Considering Montenegro has mountain in its name there are surprisingly few options for rock climbing on bolted routes. Things just haven’t developed that far yet. Which in a way is a very good thing. Just means that if you’re more serious about climbing, rather than having it as a sideshow distraction, you should do it the trad way. In that case you’ve got nothing to worry about.

MontenegroClimbing.net is definitely the first place you should check out, whichever way you swing. However, to find some more useful topos, head over to Geoquest Verlag and do some searching for the relevant PDF file. Those Germans developed and equipped several very nice routes around Gusinje (Prokletije mountains on the border with Albania) and Kolašin.

Pirlitor

Curiously there’s no information online about a nice little spot called Pirlitor, high above Tara Canyon in Durmitor national park. We stumbled on a poster describing the access and route topos outside of tourist info in Žabljak. It turned out to be a very welcome find and a fabulous place to camp for the night. Just don’t drive all the way if you don’t have a 4×4.

Access navigation is straightforward. From Žabljak drive towards ĐurÄ‘evića Tara and turn left on a gravel road after about 8km (there is a sign). Follow the signs from there and park the car when you get to the pass from where you first see the wall 200m away (see photo below for the reverse view). Do not make the mistake of driving down to the wall in a regular road car. Unless they fixed the bumpy road (unlikely) you will get stuck trying to get back up (likely). Just below the top there’s a steep section where your wheels will most likely spin without traction on loose gravel and at best there’s going to be a hail of stones flying around while you go nowhere, further damaging the road. At worst you break the car.

We (should probably write I) learned the hard way. I gave up after several unsuccessful attempts with increasing run up speeds (and trying not to feel sorry for abusing the car), which at best got me perhaps one meter farther than first time. We unloaded most of the heavy items from the car, I made another fast run as high as possible where we changed places and I then pushed as hard as I could which eventually made the difference and we were free. Will. Not. Repeat.

Anyway…there are currently two walls to be climbed in Pirlitor. From the looks of things the Italian team that developed the area did it within the past couple of years. There’s still some clearing to be done and loads of potential for new routes around.

The west wall is the harder of the two with 14 routes from 5b/c to 7b+. We didn’t spend much time on Durmitor in general and only climbed two routes, Il cetriolo and Red Berries (both 5b/c). I remember the odd loose rock section but were otherwise OK.

East wall is entirely for beginners, tourist day trips or climbing schools with 6 routes in 3-4 range. It won’t entertain you for long but it’s good for practice or just warming up. We climbed Adrenalina (4) and Mamma Mia (4+) for a photo op.

Kolašin

Kolašin is a short drive north from Podgorica and the climbing area is just outside town on the left side of the road towards Bjelasica. You can’t really miss the parking spot and the topo poster. Sector one is just across the river and the larger Scorpion wall is 10-15min uphill and to the right.

Altogether there are just over 30 routes of which we did 3. Worn out under unrelenting sun we gave up quite soon. After a hard meeting with the wall coming down from Dancing with Šega I really didn’t feel like doing more. The guidebook might lead you to believe there are a bunch of routes graded 4 and 5 but neither of the 3 we did came even close to that. Pop stone is supposed to be 4+, we’d give it a 5b. Dancing with Šega and Dancing with cetka are graded at 5- but they deserve a 6b and 6a+ respectively. Quite a difference, especially for those climbing on the lower end of the scale. Another problem with both of these is the very probable huge swing right into the opposing wall after you unclip the final quickdraw while clearing the route on the way down. At least I couldn’t figure it out and it ended quite painfully after losing my grip and eventually footing.

Gusinje

Gusinje is in a lovely area close to Plav on the Albanian border in Prokletije mountains. There are several independent sectors in two neighbouring valleys for you to explore. As we spent our night in Grbaja valley we climbed on a few boulders and one larger monolith called Domačin (sector 6 in Geoquest topo) with several easier warm up routes in the 4 range.

