Banja Luka is BiH’s second city, about four hours north of Mostar (one of those weather-induced wrinkles in the obvious trajectory) and a similar distance north of Sarajevo. The drive from Mostar takes you along river valleys and through densely wooded mountains, in complete contrast to the hustle and bustle of the cities at either end. The enchanting town of Jayce was the highlight of the drive…

… but the abiding memory was of the simple stalls selling magnificent cabbages along the roadside. Just cabbages.

The last part of the journey is along the Vrbas valley, offering the biggest concentration of climbing in BiH. Attentive readers will recall the same claim made about the Blagaj area – both repeated from the guidebook. The prevalence of multi-pitch routes perhaps means that Banja Luka wins in number of pitches whereas Blagaj has more routes? Anyway, there’s plenty of rock to go at!

The centrepiece is the Tijesno Canyon, barely a kilometre long, but over 300m deep, with a series of characteristic ridges sweeping down to the valley bottom. This is the home of the annual Drill and Chill Festival, a new-routing and high-lining extravaganza, but things are a bit sleepier in October.

Camping Jablan makes for a great base…

… with pitches backing on to the river.

There are dozens of multi-pitch routes of up to 200m, and a bunch of single pitch sectors with routes up to 9a+/b (courtesy of Adam Ondra) and enough more reasonable fare to keep us mortals occupied. Most of the single pitch stuff is accessed from above via a network of well-marked paths, starting at a small parking area outside Bar Vito. This is about 500m as the crow flies from the road in the valley, but about 20mins drive.

We picked Cuvarkuca for a first recce. One of the newer sectors – the path gets less well trodden at each junction…

… and the last 50m requires a bit of belief as the hitherto abundant red and white painted markers give way to the occasional twist of insulating tape around a tree branch. The topo says “Mind the Big Drop Below” and they’re not kidding!

We did a few of the routes at the end of the buttress, including Lilla, 6a+ (not a sandbag for a change) and Hand Job, 5b…

… and had another encounter with some more of the local fauna (quite a sizeable scorpion)…

Not hugely impressed with that sector, I reccied Kresendo, which might be a better bet for a future visit.

A few hundred metres beyond the end of the Canyon proper, Sector Skubalj offers three contrasting buttresses stretched out above the road

The middle of these, Trup, was definitely the pick as far as we were concerned. A dozen routes from 5a to 6b, and up to 40m, ranged in approximate order of difficulty from left to right. Here’s Helen on Slap Need a Hug, 5a…

… and me on Lzgubljeni Svajcarac, 6a. This and the routes either side (5c+ and 6a+) were all excellent, and reasonably graded after a stiff start.

The smooth looking upper walls were actually riven with numerous finger slots – you just need to be sure they aren’t already occupied!

Here’s a view down to Skubalj from the top of the gorge on a sunnier day.

Another few km further south is Kameni Most, or Stone Bridge, a natural arch visible from the road and accessed in about 15mins across a wobbly suspension bridge

Up close, it’s quite impressive, with the arch about 40m high.

There are no routes in the arch itself, but there’s a 40m two pitch line up a corner system immediately right that gives access to the top of the formation. Do Jaja is given 5c, which is a bit of a joke (just as we’d started to rebuild our confidence in BiH grades!) but it’s a great outing, if a bit friable in places, and can be linked in a oner with about 15 draws. Here’s Helen negotiating the final steep corner.

Gorgeous autumn colours visible from the summit.

Sectors E and F are further up the hill, and have a westerly aspect. I got totally shut down on Hug Me, 6b+, but prevailed on Slucajno, 6a. Here’s Helen on Izgublejeni, 5a.

We bumped into a German couple who were on a similar Balkan Odyssey and spent time comparing notes on crags to visit and consoling each other on the arse-kicking grades!

We picked on Sector Chucho Mucho for a taste of the multi-pitch adventures on offer. It’s the left hand wall in the shot below (the magnificent Central area is Amphitheatre).

It’s “only 5mins” approach from a small layby on the road – probably more like 10 if you are exploring as it’s a bit of a jungle.

There’s a handy sign at the foot of the first route…

… and then the path traverses another 100m or so, dropping down then up via a couple of rope handrails, to reach Pinocchio (where the handrail runs out), which was our objective. This is a 170m 5-pitch 5c and is the second route from the left. It’s pretty bushy hereabouts, so the lines aren’t easy to spot, and the topo isn’t hugely detailed. Long story short, we ended up doing the route to the right by accident, which we eventually pieced together on reaching a roof after 3 pitches. So you don’t make the same mistake, here’s the view from where the fixed rope ends. Pinocchio is on the left, Dirt in the Wind (it does have an independent first pitch, contrary to the guidebook) is on the right (there is a further bolt line farther left which is easy to miss).

To say that the first pitches are bushy would be an understatement, but things clean up as you gain height.

With an unplanned early finish, we headed into Banja Luka for some shopping and a quick recce of the urban crag Suturlija. TBH I wouldn’t bother, though it’s almost worth the short diversion for the comical footbridge.

Our efforts were rewarded though, seeking out the Master Craft Brewery and stocking up on a dozen of their excellent IPAs.

Our final foray in the canyon was to another of the single pitch sectors accessed from above, Sector Vito. This was a bit more travelled than Cuvarkuca and featured some good routes up strong lines.

Breathtaking views down into the canyon too.

Helen found Illatos Omios, 4b, which takes the left arete of the buttress, a bit crumbly, but the adjacent One Hand Minus, 5b, was better.

Further right, Kohle Sepp, 6a, was very good but tough (might have to start saying gbt to save wear on my keyboard!)…

… whereas Einfach Tapfer Sein, 6b, was disappointingly cruxy (and still tough), and Veni, Vidi, Vito, 6a+, was fun but a tad dirty.