Most visitors or would be visitors to Greece, on closing their eyes, will conjure up images of islands or beaches, but it’s a surprisingly mountainous country. The Taygetus mountain range dominates the centre of the Peloponnese, with the famous Profitis Ilias its highest point at 2,405m. We explored the cragging options on our 2017 trip at the well-established venues …

Nedousa 

… and

Lagada

Further north, the historical cities of Sparta and Tripoli are also set amidst some impressive hills, and there are a couple of recently developed crags to explore. We’d been holding out for a spell of hot weather (to offset the chill at 700-900m) but ended up settling for “warmish and not raining” as the best on offer in the window when we might be passing.

Nestani is about 10km north of Tripoli and has around 90 recently established routes courtesy of the Mountaineering Club of Tripoli and the local municipality. There’s a great free downloadable topo here https://olympusmountaineering.com/2023/09/20/climbing-in-nestani-tripoli-guidebook-edition-2023-nestani-crag-and-dreamer-crag/

There’s a smaller SE facing sector, Dreamer Crag, with around 20 routes…

… but we headed for the main event Nestani Crag itself. On Google maps it looks alarmingly close to the E65 main road but this isn’t a 6-lane monster highway and the road noise isn’t too intrusive. In contrast, immediately beneath the crag, the local community have built a family park which also serves as a parking area. This rather idyllic looking shot is taken at the end of the day when the sun had finally emerged from the clouds and seen fit to drag itself around to the right side of the hill.

Unfortunately, the sun first glances the rock around 2ish (no doubt the shade will be welcome in a couple of months time) and in any event it was shrouded in cloud. Less than 10C at 700m in the shade was a bit miserable, but we wandered up for a look anyway. Most of the routes have the familiar handy ClimbGreece nameplates…

Helen led Argon Pedion, up some interesting runnel features.

This section of the crag has a bunch of lines with an easier lower pitch (5c to 6b) with extensions of 7a-b up to around 40m. I had a go at Tagari, and should probably have taken the hint when I found the first 6b pitch tough, but persevered with some hand-shredding crack action to not quite make the 7a extension tick. Worth coming back for these when I can feel my fingers.

By now we’d been joined at the crag by an intrepid Greek couple (just about visible on Voulomeni) and we went to say hi and for Helen to do one of the Vs at the left of the sector, before escaping to defrost in the van. 12CB4, on a warmer day!

Agios Petros is about halfway between Tripoli and Sparta, high in the hills nearing 1,000m and accessed by inevitably winding roads. The village itself is bustling

There’s a great free topo here https://www.climbagiospetros.gr/en/ which also captures the welcoming spirit of the local community. There’s a handy, if shady, van spot suggested adjacent to the chapel of Agios Georgios. Sector Zonaga is a couple of km outside the village but is another afternoon sun spot, so there’s plenty of time for a leisurely coffee at one of the tavernas in town to let things warm up.

The crag is immediately above a very quiet road (despite being the main thoroughfare from Tripoli to the coast, we barely saw a vehicle) and accessed near its left end (there’s a fixed rope for a few scrambly steps).

Grand views across to the village, spilling randomly down the steep hillside opposite.

About 40 routes from 5a to 7c, though probably the best of them from 6a upwards. We did Sarantapodarousa, 6a/+ (or perhaps +++) up a smooth white groove – good but no push-over, and the contrasting Marianna, 6a, up an orange juggy crack – excellent.

Warmed up (and we certainly were – even at 12C air temperature, you’re soon pretty toasty in the sun) I threw myself at Anideos, 6c+/7a. This takes a steeply overhanging corner-crack line, with a bouldery few moves to gain entry to the corner and then a battle not to get spat out again. One of those routes that reminds me of the advice the NP rangers give in the event of running into a mountain lion – “Be prepared to fight!”

On this occasion I was delighted to accept a points decision in my favour. Brutal but brilliant.

Another crag in a beautiful area with plenty to come back for, and we didn’t even get to check out the nearby sector Kakavo, with another 50 routes (albeit the majority of these are 7s and up). Just as well, as we need an excuse to pop back in to the Sparta Brewery to top up supplies of our current favoured tipple…