Page 39 - 2020 AMA Summer

AROUND EPISKOPI
Exhibition, Piastre, Agios Georgios and Episkopi/Limassol. Oh wow! There are crags around the barracks? On the SBA? Down in Happy Valley below the quarters? I could climb at lunchtime and in the afternoon and then head down to the beach for a swim? Quick, how can I get a posting there....?! Well, hold your horses. The website makes them sound quite enticing, but there are two serious problems. Firstly, you can’t actually get to them. The man-eating thorny scrub hasn’t apparently been cleared for years, and the tracks are overgrown. Even the path to the ‘newly-developed’ crag of Episkopi/ Limassol. You can get cut to pieces just getting trying to get close. And the reason why no-one has bothered clearing away the scrub is that the rock is really unpleasant. It is that soft, yellowy-white grotty limestone which just doesn’t seem conducive to climbing. Yes, there are routes there, and even a few bolts, [a lot of routes are trad] but without some serious work they are just not realistic, and certainly not pleasant. If they were good crags, then the Joint Services AT Centre would probably have made something of them. But they haven’t. Which says it all really.
I could climb at lunchtime and in the afternoon and then head down to the beach for a swim?
AROUND DHEKALIA
Cape Greko. Cape Greko is an extensive area of crags down the road from the Dhekalia SBA. It is probably the best-known and most extensive climbing area on the island, and indeed is where climbing in Cyprus first started out. It is so obvious when looked at from afar, oozing promise. It has a multitude of routes, mostly trad but with a smattering of sports routes, great views out to sea, easy access, some anchors at the top and an ice-cream van. Sadly, it also has no shade [and is thus unbearably hot in Summer] and a lot more of that quite unpleasant soft, yet sharp-edged, grotty, orangey-yellow limestone. Sigh. It should be good, but it just isn’t.
Now don’t get me wrong, you can climb there, and a few of the routes on the main crag are not so bad. If I lived on Cyprus I would probably go there every now and then. If I were based in Dhekelia I would probably even make the most of it. It is useful on RSF for an introduction to trad climbing; nuts, hexes and cams all work. And you can abseil down or walk off the back [via the ice-cream van]. But don’t try it for bottom-roping, and I wouldn’t bother with anything apart from the main crag; the rock on the smaller walls is even worse. Look for the white bits [rather than the orange], remember that the sharp-edged rock makes for massive drag, choose your climbs carefully, and you can have a good day out. It is sad because it almost,
but not quite, has great potential. I haven’t been to Pyla, which is close by, but from the website it looks pretty similar.
Agios Irakleidhios. So, I haven’t actually been here. But I would like to. It’s in the grounds of a monastery! How James Bond is that? The drawback is that access is only allowed on the first Saturday and Sunday of each month. But if you are there then, must be worth a punt.
Pendadhaktylos. Again, not been there. It’s in North Cyprus, just past Nicosia, and of course now you can go there! Sounds promising; Garga Suyu is, quote, ‘one of the top three sports crags on the island’. Downsides: it starts at F5c, snakes are common, and it is very close to a lot of quarry traffic. Make your mind up time....!
ARMY MOUNTAINEER / 39