Split (part 1) – Perun and Klobuk

It turns out that it does sometimes rain in Croatia, and we used a couple of very damp days (sorry – no rain pics, but trust me; it was verging on the biblical!) to move base from Omis about 20km up the coast to Stobrec, near Split. As well as a change of scene, this also brought another half dozen crags to within a commute of around 20 to 30 minutes. A bonus of arriving on a cruddy day was that we managed to snaffle a seaside spot, and by the time the weather perked up we realised quite how lucky we were. Very des res!

Our decision to stop near Split was mainly based on visiting Klobuk: “Without any doubt this is the best crag in Dalmatia” according to Vertical Life. Unfortunately (and I use the word in the loosest sense) the forecast was set for “Scorchio” for the next four days, with the prospect of a modicum of cloud cover on Day 5 (Thursday). We decided to save Klobuk for the cloudy day, and set about taking in the rest of the nearby crags, the nearest of which is Perun.

Both these crags are easily scoped out from the comfort of our deckchairs over morning coffee at Camping Stobrec, clearly visible on the hillside on the opposite side of the bay, which is why they’re bunched together in the same blog post. For Perun, it’s worth using the guidebook map as well as the GPS coordinates to get to the parking – Google has some odd ideas about what actually constitutes a “road”. The guidebook suggests two parking options, the first for regular cars and one a kilometer or so further up a dirt road for 4WD. Unfortunately this had been blocked by a minor mud-slip in the rain, so despite being fully 4WD in our truck, we had to walk. It was fixed by the time we returned and I reckon you’d be fine in anything but a ground-hugging Ferrari.

There’s a primitive camping area at the end of the track and the nearest routes are only a couple of minutes from here.

Sector Pog Noga has a nice mix of slabby 20-30m 5s and 6s and we both enjoyed Za Marijana, 6a+

Despite the good path, it’s quite a schlep up to the upper sectors of Vijanski Grad and Kafic, which have some attractive looking orange rock and tufa. Kontroversa, 6c+/7a got the better of me – too hot, too hard and too puny, but the eponymous Vijanski Grad, 6b, was a good consolation.

Back down at the base of the crag, Sector Glava was enjoying the last of the sun (basking now, rather than baking!)

… and Helen did Mackodlac, 6a, and the first pitch of Cookie, 5b

Great light on the crags as we headed down

Not a bad spot to catch the sunset. If you look closely in the shot below you’ll see a vessel moored in the waters between Split and Stobrec…

Closer inspection reveals the USS George Bush, the 333m long Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. I wonder how near they’d let us get on our paddleboard…

… anyway, that can wait for the morning…

Fast forward another three days and three crags, mostly getting sun-blasted and burned-off, (see the next post) and the promised overcast Thursday finally arrives. Klobuk here we come! As well as “Dalmatia’s best crag” we’re also promised “endurance tufa testpieces as good as Kalymnos”.

This is another approach which is worth a bit of thought rather than just banging the coordinates into Google. The trick is to enter the coordinates of the start of the dirt road as described in the Boris book, which will save you trying to drive on imaginary roads! Not that the 4km of dirt track is easy going, and we were very pleased to be in our 4×4 truck, but we did witness an ancient VW Golf successfully navigating the bumps and bends, so you can take your chances. It’s an impressive wall of rock when you do make it!

A narrow waymarked path leads off shortly after the parking (a couple of scrapes for 3 or 4 vehicles max), passing via a bivvy cave, and traversing up the hillside towards the crag.

There’s a 3-way junction marked thus…

… at which point you ignore both onwards options and instead follow a well-cairned path traversing leftwards…

until it is directly below the rightmost sector D, where it heads up the broad scree gully.

About a third of the way up, more cairns lead you off leftwards to Sectors A to C

If you keep your eyes peeled you might be lucky and spot a Golden Eagle (and hopefully take a better photo than me!)

There are only 40 routes on the whole escarpment, with massive scope for more, and only 3 of these are less than 6c, so warmup choices are limited. We did the magnificent soaring flake crack of Running Out Of Time, 6a+, which has quite a traddy feel and for once wasn’t a complete sandbag – clearly visible on the left of Sector Centrale in the shot below:

Meanwhile, a young German couple arrived and made very smooth work of Prototip, a spectacular and steep tufa 7a…

I was inspired, but mildly anxious about the reported scary spacing of the bolts at the top of the route (and these kids had a LOT more in hand than I would at the grade!) Tufa-tastic moves from the off, it starts steep and then gets steeper, but a few cunning kneebars enabled a bit of a recovery. I reluctantly left the sanctuary of the last of these, in the chimney formed by two converging tufa pipes, with a good 10ft between my last bolt and the lower off. Pumping out, and fully expecting to take a flyer, I mumbled the Tans mantra: “up or off” and launched upwards and outwards – surprising myself by clipping the chain. Best route of the trip so far (though be warned – it’s a bit crumbly in places and a couple of bits of shrapnel had Helen scurrying for her helmet, for which I was duly apologetic!)

Around to the left the crag changes character again with a few 6bs and cs on steep slabs. Ana Debela, 6b, was very good, and like the rest of the crag, without a hint of polish.

Worth mentioning that, even though it’s south-facing, a number of the routes get afternoon shade (including Centrale) and even though the eagerly-awaited cloud cover never materialised, it made for reasonably comfortable conditions. Definitely a 5* venue, and probably enough to warrant another visit (especially if I manage to get a bit stronger!) We bade a cheery “ciao!” to the Germans who were making good progress on the 7b+ on the left: