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Geography
| Meteora   | 
| Page Type: Mountain/Rock Location: Kastraki, Greece, Europe Lat/Lon: 39.70000°N / 21.63300°E Activities: Hiking, Trad Climbing, Sport Climbing, Scrambling Season: Spring, Fall Elevation: 2231 ft / 680 m | Page By: Irma Weber, teochristopoulos Created/Edited: May 18, 2002 / Jul 13, 2008 Object ID: 150984 Hits: 5784 Loading... Page Score: 90.19% - 30 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
OverviewMeteora is not the name of a single Rock. It is an area, where you will find around fifty massive towers of rock. The whole region is divided into several groups and there are over 170 summits with more than 670 routes. The difficulty varies from II to VIII+ (UIAA).
Getting ThereThe rocks are all in a walking distance from Kastraki and Kalambaka.
You can reach Kastraki and Kalambaka:
a) from Athen Airport:
you can either take a plane to Larissa (85 km from Kalambaka)
or take a train or bus from Athen to Kalambaka
b) from Theassaloniki Airport:
take the bus to the train- or busstation
there is a bus going directly to Kalambaka
or take the train to Kalambaka (it is cheaper but takes longer)
Red TapeThere are no permits required. But:
There is an important rule saying that the rocks having inhabited monasteries are not to be climbed. A lot of people visiting Meteora do so for religious and site-seeing reasons. Actually this is the majority of visitors, compared with the climbing-related visitors. This numbers means of course money. Also the influence of church in politics in Greece is very strong, so the monasteries tried to ban climbing in Meteora in general. Fortunatelly the climbing community managed to stop such a restriction.
Anyway we have to understand that this place is shared by some completelly different groups of people, so we have to respect each other habbits. Please try not to be provocative, especially at the near monasteries climbs.
When To ClimbSpring is the best season to climb in Meteora when the rainy days are very rare. Easter time is a very popular time in Meteora and it is probably very crowded.
It is very hot in Summer, but you can still climb in the early morning and late afternoons.
Until mid Autumn the days should still be warm and dry. Later on, the weather gets more changeable, wet and colder.
CampingThere are several camping places in Kalambaka and Kastraki.
The one we stayed had a swimmingpool, communal barbecue site, cooking facilities and a small shop and restaurant:
Vrachos Camping in Kastraki.
Tel: ++30 432 22293 or 23744
Fax: ++30 432 23134
But there are also lots of rooms available in hotels or pensions.
EquipmentIn addition to the personal equipment like harness, climbing shoes, belay/rappel device, lockers and helmet, it is recommended to have:
- two 50-meter ropes (half or twin)
- about 10 quickdraws
- 5-6 slings and 1-2 prussik cords
- 1 set of nuts
- 1 set of friends (big friends are usefull for cracks and chimneys)
- some hexes (big hexes, like WC Rockentrics 7-9 and Camp 9-11, are very usefull in Meteora cracks)
The appropriate equipment for each route is given very well in the Hasse/Stutte guidebooks. In general face climbs demand only quickdraws and crack/chimney climbs demand a good rack of nuts/hexes/friends. Have in mind that cracks are in general without fixed protection.
Literature / InformationMeteora Climbing and Hiking
from Stutte+Hasse
ISBN 3-922066-02-X
+
Meteora Band II Climbing (newer routes)
Stutte + Hasse
ISBN 3-922066-05-4
Meteora climbing & Hiking - Guide International. H.L.Stutte, D.Hasse
In Greek, German & English, this is a topo guide to the imposing area of Meteora. Detailed info on routes, gear, hours a route is in the shade & more. Edition II & III are also released.
production: Stutte-Verlag, Postfach 144782504 Wolfratshausen, Germany (tel/fax ++49 89 3511938)
(you can order directly at Stutte-Verlag or www.pizbube.ch)
More about MeteoraIf you need a resting day you can walk around all these rocks and find a beautiful landscape. Or you can visit one of the monastries and enjoy the view on your next routes you'd want to climb.
Maintainance of this page.This page is under maintainance status. In the next weeks will be some changes and some more route discriptions. Thanks.External LinksThe site of Kalampaka town: www.kalampaka.com
The site of local climber snic: http://users.forthnet.gr/kmp/nsd/
The site of No Limits (greek outdoor activities company). In Kalampaka lives/works Larry Botelis (greek mountain guide, member of Hellenic Mountain Guide Association). Unfortunatelly HMGA site is only in greek at the moment.
The site of Jörg Brutscher, one of the German climbers, who first climbed many hard cracks in Meteora. Unfortunatelly his site is only in german.
Also by Jörg Brutscher, check : www.sandsteinklettern.de. In german only, but with a lot of information. Click on Wegedatenbank, then Griechenland. There are a lot of routes and very good drawings/maps of the various rock groups. Some very interesting climbing photos from Meteora, Elb and other places.
The site www.routes.gr is the best database of mountain climbing routes in Greece. Unfortunatelly has only a few, mainly new, routes from Meteora in this link: www.routes.gr/?Lang=en&Page=Climbing/Trad/Areas/Meteora Images
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