Category Archives: news

Summer in Istria

Maša Arnšek Placcoman (8a) in Baratro

Maša Arnšek in Placcoman (8a) in Baratro @ photo from her FB

In the last days, first heat waves of the year arrived. It was hot, humid and perfect for the first swim in the sea of the year. Deep water soloing season started, check where to go here.

What about climbing news from Istria?

Andraž Gregorčič used some last good climbing conditions before summer in Mišja peč with redpointing his first 8b+ ever, one of the best routes in Mišja peč named Kaj ti je deklica or translated What's up girl.

Also Saša Sedlar ended the season in Mišja peč with crushing crimpy and polished Oktoberfest (8a).

In the big wall of Osp, legendary Slovenian alpinist Silvo Karo bolted and cleaned from the top a new route left of Medo. Then he came back with...

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Easter & 1st of May holidays in Istria

Napoleonica
Napoleonica in the sunset @ photo by Matej Colja Easter & 1st of May holidays passed sooo fast. All the popular climbing areas in Istria got crowded, the weather was so-so, some days perfect, some days a bit less, but climbing was possible everyday which is important. I hope everybody had fun. There were many routes climbed all over the peninsula, here are some of the highlights. 18 years old Czech girl, Ella Adamovska succeeded in her third 8c with climbing famous Strelovod in the right part of Mišja peč. Her younger colleagues, only 16 years old, Tereza Širučkova and Michaela Smetanova both did Corto (8a), while Michaela redpointed as well Sonce v očeh (8a+), in Mišja peč respectively. Also in Mišja peč, Italian Andrea Vitagliano flashed Samsara (8a), Polish Stefan Madej ticked the crimpy Vizija (8c) and totally artificial Marioneta (8b+). The later power endurance test was done as well by his friend, Wojtek Pelka, who went...
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Climbing news from Istria

Nicola Vonarburg
Nicola Vonarburg in Rocket Max (8a+) in Kompanj @ photo by Tanja Bele Eastern holidays are on its way so many climbers are already coming to all the different crags around Istria. It is getting really busy, so try to avoid the crowds by visiting some more unknown climbing areas. Check them here! On Saturday, Tomaž Bevk climbed his first 8c ever, Vizija in Mišja peč. After many years of climbing, Tomaž is still progressing and now he redpointed his new level by ticking crimpy Vizija. Vizija has a hard crimpy boulder problem in first 10 meters slab with one super long morphological move, followed by sustained climbing on tufas in grade around 8a to the top of 35 meters high wall in the centre of Mišja peč. Well done Tomaž, keep on crushing! In the big cave of Osp Polish Andrzej Fusik executed and took down 55 meters long classic...
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Working Leon 8c FA by Klemen Bečan

Osp big cave
Photo @ the big cave of Osp Klemen Bečan strikes again by doing first ascent of Working Leon (8c) in the big cave of Osp. The route starts in Working class hero (8b+) where you have to climb its’ entire hardest part to get to the endurance climbing on tufas in full roof to an OK rest. Afterwards you have a crux of the route with a long move from the sidehold to a solid edge and a spicy finish to the top of Leon (8b). It was bolted by Gabriele Gorobey – Sbisi. In picturesque Brseč, Franci Jensterle repeated amazing 45 meters long classic Schussler extension (8b) while Igor Čorko made a first ascent of Happy end (8a), another 45 meters long 5-stars route. Some rainy days ahead, but the weather forecast for the weekend looks promising....
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Creme de la creme of Istria climbing

Klemen Bečan in Revolucija (8c+) in the big cave of Osp @ photo by Gianni Pecchiar Here is the list of Istrias hardest routes! The list consists of 54 routes from 9a+/b to 8c, a really big amount of extremely hard routes in such a small area, kind of unique in the world, perfect for hard-core climbers. For now, the hardest one is still Mr. Adam Ondras Vicious circle in Mišja peč with the proposed grade of 9a+/b that still waits for its first repeat. Vicious circle 9a+/b Mišja peč FA Adam Ondra (no repeat) Xaxid hostel 9a Mišja peč FA Tomasz Mrazek Sanjski par extension 9a Mišja peč FA Uroš Perko Martin Krpan 9a Mišja peč FA Jure Golob Waterworld 9a Osp the big cave FA Klemen Bečan Halupca 1979 9a Osp the big cave FA Matej Sova More 9a Medveja FA Adam Ondra (no repeat) Ekstaza 8c+/9a Read more

