All About Climbing: Hot'n Cold - Two weeks in Geyikbayiri: Poseidon Tavan 8a+, Memory of Giovanni 7c and more..

Arriving at my new place in Geyik

I finally could arrive in my own place in Geyikbayiri for two weeks. Have no goals. I just needed to come here for a resolution, and may be some good climbing before the trip to the Font in April. Yeah, I probably should have stayed in the city and train for some more bouldering. But boy.. I was so restless in Ankara.

Here I was. Arrived on a cold Friday night on an empty house, which only had a single bed and nothing else. Covered it with some clean sheets, grabbed my pillow and my sleeping bag, and there it was: one of the best sleeps I had since some good amount of time.

This was literally like living the dream. Ok, this is not my own house. Just a rental for some limited time. But that does not mean I can't enjoy it. I have been coming to this place for some 25 years, but here I am pretending to have my own place to stay. And guess what? Peyami abi is my flat-mate. His house is just the next door. How much better could it get?

The next morning I had a deep cleaning of the house that took the whole Saturday, so definitely no climbing on Saturday. Starting from Sunday, I could reserve some couple of hours for climbing, and getting lots of work done in the mean time. I really do appreciate the ability to work remotely. This is literally living the dream for me. Having this time here, but also working as hard as possible to get things done on my work.

Ok, let me cut this part short, and talk a bit about the climbs I could tackle in this mini trip:

Octos 7a+: Alzheimer's flash

Metin's quickdraws were hanging on the route for a while, and I knew he climbed the route, and Murat was also working the route, and he was close. We just wanted to have a day in Poseidon to get used to climbing with Erdinc. After some warm ups, I wanted to try the route. To my surprise, everything went smooth, and I was quite happy that I could "flash (?)" this stiff 7a+. The fun starts here: in the evening, when I entered 8a.nu to log my ascent, it was quite surprising to see that I already sent the route in 2006. Wow... so, ok. I am an old climber, and that was an Alzheimer's flash then. It has been 19 years, and I was almost sure that I did not climb this route before. Well anyhow, that was a remarkable repeat ascent then.. A good one to get used to climbing around Poseidon sector.

Memory of Giovanni 7c: What took me so long to try this beauty?

The weather was quite cool in the following days, so I could have a burn on this beautiful route. The route is slightly overhanging, and the climbing is not very specific. It's a type of climbing I am quite used to. However, the crux of the route was at the end of the overhang section when the route turns into a slab. I was literally clueless and could not find a working beta for the slab crux. Well, since Erdinc already climbed the route a long time ago, and wanted some training on the route, he tried the route to show me how it is done. His solution was not only working, it was also quite elegant and direct. In the next try, I could replicate his beta to learn that part, too. However, this power endurance beast already took its toll on me, so serious attempts were left for the later days.

In the next day we came here, I quickly warmed up by hanging the quickdraws again. I could then send the route in the second burn of this second session. But it was not without a fight. I was climbing quite suboptimal on the lower sections of the route, and getting freaking pumped when I arrived at the crux. With those pumped arms, I could somehow show that determination and could make my way up the crux, and all the way to the chains. Wow.. I really love those ascents where things are on such a thin line.

Poseidon Tavan 8a+: I can dance, and I also am darn serious and competitive!

Spoiler: Yes, I did it against all odds...

This one is big. I remember belaying Mumin cruise this beautiful roof back in day - probably in 2006. It was so inspiring and amazing. Last year, I dared to have a look at the route. I think I've spent two sessions in two different trips. Those tries were literally futile. I was just making fun of myself. I mean, you try some difficult routes, and you probably can do most of the moves, but you probably would not be able to do some specific portions of the route. In this route, I could do maybe just a single move... And that was it... I could not do any of the other moves. What was happening? What kind of 8a+ was this?

During my trip in January, we discussed the route with Burak while working on Metallica - 8a together. He told me he also tried the route before, and he had some beta that could work. We agreed that it would be terrific to work on the route together. All I experienced while working on Metallica together with him was positive feeling. I just love climbing with people who spread the positive emotions. Kudos bro.

But Burak was strong, and he would not wait forever for me to show up in Geyik to try the route. So Burak, Abdullah, and Osman worked on the route and had a recent epic team send. I was a bit of sad that I missed this vibe, because I know things can really be easy when you are inside that kind of strong and supportive crowd. Congrats folks for your amazing team send!!!

Anyways, I was here, and just had a phone call with Burak, and he explained me everything he knew about the route. I took notes and watched to some incomplete video fragments from his work sessions. With this new beta, there could be hope for me, too.

Using the new beta, I think I could do most of the moves in my first session. I could not feel the kneebar on the roof, though. That move is one of the most difficult and tricky kneebars I have ever seen in a route. In the second session, I think I could feel the kneebar just a bit, however, it was still feeling very awkward. But at the end of the that session, I started to "believe" that if I can refine the moves up there in the roof, and if I can climb the lower 7b part much more efficiently, I could have a "small chance" of sending the route.

I was already tired of 5 climbing days with only a single day of rest in between. I am an old man who needs 2-3 rest days from time to time. The weather report was also showing some awkward cold and wind gusts for the following days, so I decided to rest for two days until Thursday.

