Cikola is described as the fastest-developing climbing area in Croatia, with the first routes only established in 2015; it now boasts over 250. Cikola is the largest tributary feeding the river Krka, famed for its waterfalls and protected by the surrounding National Park. The Cikola river itself is pretty modest, at least at the start of our visit in November (after a few weeks of heatwave), but over the eons it has sculpted a very impressive canyon, almost 200m deep in places, and strewn with potential crags – there’s plenty more rock to go at!

Cikola got a pink “priority – must visit” post-it marker, as soon as we got our hands on the brand new 2022 Croatia guide by Boris Cujic – it features on the front and inside covers, and gets a big write-up.

However, we’d been delaying our visit to hopefully coincide with some cooler weather (though there are routes on both sides of the canyon, the majority are on the sunny side and also benefit from shelter from the prevailing winds – we’d been warned it can be toasty!) Hence, as we approach the second half of November and Week 5 of our trip, we’ve only now got around to visiting.

Arriving after having climbed for six straight days, we resisted the temptation of a rest day, with an unstable weather pattern forecasted. Instead, we dragged tired limbs for a quick afternoon introductory hit at Sector Bandusovak, not the nearest sector but one that gets some shade from around 2pm.

You head left at this sign and follow the canyon rim, passing over the biggest Sector Osoje (full-on south-facing)…

… and following a waymarked path which zigs briefly away from the rim at a viewing area, before arriving at a “Via Ferrata” (at this point it’s more like a natural stone gangway with a wire handrail) which takes you down a layer of rock strata, and around the corner you’ll find Sector Bandusovak:

We got there around 1ish and despite the truck thermometer reading only 20C we literally had to hide in the cave and have some lunch – it was way too hot to climb. Any thoughts that we should have visited the area sooner were immediately banished!

The wall left of the central tufa cave gets shade earliest and, following a tip-off from blog-follower Mick, I jumped on Antonija, 6b+, which was every bit as good as promised. (Thanks Mick!) Probably a bit stiff for a sensible warmup – an orange crimpy wall is followed by a tough overlap and then contrasting but still interesting climbing up a grey slab – 32m of fun, and we were already sold on the quality of the climbing.

We also did Slobodna Plovidba, an excellent 6a crack running almost a full 40m up the righthand wall, in what is otherwise mostly 6c/7a territory (note there’s a mix-up on the topo with this route swapped with No Panic…, 7a – it’s pretty obvious when you try both!)

Fabulous light as the sun set, illuminating the “shady side” crags.

Next day started drizzly and we worried we’d completely missed our window. We headed down to Osoje on the basis that any sun that did show up would arrive there first….

In all there are around 80 routes in the guide (and probably another 20 added since), with two steep orange tufa zones book-ending a wide swathe of tall, grey slabs.

Radio Dalmacija, 6a+, is the first route you come to, and quite a stiff warmup, though that might have been partly down to a bit of dampness.

Ko Sir is a great line following a natural diagonal:

Sure enough, the sun soon broke through the clouds and I was keen to get on one of the orange routes before the temperatures became unbearable. Maslac i Pašteta, 7a, was my kind of route – crimpy tufa knobbles into a tenuous groove. Brilliant! The adjacent Thompson, 7b, is similar, but the rock is a bit dirtier and less travelled. I felt I’d fully earned a 7a tick as I clipped the final bolt, only to get shut down by a couple of seeping tufa holds and a desperate sequence via a couple of maybe “enhanced” holds.

Shirtless by now, of course, I almost lost my CAC T-shirt in the camouflage of our matching tarp and rope. This prompted a bit of artistic licence on becoming a trustee of Climbers Against Cancer and looking forward to celebrating the charity’s 10th anniversary.

Here’s Helen on the twin routes Zig and Zag, enjoying the excellent friction.

Turned out glorious again!

Incy wincy climber, climbing up the crag

Down comes the rain and on goes the cag

Out comes the sunshine and dries up all the rain

… and incy wincy climber takes off his shirt again!

… Ominous looking clouds at sunset though…

Sure enough, it was a chilly start the next morning and we were up and about early to make the most of the day before forecasted rain in the afternoon. The Central sector of Osoje has a real spread of grades from 4a to 7a, mostly 25-35m and very well bolted. It even features a topo board, complete with credit to the EU funding that supported much of the original development here…

My ill-conceived plan to warm up on Prva Ljubav, a 45m 7a, quickly unravelled, but I enjoyed Branko i Danguba, 6b+, before the rain started in earnest.

After a rainy rest day (much overdue but still resented – you can’t please a Goldilocks climber!) we were back on Osoje early again for the cool and the dry. We bumped into Luka and Schuman (sp?), two of the crag’s developers, putting the finishing touches to a couple of newly bolted routes. Great to see the amount of effort being put into evolving this brilliant new venue, and to be able to pass on our appreciation. The latest updates can be found on 27crags.com and if you stump up for the “premium” subscription, 50% of proceeds go directly to the crag equippers / topo authors.

Helen did another couple of the longer 5cs, Anestezija (fierce start!) and Brijem da da (sustained!)

… before we moved over to the righthand orange wall.

Big Boy, 6a, still retained a few watery pockets after overnight rain, but was climbable and thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. Further right there’s an impressive wall of gently overhanging orange limestone. I managed Bitka na Cikoli, 7a, (steep, bouldery start, crimpy wall and massively overhanging corner crack)

… and Super Hrvoje, 7a+, (easier-than-it-looks vertical crimping followed by a tough, techy crux through an overlap). These were both outstanding routes of great contrast (the latter now established at the top of the “route-of-the-trip” leader board.) Here’s a shot of a Slovakian climber on his redpoint attempt a couple of days later:

Another rainy day interlude followed, and returning once more to Osoje (we needed maximum rock-drying conditions!) it was notable how the Cikola river was now a raging torrent having been an invisible trickle at the start of the week.

Here’s Helen on Karamela, a 35m 5c which dodged most of the wet patches.

Having run out of orange 7as I had to up my game to try Zvizdan, 7a+. You can just about make me out hiding in a bush after the crux upper bulge (after a bit of a sit to mop up the worst of the wet).

Lavanderman, also 7a+, is crimps all the way – got it second go having failed to spot a crucial hold.

As the day neared its end, and with it our time in Cikola, the weather got its act together to give us a glorious send off.

We reckoned we’d just got enough time before sunset to squeeze in Ledena Voda, one of only a couple of multi-pitch routes to run the full height of the crag 5b,6a,6a+ and 65m. Great way to end the trip.

That completes the overview of a productive if occasionally rain-interrupted week in Cikola. It’s definitely one of our new “favourite places” and there’s plenty to come back for as we never even made it to the shady side or a couple of the more distant sectors. Fab discovery!

Talking of rain interruptions and rest days, what’s there to do when there’s No Climbing?

The Cikola Canyon is on the edge of the Krka National Park…

The spectacular Skradinski Buk waterfalls are a collection of 17 falls that tumble over travertine limestone barriers that are so characteristic of the geology hereabouts.

In season there are boat trips up the Krka, and judging by the amount of real-estate given over to parking and tourist facilities it must get absolutely rammed! The upside is that there’s plenty of accommodation in the climbing season (I’d guess October though to April) including the very welcoming Kamp Marina.

Another rainy day attraction is the Sibenska Pivovara, and whilst unfortunately the tap room is closed out of season, the lads were very happy to open up and sell us some of their very respectable beer!