Another week report from Istria

photo @ Klemen Bečan in a project in the big cave of Osp This beautiful weather and prime conditions for climbing bring us many hard redpoints from everywhere in Istria. The secret spot above Trieste, Baratro, got dry in the last days and Davide Gaeta used fresh conditions and ticked La Supercanna (8b). Then in Slovenian part of Istria, in the big cave of Osp, restless Igor Čorko made one of the rare ascents of super steep 55 meters long Bala Bala (8b+), the Klemen Bečans multipitch (check video here). Also, Klemen Bečan was there and on second go easily smashed Leon (8b). In the same cave Italian old-gun Fabio Serino redpointed his first 8b ever, Helikopter v omaki. Congrats to all! A couple hundred meters away, in famous Mišja peč, young Czech girl named Gabriela Vrablikova fired the classic powerfest Mrtvaški ples (8b). In Croatia, more precisely in Buzetski kanjon, in the summer...
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Spring is in the air

In Istria spring is in the air! The temperatures are nice, flowers are blooming and wild asparagus are everywhere, not to mention that already »summer« crags like Baratro, Grotta Caterina and Skedenj are already totally dry. And the ticklist of the last week… In sunny Napoleonica, both young Jaka Šprah and restless Luka Biščak redpointed the crimpy classic Orcobaleno (8b). Looks like Klemen Bečan is back in shape as well as he did on his first try the connection of Helikopter v omaki (8b) and Osapska pošast (8c), named Helikopter v pošasti with the grade of 8c. He knew both routes from before, but fighted his way out on his first try to the anchor of this 55 meters long super steep route in the big cave of Osp. For the end of the day he repeated as well another marathon route, Active discharge (8b+). In the first part (8a) of it, on the second...
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New guidebook for Karst edge

Karst edge guidebook
In March 2019, a new edition of guidebook for Karst edge was published. This time it's even larger and richer, with additional areas of Vipava and Gorizia with crags Vipava, Vipavska Bela, Dolge Njive, Lijak and bouldering spot Vitovlje. As always, we try to make each edition better and more useful. The new guidebook now has 20 crags and over 2600 routes in Slovenia and Italy. All other crags have been updated, freshly photographed and checked: Osp and Mišja peč, Črni Kal, Črnotiče and Risnik in Slovenia and Napoleonica, Santa Croce, Costiera, Aurisina, Grotta Katerina, Sistiana, Doberdo and Val Rosandra in Italy. The guidebook now has a more durable cover with useful ribbon, which will come useful, as the book has grown to 432 pages. Anyone who feels the book...
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Gabriele Gorobey crushes Halupca 1979 (9a)

Halupca 1979
Gabriele Gorobey in Halupca 1979 (9a) in the big cave of Osp @ photo from his FB Just a couple of days ago we have reported about first 9a for Gabriele Gorobey – Sbisi. Now he has crushed his second one, Halupca 1979 in the big cave of Osp. 32-years old Trieste based local guy is a multi-discipline climber, from boulders to hard-core sport routes even to big walls. In Istria he is known as an explorer of new climbing areas, developing, bolting and first ascending numerous new routes. A couple of days ago he succeeded in his first 9a, Sanjski par extension in Mišja peč, now he just crushed his second one, Halupca 1979 in just a couple of tries, so he believes it is a bit easier than the previous. Halupca 1979 is in the centre of the big cave of Osp and was bolted by Klemen Bečan in 2007...
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Great conditions, great achievements

Rainini Stefano Folgarait
Photo @ Stefano Folgarait during succesful ascent of Rainini (8b) in Kompanj With great weather conditions and best crew also the great climbing achievements happen on a daily basis. Here is a big last week’s list of hardest ascents in Istria and for sure we have missed some. 😊 In Mišja peč we had a visit from South Tyrolean climbing team among strong boulderer Stefan Scarperi fast ascent in Talk is cheap (8c) and Missing link (8b+) we already reported in the latest news. After he climbed as well the bouldery extension of Tortuga (7b), named Ninja želva (8c) and made a big list of flashes including Popaj (8a+), Highlander (8a+), Samsara (8a), Corto (8a) and so on. His teammate Michael Piccolruaz ticked crimpy Človek ne jezi se (8c) and flashed Corto (8a). Patrick Tirler smashed the artificial Marioneta (8b) and Moritz Sigmund flashed Samsara (8a), while on the girl’s side Alexandra Ladurner after redpointing Oktoberfest...
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