Category Archives: news

Ana Ogrinc Wagner achieves a remarkable feat by climbing Helikopter v omaki (8b) shortly after giving birth to her twins less than two years ago. This impressive ascent took place in the expansive cave of Osp. It's worth noting that her husband also conquered the same route a few weeks prior. You can find more information about this in the related news.

Additionally, 52-year-old Polish climber Robert Wykret also successfully completed the same route.

Moving to Mišja peč, Tomaž Bevk made a noteworthy ascent of the morphologic and bouldering-oriented No fly zone (8b). He believes that the route should be downgraded to 8a+. Moreover, Kryštof Lebeda from the Czech Republic accomplished a powerful climb of Missing link (8b+), located in the right section of Mišja peč.

In our Read more

There were climbers all around Istria during the 1st of May holidays, taking advantage of the great weather, which was mainly cloudy, allowing for climbing on the south faces.

Goran Matika, also known as Gogo, returned from a holiday trip in Saint Leger du Ventoux in France with his family in top shape. He immediately went back to Kompanj, specifically to spectacular sector Olymp on the far right side of the crag, where he completed the first ascent of Bernd Fiedler's old project. The new route shares the bouldery tufa start with Grenouille (8a), but instead of going left before the roof, it goes straight out of the roof into the slab. The grade for the new route should be somewhere in the 8a-8a+ range. The name of the new route is still pending, awaiting Bernd Fiedler's suggestion. Congratulations to Gogo!

In Read more

Alex Ventajas has just sent Halupca 1979 (9a) in Osp cave in just five tries. He tried the route three times last November, and on Saturday, he sent it on his second go just before the big cave of Osp got flooded. The Spaniard is no stranger to 9th grade climbs, having already climbed two 9a+'s and 10 9a's. A 17-year-old Polish climber, Martyna Syzmanska, also impressed by firing the neighboring steep & juggy Laokoon (8a).

In Mišja peč, Žiga Sedej crushed another 8b+, this time on the other side of the wall, with the more short and powerful classic Missing link (8b+). The other version, Missing drink (8b+), was done on the second go by Nikola Kramarić from Croatia.

Meanwhile, Mitja Bizjak did a great job removing old plates and hammering screws in many Read more

Easter holidays in Istria were packed with climbers. Peter Kuric from Slovakia made an impressive ascent of the Sanjski par extension (9a) in Mišja peč, on his fifth try. He first tackled the challenging first pitch (8c+). The second attempt was close, but he fell just one move before reaching the top. After resting for 10 minutes, he tried again and sent it on the third attempt. After he checked the moves in the 9a extension. He then took a break for the rest of the day and managed to climb the extension on his first attempt the following morning.

Tusnady Nimrod from Hungary also had a notable achievement, sending the first part of Sanjski par, graded 8c+. That was his first climb at that difficulty level. He also successfully redpointed the long and crimpy Chiquita (8b) in the central part of Mišja peč.

Croatian climber Siniša Škalec crushed the very steep Working Class Hero (8b+) in Osp Cave on his 4th attempt. He proposed a downgrade to 8b as he found a new sequence for the first crux. In the top "easier" part of the route, he broke two holds, but this does not significantly change the route. Škalec's climbing partner, Mr. Igor Čorko, also climbed the same route on the same day.

In sector Babna, also in Osp, Peter Schwamberger from Austria onsighted the magnificent Zadnja skušnjava (8a).

Meanwhile, Žiga Sedej climbed his hardest route yet, the long traverse in the left part of Mišja peč named Mr. Big hand (8b+). In the same crag, Nejc Sitar redpointed the long classical route Sreča vrtnice (8b).

Congratulations to all the climbers!

Vojta Trojan, a strong climber from the Czech Republic, recently sent Sanjski par extension (9a) in Mišja peč. He had previously completed eight 9a routes. It took him three days to finish the first part of the route, which is graded 8c+, and another four days to clip the chains of the 9a extension. To demonstrate his good form, he also did Strelovod (8c) on his second attempt.

World Cup competitor Alex Megos repeated the first route to the left of Sanjski par extension (9a), the mythical Za staro kolo in majhnega psa (8c+), in a quick fashion. The route was first climbed by Tadej Slabe in 1992 and was one of the three hardest routes at the time, along with Action Directe and Hubble. It is a piece of climbing history, and Megos gave it a good flash try, which will be available on...

Matjaž Zorko's 4th ascent of Malvazija (8c+) in Dvigrad

Matjaž Zorko is a Slovenian climber who made the 4th ascent of the difficult Malvazija (8c+) route in Dvigrad, in Croatian part of Istria. The route is known for its technical and sustained climbing, with small holds and intricate footwork required. Zorko's ascent was particularly notable because the route had only been climbed three times in 35 years previously. We have published news with Ale Zeni's ascent of Malvazija last month. Here is the link to the video of Matjaž's uncut ascent.

Malvazija represents one of the main white wines of Croatian Istria and the north Dalmatian coast. The vine was introduced to the area by Venetian merchants who brought cuttings from Greece. It is the main white wine in the region.

Warning: We have already mentioned a couple of times that many of the permadraws, top binners and slings in Mišja peč are totally worn out. Projekt OSP has replaced some of them with the steel ones on the cruxes of the most popular routes. But, there are climbers who are leaving their own old/worn out quickdraws everywhere. They are very dangerous as they can break at anytime (ground-fall). Additionally, they can destroy your rope as the carabiners are sharp as a knife. During the summer the material is in the burning sun and in the winter there is water running over them, so they are getting more and more destroyed.

Many kids or gym rats don't care and they keep clipping them, before even checking them. Also, be careful while clipping the binners on the anchors. Sometimes they are very sharp and totally worn out....

Italian slab master Alessandro Zeni repeated Malvazija (8c+) in Dvigrad, in the heart of Croatian Istria. It is the third ascent of this mythic route in this compact limestone after the first ascent by Maurizio Zanolla “Manolo” in 1988 and the first repeat by American Cody Roth in 2010. Also many other strong climbers tried the route, but until now it counts only three ascents in 35 years. The route is around 15 meters long slightly overhanging slab with some old school chipped holds that require lots of finger strength and excellent foot technique. Manolo graded the route as an 8b+. After some holds broke off, so Cody upgraded it to 8c+.

Alessandro Zeni has repeated many of the hard-core slabs before. We can mention the first repeat of another Manolo's slab testpiece, Eternit (9a+) or Frederic Nicole's legendary Bain de sang (9a), among the...