Category Archives: news

Adam Ondra in Istria's hardest route Vicious circle (9a+/b) in Mišja peč, that still waits for its first repeat @ photo by Luka Fonda

Did you hear? Adam Ondra, the world’s best and strongest climber ever, is back in Istria after a couple of years. He visited Limski kanal where he onsighted Franci Jensterle's hardest route over there, Starec in morje (8c), for which he thinks that it should be downgraded to 8b+. Then he visited for the first time the beautiful crag above the village of Roč, named Kompanj, where he onsighted Hard sun (8b+), Reinini (8b) and Nussknacker (8b). Hopefully he has still some days left here in Istria, so he can onsight or  redpoint some of the others king lines in the area as well.

In Istarske toplice, Italian Gabriele Gorobey smashed in just couple of tries the 4th ascent of Caveman's underground...

[email protected]Luca Bacer in Intensive (FB8a) in Črnotiče

Trieste based local climber Luca Bacer crushes Intensive (FB8a) in Črnotiče. He crushed the sit start to Less intensive (FB7c) on a night session between his studies for university exams. Link to the video of his ascent!

In the same garage sized cave in Črnotiče, Gregor Šeliga bolted a new project that starts in Gibanica (7c+) and then goes to the left. This new addition in the big roof will weight around 8b+ by Šeli's words.

Last weekend Mišja peč was visited by Slovenian youth climbing team who smashed a big number of hard routes. Let's mention Timotej Romšak who redpointed classics like Mrtvaški ples (8b) and Lahko noč Irena (8a+). Lahko noč Irena used to be 8b until a hold broke in the upper part and suddenly a new juggy undercut showed up...

photo @ Martin Tekles in Sanjski par extension (9a) in Mišja peč Happy new year 2020 to all of you climbers! We wish you a healthy and injury free year, full of prime conditions for climbing, with lots of sun. May it bring a bunch of hard onsights, flashes and redpoints. In Istria Christmas and New Year passed with great conditions for climbing. Sun, clear skies and wind made it possible for many routes by many climbers to be ticked. Let's start with the queen of Istrian climbing, Mišja peč in Slovenia, which was as usual the crowdies place where lots of hard redpoints and onsights were done. The hardest redpoint was for sure the first 9a for German Martin Tekles, who did Sanjski par extension (9a). The route is located in Tedi's cave on the left side of Mišja peč and was first ascended by Slovenian Uroš Perko, back in 2003. This is the 14th ascent of this...

Benjamin Marjanovič in first ascent of Pedoč (8a) in Costiera @ photo by local Aldo Michelini

There was quite a bad weather everywhere in the last days or even weeks, so not many hard routes were climbed. But still, in Istria you can always find some dry rocks. Thankfully in the next days it will be only sunny, so the climbing is going to be great.

In Costiera, Benjamin Marjanovič made a first ascent of an old project left of route Gelati (6c). It is 40 meters long with a technical crux just under the chain. He named it Pedoč and proposed a grade of 8a.

In Mišja peč, Ukrainian Illya Bakhmet – Smolensky clipped the chains of crimpy Človek ne jezi se (8c). Then Jakob Bizjak fired super bouldery and rarely done Matrix (8b), while his girlfriend Petra Zupan smashed endurance testpiece...

photo @ the magnificent view from Črni kal

Finally, the sun got out and pleasant conditions for climbing arrived, so yeah, on Saturday there were crowds in all the climbing areas around Istria and many hard routes were climbed. Sunday was a bit cloudy, yesterday it rained, but now the sun is back and it should stay for at least couple of days.

Nikola Kramarić from Split, Croatia, made a fast ascent of famous Missing link (8b+) and also flashed Sonce v očeh (8a+), both in the right part of Mišja peč in sector called »freezer« by the locals.

Then his friend, Vana Piccini, crushed Samsara (8a) in Mišja peč, as well Zadnja skušnjava (8a) in sector Babna in Osp.

Another Croatian, this time from Rijeka, Lucija Brkić clipped the chains of her first 8a, Samsara in Mišja peč.

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Sunset in Costiera @ photo by Matej Colja

Not many extreme hard routes were climbed lately as it has been raining for weeks and tufas just don’t stop to pour.

So, it’s time to get you updated with many new routes and latest information about climbing areas in Istria.

In Medveja, in sector Veli Jože Gianfranco Dušič freed the project on the far left, now with the name Small crew and a proposed grade of 7c.

In Osp, in sector above the village called Banje, Mitja Peternelj and friends established a couple of new routes. There is a new direct version of Karies. After the first »slabby« half of the route and a good rest on tufas you continue direct in to overhang to finish in a slab of a new route named Vinko Coce with the grade of 8a+. Then there...

Doberdo del lago @ photo by Anja Bečan

Doberdo del lago is a small but nice crag in between Trieste and Gorizia perfect for beginners to start leading the routes with the best season being from autumn till spring.

We got a message from local climbing community of the climbing area Doberdo del lago. From 28th of October on there are construction works happening in the crag of Doberdo del lago, so climbing and even approaching the wall is strictly forbidden. They are building fences above the wall to prevent stones to fall down on climbers. The work should be done in four to five months, which you will be informed on our site. Please respect!

Here is the official link in Italian and Slovene.

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In October 2019, a new edition of guidebook for Istria and Kvarner was published. This time it's even larger and richer, with additional areas of Gorski Kotar and islands: Vela Peša, Golubinjak, Vrbovsko, Antovo, Portafortuna, Belove stene, Baška, with drawings for Lubenice, Babina, Osoršćica and Lukovo. As always, we try to make each edition better and more useful.

The new guidebook now has 36 crags and over 2000 routes. All other crags have been updated, freshly photographed and checked: Kompanj, Krkuž & Balcony, Čiritež, HC, Nugla, Raspadalica, Pandora, Buzetski kanjon, Kamena vrata, Istarske toplice, Čepić, Ponte Porton, Pazin, Dvigrad, Limski kanal, Rovinj, Vinkuran, Rabac, Brseč, Moščenićka draga, Medveja, Vela draga, Kanjon Rječine, Veli vrh and Kamenjak.

The guidebook now has a more durable cover with useful ribbon,...

Photo @ Matteo Menardi during his redpoint in Water world (9a) in the big cave of Osp

There were crowds and climbers and hard ascents everywhere in Istria in the last days. The weather except the last weekend was great! Here are some of the news about hard ascents that we managed to catch in between.

In the big cave of Osp, Italian Matteo Menardi climbed his 7th 9a, the majestic 55 meters long Water world, first ascended by Klemen Bečan. Here is the video of Klemen's FA! Enjoy! 😉

Another inspiring ascent was done in the same cave. 54 years old Italian, Alessandro Neri after 40 years of climbing crushed his second 8c, Helikopter v pošasti, another 55 meters long endurance pitch.

One more 8c was done in the last days. Jaka Šprah made the first repeat of Goran Matika's Grinta, the...