We then moved to Ali Pašini izvori (Ali Paša springs) in the valley closer to Gusinje with the much larger choice of routes of very varied characters. We started with sector Platten in two beautiful routes Scheherezade (5c) and Fairytale of friction (6a). We then moved to Central sector and routes Kosovonaut (6a+/c) and Das Mädchen m.d. rauen Händen (5b+/c). Kosovonaut was falling apart at the slightest touch and I was very happy to be doing it on top rope. I also believe it’s significantly harder than the topo makes it seem. Judging by how many holds came off in my attempt alone it must be vastly different than when it was conceived.

Slideshow part 1 – Durmitor

Slideshow part 2 – Kolašin, Prokletije & Kosovo

Three days before we were set to leave for our winter Finland visit I received my climbing skins. I got them at the same time as new skis a week or two earlier but since at the time I didn’t have the bindings yet they were left sitting in the garage. When I finally got them all together I wisely decided I should do a short test run up and down Pohorje to see how it all worked together before doing any serious touring. I took all the stuff out of the car and was ready to start when I realized the skins don’t fit. I fought against the obvious until the lesson that it’s best to do this in the comfort of your own home sinked in.

Turned out the front attachment nut was made with the slightly thinner profile of the new ski model in mind. I bought the last years (at a substantial discount) so it was off by a millimeter. Could have been a centimeter for all I cared. It just wouldn’t work. I called up the factory shop where I got them, sent the package and they returned it in 3 days with a custom fix. Nice customer service. And this time I immediately tested the whole thing at home.

Now there were only 2 days before we left for a vacation and with perfect snow and weather conditions I wanted to make the most of it. Since it would be the first time on the new setup I needed something relatively short and easy so I went north to Weinebene and from there to Moschkogel in the direction of Koralpe. Half a meter of powder from the day before was great (where it wasn’t blown away) but the terrain sucked. Not a fan of touring on the flat and all I earned during the two hour sightseeing tour was a decent blister that wouldn’t go away for the entire time we were in Finland.

So when I got back to the car I took one look at Handalm across the road and went for it. I just left most of the stuff in the car…water, food, camera, shovel. Everything. It’s so short I didn’t even consider it beforehand. But after the depressing stroll I really needed a boost of a steep powder run, no matter how short. I fought the deep powder upwards for 30 minutes and skied down in about 30 seconds. But that was all I needed to save the day.

I just wished I’d done 10 laps of that in the first place…

The first time I probably heard of Sharm El Sheikh & Dahab was 10 years ago on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree diving forum. Everyone was (and still is) constantly asking the same questions. Where should we dive? Who should we dive with? Where should we stay etc. ad nauseam. All the attention, even way back then, was putting me off the idea of ever going there. The aversion was further reinforced when I saw the first pictures of friends, relatives or others who went there (or Hurghada) and all I could see were hotels in the middle of nowhere and dozens of dive boats moored on the same dive site. Not my idea of fun.

It’s all on the opposite side of the scale from what I look for in a holiday and/or diving destination. Too many people, too many hotels & all very fake.

But then the revolution happened, every paranoid fool started avoiding Egypt and their tourism industry tanked. Suddenly there were no crowds in Sharm, suddenly the idea of coming to a dive site and being the only–or one of a few boats–became a reality. Even the boats left running were half full if that. Suddenly the idea of going diving in Egypt didn’t sound so bad. The same hotels and fake feel are still there but the prices are down and crowds are gone. So we seized the opportunity over x-mas and went diving.

Mind you, I was still feeling crowded with what was apparently only about 20% of normal capacity.

We took the easy way out and just got an all inclusive offer @ the Sheraton as the total price was lower than flights alone. Not that we actually took advantage of the “all inclusive” part as the only time we actually spent a substantial portion of the day at the hotel was our last day before the flight. We pretty much went diving straight off the evening flight there and more often than not our dive guide Ahmed picked us up around sunrise and dropped us off in time for dinner. In between we were either on the boat, underwater, in the desert or at Al Mawardi coffee shop.

Perhaps more memorable than the diving (quite nice, especially the Thistlegorm) was the night drive to Dahab and climbing around Wadi Gnai and Wadi Shahira at sunrise. I was always a sucker for the desert.

So was it worth it? Under the circumstances, most definitely. 3 years ago I wouldn’t even dream of it.

Sharm & Dahab underwater slideshow

Some photos copyright by Dejan Kovač, Janez Burkeljca

Sharm & Dahab above water slideshow