29 October National Holiday: Short trip to Geyikbayiri

I had 4 days off for the national holiday, so I decided to give a break to my bouldering efforts and clip some bolts at Geyikbayiri. My plan was to climb two days on Saturday and Sunday, then have a rest day, and then have a final climbing day on Tuesday. 

Working Belladonna 7c+

I am not in my best lead shape now, so I said to myself: why not look at the moves for some hard route instead of trying to finish a route? I had some previous projects in my mind, however either weather was not suitable, or the style was too off for me. So, I settled down to the  beautiful 7c+ face climbing in the Koridor sector, named Belladonna. Some say it might be harder than 7c+. I wanted to get on it to see it myself, since the route was in shade, and the style is almost vertical, with small holds, and a crimpy crux at the middle. 

Belladonna, 7c+ at Koridor sector

The first day, I could figure out most of the moves in my first try, and put the quickdraws. Then, I gave a second try on the route, in which I settled down the middle hardest crux. The route actually has three cruxes. A lower crux, which might be harder for folks with shorter arms, and a middle crux which is quite sick, with small crimps and small feet, ending up on a really big jug, and then there is an upper crux after resting on the jug. The upper crux is also no slouch, and one can easily fall there after climbing through the lower cruxes. 

By the way, I could climb with my broken finger, but pressing on small crimps made it bleed a bit more, and I felt that I could not use the index finger at its max strength. But ok, I could move on the route at least. 

Pharoes Curse - 7b: One of the worst (or best?) tufa climbs in Geyikbayiri

I left the quickdraws on the route, and the day after that, I switched gears to a different style at Trebenna East. After warming up on a couple of some classic 6a+/6b+ routes, I wanted to revisit one of my past crushes: Pharoes Curse: 7b tufa which clearly is not my perfect style. This is a mono tufa, beautiful line, but a badly placed bolt at the very crux of the route ruins the whole experience. I think the route equipper planned to go from the left of the tufa, however, the climb from that direction seems a lot harder than 7b, and it is extremely hard to put a quickdraw unless you use a beta-stick. 

I could climb quite well until that bolt, but since there was no way I could clip that bolt at the midst of the crux, I just used my "take" option to have a look. About two years before, I found a bouldery solution for the crux, which goes directly from the tufa. This time, I wanted to double check if there is another solution that goes with the line of that badly placed bolt, but no... I mean, for my height, a 7b'ish solution does not look possible. It would probably be at least 7c+ if there is one. But using the tufa, from the right, there is a solution and with a kneepad on the right leg, you can rest quite well before the crux, too. 

That attempt was quite physical, so I just called it a day, cleaned up the draws, and enjoyed the great Geyikbayiri scene with Pelin, having some coffee and mom cake. It really feels good to be able to retreat sometimes. But, make no mistakes, I'll surely return to that sick tufa sooner or later. 

Working Belladonna on 3rd day

I rested a day after two days of climbing, and I was back on Koridor sector to try Belladonna. We went relatively early, around 11:30. I was feeling still very tired at the beginning of the day. I only could climb three very easy routes up to 6a+, and those clearly were not enough for a proper warm up. With no surprise, my first try was kind of a flash-pump effort in which my body just could take in the stimulus to try something hard. I retreated at the beginning of the crux, worked the moves up the chains, and lowered down. 

Apo (Benna) also wanted to try the route. Apparently, he tried it some time ago, but can't remember all the moves. However, he suggested a better rest below the crux, on the right side of the route. My resting position was on the left side of the route, on the side-pull pocket-like holds, but I just could not recover anything there at all. At my second try, I tried my own resting position, but I was quite ok: could do the hard clip below the crux, and fell at the last move of the crux. But then, I inspected the resting position on the right, and I was convinced that it was better. You basically stand on one of the sloping ledges, and use the holes on the left and above to rest. There is even a little bit of knee support because your right foot is stepping quite high, and the left one is below, on a sloper ledge foothold near the previous quickdraw.

My third try was the last one. I knew I had to go all in at this try, because this was my last day, and the last try of this small trip. I climbed the below parts quite good, and did rest on the right below the crux. I could also do the clip before entering the crux, since I made that quickdraw longer by adding two draws to the permanent draw. I felt suddenly very strong on the crux. Could execute each move quite strongly, and I passed the crux. I had a short rest on the jugs after the crux, but then the upper crux was waiting for me. There, after making the clip from the two finger pocket on the small tufa, I mixed things a bit. I was confused about my left feet just before the jug, which marked literally the end of the route. I was so pumped, and unfortunately fell while going to that jug. 

I don't know what happened there. A small loss of focus, mind wandering elsewhere, or just a pure technical mistake? The left foot hold I was supposed to use was a bit below, and it was not a very safe one. I chose to high step on a sloping ledge instead. But that foot hold threw me out of the wall even further, and with those pumped arms, I would not be able to pull in. Therefore, I tried to undo that move. But that costed me a lot, because I was at a level of pump where I could not tolerate a single small mistake. Then I was suddenly flying through the thin air... 

Feelings of frustration, mixed with feelings of excitement, because honestly, I was not expecting to progress that far, that quick. But still, the remainder of the day I was thinking what happened there. I guess I will never know exactly. But what I know is: I fought hard. I gave three hard tries on this hard route in a day, and I was almost doing it at the final one. That kind of makes me happy: being able to try this route three times. Ok, but I am still feeling sorry that I could not finish it. Leaving the route for the next time, hoping that I will not forget my beta.