Climbing trip to Triest (Italy) by train and bus

For this new years eve, we travelled to the Karst in Trieste. A quick internet research promised well-secured routes, climbing areas close to the city and good food – what else could a climber dream of? Trieste has around 200,000 inhabitants and is characterised by its proximity to Slovenia, Croatia and Austria. During the Habsburg monarchy, Trieste was a Mediterranean harbour and a hub of the Austro-Hungarian economy, which can still be seen today in the imposing buildings from this period. The harbour is still the city’s major economic factor. So it’s no wonder that you can look directly out to the sea from the impressive Town Hall Square. More important for the climbers? The caffeine supply. Trieste is known for its coffee house culture, which is in no way inferior to that of Vienna. As you can see, there is enough cultural program for rest days.

Bouldering trip to Sundergrund (Austria) by public transport

Not only does the Zillertal have a lot to offer in terms of sport climbing, multi-pitch climbing and winter sports, there are also plenty of great boulder problems. Especially in the hot months, the bouldering areas in the higher altitudes, in the forests and directly by the river offer cool conditions. There are numerous spots both in the main valley and in the side valleys. The Sundergrund area is particularly idyllic, scattered across alpine meadows and right by the river with lovely swimming spots – both hardcore and beginners will find something here (FB 5a – 8b+, most boulders in the 6a – 6c range).

Climbing trip to Henningsvaer (Norway) by public transport (and bike)

Despite my dream to visit the Lofoten for a long time now, I have been tempered by the cost of getting there (carbon footprint wise). After a yearlong of adventuring by bike I felt ready to end my gap year on a high note and travel (solo and slowly) to this remote place. For the sake of simplicity for everyone,  I will describe what I think – based on my experience going up and down – is the easiest and most direct way of getting to Lofoten. Although there are beautiful granite walls throughout the archipelago, most of the climbing is centred on Henningsvaer. There are numerous climbing possibilities along the road that winds down to the village, including short and long trad multi-pitch routes; bouldering and sport-climbing sea cliffs. Which makes it very practical for an ecopoint trip.

Climbing trip to Blagaj (Bosnia and Herzegovina) by public transport

This summer we were travelling the Balkans for two months via public transport and luckily, we brought our climbing equipment along! Especially Bosnia and Herzegovina surprised us with its many new and very well-maintained crags that were quite easily accessible by public transport. One of our favorite climbing areas, and the one we spent the most time at, is Blagaj in Herzegovina.

Blagaj is a village that sits next to Vulin Potok Canyon, which was made accessible in 2014 by a via ferrata, which opened it up for exploration to the climbing community. Now there are about 14 established sectors for sport climbing and multipitching on the beautiful limestone rock with tufas, crimps and crack lines of all grades which are still growing every year. Our great (!) guidebook from 2020 was already outdated when we arrived there but the local climbing community is very active and has topos on its website.

Sport Climbing trip to El Chorro (Spain) by train

El Chorro is a popular winter sport climbing destination in southern Spain featuring mainly south facing crags and a great range of grades. There is a fantastic climbing community here and a very relaxed atmosphere, plus the majority of the climbing areas are within easy walking distance from the village.

Climbing Trip to Kyparissi (and Vlychada) by bus, ferry, and bike

During our climb&bikepacking trip in the Balkans, we didn’t want to miss the beautiful climbing spots in the Peloponese! So as we head off Leonidio, we decided to go to two stunning climbing spots that are definitely worth the detour: Kyparissi and Vlychada. Those are peaceful and remote places with amazing climbing and the traditional greek “tufas”, where you can get gorgeous views on the Azur Blue sea. Do I need to say more?

Climbing trip to Leonidio (Greece) by train, ferry, and bike

Leonidio was one of the places I’ve wanted to visit for a long time, but never did because it felt way too far. All I ever heard about the journey to get there from Innsbruck was by plane or by a crazy long car ride (which I didn’t want to do). This year, we had a month offin February and since we are all into bikepacking, we decided to make it an ecopoint trip. First, we took the train to Venice . Then, we took the ferry from Venice to Patras, which is a 30 h trip, but since the ferries are huge and there’s a lot of space outside on the decks to move, do yoga and chill in the sun in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it felt like a holiday. Then we rode our bikes from Patras to Leonidio, which was a 3 day bike journey through the beautiful Peloponnese. Leonidio is a dream for climbers. There are so many crags that are accesible straight from the village, sport climbing and multipitches and all on beautiful orange limestone with tufas, holes, crimps,….

Trad climbing trip to Wales (UK) by train and bike

Wales is a world-class and historic trad destination, with sea cliffs, mountain crags, and every type of climbing: from easily accessible, well-protected classics to wild and remote adventures. Christelle Bakhache and I spent a week climbing in North Wales, then cycled to Pembroke over three days, and spent another week there.

Climbing trip to Ritten and Vinschgau (Italy) by train and bike

Instead of going to Arco for the Easter Holidays, we decided to try something new and explore the sport climbing crags in South Tyrol in Italy. We started in Innsbruck by bike and had a first stop at ‘Ritten’, a high plateau right above Bozen, to climb there for three days. After that, we continued our bike trip through Meran to Latsch, a big sportclimbing crag in Vinschgau. Since we were only binking, we decided to go back to Innsbruck via Reschenpass to have a round trip, but if you don’t want to bike the whole Vinschgau, Meran, and Bozen are easily accessible by train and busses as well.

Climbing trip to Siurana (Spain) by bike and train

Siurana is a world-class sport climbing crag. It is known for its excellent rock quality, diversity of route types, and hard grades climbs. But don’t worry, it’s accessible to anyone as it has more than 1400 routes. I planned this trip to try climbing at my limit while travelling by bike. It’s a wonderful place to find a hard project!