West Ridge

This is a very important and insane route on the tower. A must-do climb originating on the west end of the Outcrop tower. This route is a hard and tasking traverse between the Outcrop peak 2 and the main summit, its main traverse passes over the very exposed North face of the mountain. The west ridge finishes at a location called balcony ridge, from there on you traverse the paper thin wall in a climbing/via ferrata style. 

Route Description

The route takes approx. 45 mins to traverse from the initial point at (38.011071, 23.763190), the route acsends through a narrow gully lined with corroded red rock until Outcrop peak 2. From there it traverses the ridge to the true summit (310m). 

After reaching the blue position (bottom right) head up the gully (gully 01) denoted with yellow, this area is mainly corroded rock and you will generally be scrambling on fallen rock and for some time on the steep chimney. This section is not all that fun and is pretty tiresome to ascend. You will after around 8 to 12 mins reach Peak 2 the lower sub peak more to the west, it is denoted on the map with light blue. From there you will traverse thin mans ridge, the high line connecting ridge denoted with purple. This is by far the most fun part of the climb but is very dangerous, the ridge drops 35 vertical meters to the Norther base in full exposure, the ridge must be treated like a via ferrata or rock climbing traverse, use your hands and find grips on the rocks while you traverse.  After that you will reach giants balcony, a tiny rock that acts as a vantage point to the ridge, from here head up the obvious gully (surprise chimney) and reach the summit.

Giants balcony is denoted with light green,

Surprise chimney with light red. 

To descend from the same route is not recommended. 

On the right picture we can see thin mans ridge traverse in Green, giants balcony in blue and surprise chimney in red. 

Essential Gear

You will not be needing any special gear although i strongly recommend a helmet for the descent. Maybe you could also bring a set of Trad climbing gear if you wish to rope up as there is no infrastructure. 

External Links