On Thursday, I was quite rested, but just I had a tiring workday, and I had just a couple of hours to try the route until the sunset. To this, let's add the random guy who would want to try the first pitch of the route while we were trying to work the 8a+ part (and who would not come down after falling a dozen times). Let's also mix in the meaningless tension in the air (for what?)... afasfjlgsd :)

The fourth session on the route would only exist if I could find a climbing partner who would come up there and "support" me on the route. I was aware that I would not be able to climb this thing in the negative aura of some guy who tells me I am waaay far from sending this route because I was doing something wrong, being sloppy at somewhere and other. So I said to myself: if I can't have one of my favorite climbing partners, I am not trying this route. I would rather go to Echos and join Ali's crew which I can enjoy a whole day of cranking hard while having the utmost fun without machoing and ego crushing at each other.

Suddenly I got this reply from Erdinc. He was okay coming with me to Poseidon after 3 pm. And there we were. I had a quick warm up on Demavend 6c, which is to the right of Poseidon. I could brush some of the holds on the entrance of the roof, and I could continue to the roof to refine my strategy for clipping the quickdraw in the edge of the roof. With this new strategy, I would do some foot switches on the roof from right to left and back to do the clip. Ok, it was hard, but it looked doable.

Went down, belayed Erdinc on Demavend, and after some time I had my first go. I was quite strong in the entrance of the roof, but my new clipping strategy was wasting so much energy. I was stressed and exhausted so much, that I literally forgot the correct sequence after the rather complex clipping sequence. I tried to make a kneebar on the roof before going for the big hole with my left hand... Totally desperate. I fell a bit long, and did not want to pump the rope to try once again, so I just came down.

In the mean time, I belayed Erdinc on Little Big Wall 7a+. I was quite confused... My first try was a total disaster. I could not even enter the crux of the route. But, I was planning to return to Ankara tomorrow, so, if I felt just a little bit hope, I was ready to try.

It was getting late. People were leaving the crag. Erdinc was there to support me in all cases, whether I would try or not. We did not hesitate. Just waited there for a while, to get the crag less crowded, and to feel just a bit less lactic acid on my pumped arms.

Then, off they went. We two were there, no one else. The last hour of daylight. Weather was super dry, and getting colder. I could finally gather my feelings about the route, my body and my mind together. I was tired. My first try was desperate. I was still not sure which beta was the best. But everything else was on my side. There was no one to pull my motivation down. Conditions were perfect.

I needed to make a gamble. My previous beta did not work, and I was almost sure that it would not work today. Maybe another day, but not today. The other alternatives were: trust that kneebar and if you feel good up there, make the clip and go further. If you feel a bit shaky, just skip that clip and face the long fall into the void. Ok. That was the plan.

I started to climb the first pitch. And I guess I climbed as ugly and inefficient as I did in the previous tries. The only thing I did different this time was, instead of doing the hard clip using the undercling, I did it using the side pull later on the sequence. That worked. I was in the resting position. However, I was literally wasted. But I somehow found a way to feel comfortable in that rest position, and spend as much as time I wanted. I don't know, maybe I stayed for 5 minutes.. Or 10 minutes? It was long enough to recover 99% of my wasted arms. I had no other rest positions on this route, so my strategy was to climb continuously up the chains starting from this rest position.

I took off from the rest.. The first moves were hard as usual, and my right arm was already crying after a couple of moves. But somehow, I continued towards the kneebar. Now, another point: I started using my Sportiva Miura VS Women's shoes instead of my pair of Sportiva Solutions. Solutions are probably better shoes for this route, but my pair was quite worn up. The Miura VS was soft enough, and it also had a recent resole by our national resoler Cuneyt (kudos bro, for the great work, as always!!!).

Anyways, I think the thicker sole on this shoes allowed me to press harder on the edging foothold required on the kneebar. And suddenly the kneebar felt bomb-proof. I could do the clip comfortably, and then I could get my right fingers on the next hold. Now came the hardest part of the route. releasing that kneebar, and resisting the swing by quickly pressing on the left foot. I was thinking: ok, I'll release this kneebar, and I'll just see what happens. I am just not sure if I would stay there or I will go down into the thin air. And man... My right finger held up like a finger jam, and while pressing strongly with my left toe, there I was still hanging there. I just reached for the undercling hole, had my time to adjust my grip precisely and the finally could get my right foot to the right side. When I was making a move to the first knob with my right hand, I still had some integrity. However, after taking that weak knob, and then taking my right foot to the next foot hold, I was literally on slippy ground. I was eyeing on the ledge. The final hold in this crux section. But f..k... why is it that far? Well, do I have any chance but to try? Ok, this move can never be done static. It's an explosive move. But to be explosive you should have some power left in reserve... But that was a lot of overthinking, and if I did only half of that thinking up there, I would surely fall down like a brick. I did not hesitate a nanosecond. I did not assess if I had any power or not. I wanted it, I rocketed towards it, and got that thing in my hands. Magically, I was still hanging on... My hand did not slip, and I could carefully pull the remaining moves on relatively bigger holds and I was finally up in the chains.

Ok. This narrative has been a bit too long. But man... I've only climbed four 8a+ routes in my life. And this is one of them, so please allow me to blabber on it a bit too much :) I just wrote every detail to make sure I won't forget any of these glamorous moments.

Again, many thanks to you Erdinc. Your support was really, I mean really important and it was what made me climb this route today. Even I myself did not believe that I could do this today, but... sometimes it just happens. I know that we should never give up on our hopes and crazy goals, but just work towards those with everything we have.

... So I can dance, and I am crazy darn competitive. But there's a difference though: I am competing with myself, not with others. That is my personal choice. If I liked competing with others, I would probably be doing another sport. And this experience once again made me remember that I am not comfortable around climbers who try to transform their climbing experience into a race with others. I respect them, but just can't function around them. Just a note to my future self.

Photos? Sorry. I was so focused on climbing, and there was no one to take a photo or video. I can share a couple of scenes from Geyik, though.