Category Archives: news

Photo @ Kompanj

Looks like the new year of 2022 started just great for all the climbers in Istria. First snow in the inlands and then many sunny days attracted climbers from all over to get our climbing areas even crowded somewhere.

It is hard to start what was climbed in the last days as there are so many hard sends from everywhere.

The hardest route was climbed by Spaniard Alex Ventajas who in succeeded in Martin Krpan (9a) in Mišja peč. It is the first 9a on Slovene ground and has seen already more then 20 ascents in 20 years. It was first ascended by Jure Golob in 2001 and is characterized as power endurance route with cca 8b start for 20+ moves direct into hard boulder on undercuts followed by another 20+ powerful moves to the top...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2022 to all of you climbers! We wish you a healthy and injury free year, full of prime conditions for climbing, with lots of fun. 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. There was also some fog near the sea but obviously it didn't matter too much.

Let’s start with the hardest sends over the Christmas and New Year's holidays in Istria. Matjaž Zorko started the New Year of 2022 by climbing his hardest route, his first 9a, Halupca 1979 in the big cave of Osp, He also added Leon (8b) in the same cave and Sould kitchen (8b) on...

Photo @ Mišja peč

Last days in Istria were awesome. During the week it was nice but weekends were crowded as everybody escaped the fog, snow and cold in the cities around.

Rok Blagus did probably the longest route in Mišja peč, Bastilla (8b+). Bastilla was first ascended by Marko Lukič back in 1997. The first part Giljotina is a powerful 8a, then you have a no hand rest on an edge. The second part is a hard, crimpy and bouldery 8a+. After it waits another good rest and the hardest part of the route. At first it was done on the right side of the roof which was definitely much harder than the “new” left version found by Mauro Bole aka Bubo more than a decade ago, which consists of hard drop knees and just two hard moves on crimps to...

Photo @ inside Plus climbing boulder wall

World Cup Lead climbing will take place for the first time in Koper on 02.-03. September 2022 on a brand new wall owned by Plus climbing. The outside climbing wall is still under construction but we are already super excited to see this climbing spectacle with the best climbers from all over the world in our region. All the thanks for the organization, wall, etc goes to restless owner of Plus climbing, Luka Fonda.

Apart from that, the local climbers are pushing hard in our hardest climbing area Mišja peč, where the conditions for climbing are nothing but great at the moment.

Young Žiga Zajc redpointed his first 8c ever by doing the famous Talk is cheap (8c) over there.

Maja Oleksy on the crux of Lahko noč Irena (8b) in Mišja peč @photo by Mateusz Haladaj

Seems like mainly local climbers from Slovenia succeeded last week in the hard routes around Mišja peč and the cave of Osp.

Enej Novak redpointed his first 8c ever by clipping the chains of powerful classic Talk is cheap in the left part of Mišja peč.

Jaka Šprah and Matjaž Zorko have both repeated the long Sanje za dušo (8b+) in Mišja peč. Jaka also added the ascent of crimpy Chiquita to the top (8b), while Matjaž did the long enduro test piece in the cave of Osp called Osapska pošast (8c). Just to let you know, because of lots of rain and snow through the whole of Slovenia, unfortunately...

Photo @ the scenic town of Motovun in winter

Winter is coming to Istria in the next days. Last days were rainy and not so nice. But in the next days the sun and NE wind called „burja“ will arrive to Istria. „Burja“ always brings sun and chilly weather. This winter climbing conditions are perfect to climb in the sunny and wind protected climbing areas like Mišja peč, Lijak, Napoleonica, Aurisina, Costiera, Kompanj, Pandora and so on.

And what was climbed in the last week?

Let us start this time in Croatia. Nikola Kramarič from Split, probably the strongest Croatian at the moment, had a successful weekend climbing in Istria. First he visited old school crag Read more

Photo @ Tedi's cave in the left part of Mišja peč

The hardest route climbed last week was the first part of Sanjski par (8c+) in Mišja peč, redpointed by the Pole climber Mateusz Haladaj. Matusz is a 36 years old climber with two 9a+'s and many 9a's under his belt. He is currently in Osp and Mišja peč as a coach and photographer of Polish youth climbing team. Sanjski par was bolted in 1992 by Slovenian climbing legend Tadej Slabe, then in 1994 he freed the first totally horizontal part and graded it 8c. Years later one hold broke and it got upgraded to 8c+. Its extension is a 9a benchmark and was first ascended by Uroš Perko back in 2003. Here is the video of Stefan Bednar's full ascent of Sanjski...