It's Joe not Joey

"Is this how you belay?"

We began our well-deserved rest day, the same way we always do: lazily. Sleeping in, taking our time with breakfast while each of us indulged in our own activity. Jess playing Radiant Defense on my laptop. Joe playing worms on the ipad, trying to steamroll me in between turns. I just try to sleep more. We finally roll out of our beds, eat some breakfast and prepare for the day. Today, Mike told us about a great place to snorkel in behind the studios, so we decided to check it out. The approach was difficult, especially in bare feet, Jess Tarry was the only sensible one, wearing his black keen sandals. After hustling ahead out of sight he decided to climb a tree and ambush us. Luckily I was fast enough to get ahead and didn’t look like a fool (such as Joe) when he jumped down. We got to the water edge and realized we had to dodge a minefield of rocks riddled with purple sea urchins just to get to the deeper water. Jess Tarry, being an avid snorkeler, was first in the water. Joe and I, being land lovers, followed after a number of minutes had gone by (slowly). After committing to diving in, the water temperature really wasn’t that bad and the sights were spectacular. It got very deep very quickly, and the water was just short of being crystal clear. It wasn’t the fish or the coral that caught my attention but the maze of rocks down there. Hidden caves everywhere. Joe didn’t venture out too far, due to his shark phobia, but still enjoy the moment. This offered great opportunities to sneak up from below and scare him, which Jess Tarry took advantage of. Jess and I went out fairly far, every once in a while diving down to swim side by side with the fish. After maybe a half hour, we started getting cold and headed back in to join Joey on the beach. Nothing else worth mentioning happened on the rest day, we just ended the day with dinner and a movie. Yeah that sounds like a date. It really was a date with myself and Joe creeping the back ground; I was sitting in front of the mirror. 

Lazy Climbers

I just remembered something worth mentioning! I hope I describe it well because it was the highlight of my trip (comedy wise). Joe went out for some late night grocery shopping, while Jess and I stayed home and joked around about Keto and Pink Panther. For those of you who do not know who Keto is, he was hired by the Pink Panther to hide in his mansion, and ambush him every night when he comes home, just to keep him on his toes. Every night the Pink Panther comes home and yells through the house “Not tonight Keto! I’m tired, I had a long long day at work. Come out!” Keto never listens and usually attacks him regardless. Anyways, We decided to scare Joe, but filling my bed covers with pillows, making it look like I was laying down there. After recalling his steam rolling fetish we came up with the brilliant idea to split the beds apart, creating a gap in between and covering it with blankets. I hid in the closet and waited. Joe came back and Jess played his part, keeping his voice down and saying that I was sleeping, Joe knew something was up, but Jess didn’t budge with his act. Joe eventually started to believe that it was actually me under the covers. He brushed his teeth and got ready for bed, not suspecting a thing! He realized that his pillow was gone (being used under my covers) and believe I took it. Jess told him to  steam roll me and take it back. Joe said “ok ,ok….” The moment of truth “wait I need a flash light.” He wanted to see where his pillow was and after turning the light realized there was a gap in between the beds. He still thought I was under the covers, so I used this chance and jumped out at him from the closet. HE JUMPED TWO FEET IN THE AIR! And had the most horrified face expression I have ever seen. We laughed for hours.

            The next morning, the sun rose, it was project day. We hiked up the hill to Iannis crag where our routes were waiting. The walk up to the crag is quiet a bit easier then the one to Grand Grotta area, and we have fallen into a routine of wearing ipods on the walk up. We were always too focused and exhausted to talk to one another anyways. At the top we take 5 minutes to catch our breath, then its shoes and rope out of the bags and time to saddle up. Joe and I warm up on an amazing climb called Adolf in the Bay, which at the end has one of my favorite moves “The Iron Cross” to a pinch! Jess warms up on Attitude, stopping just before his project begins.

            We don’t really have a routine as to who goes first, I’m usually flashed pumped after our warm up so I take a little longer to regenerate, its usually Jess or Joe. On this particular day Joe was the chosen one, and spent a burn refreshing the beta in his mind and waking up his finger muscles. Jess then gets on Attitude extension making it up to the crux move no problem. The move that stands in front of him now, has been described to me as a V7 boulder problem 35m high. It is and incredibly hard move and after a number of attempts, he came down unsuccessful.

            I was able to reach the top of attitude with only one rest, due to a wet tufa pinch. I should have made the next move, one more higher from the bolt, but fell. I sent it next go and came down happier than a Tele Tubby. It was time to pick a harder project. There was a 7a+ that starts the same as Draconian Devil, inside the cave, but comes out of the cave with powerful moves and finishes on a slab. Let the games begin.

Our warm up

            Joe and Jess both put a couple more burns in on their routes, Jess still not able to make the one move wonder on his route, gives up and decides to try a more sustained 7c+ instead. But first he puts draws up for me on the 7a+. His 7c+ is call Super Themelina (an extension to Themelina). I got on my new project, making it to the top no problem, just with many rests. The slab (less than 90degrees) section at the top is the scariest/sharpest climbing I have ever done. If I fell I would be cheese graded down the slope. I did it once, ticked the holds I wanted and won’t do it again until I climb all the way there with no rests.

            There were a couple others at the crag climbing that day including one of the ladies from Vancouver climbing with an older British lady named “Jerry.” They invited us 3 handsome boys over to their beach house that night for some drinks. Also at the crag were an older couple from Spain, the guys name was Pachi. He was climbing strong, and use to be even stronger before his injuring. After talking to Joe about the 8b and offering some beta, not just telling but demonstrating, he started telling us stories about back in the day, climbing with Sharma and Dani. It was really interesting to listen to the stories.

Joe demonstrating his amazing belay skills

            After climbing, we decided to go snorkeling again, this time at a new spot. We were dropping off polysporin to the Vancouver lady and walked along the beach to try and find their house. We never found it and walked a long way along the beach. Joe didn’t learn from last time and once again did not wear shoes. It was hell for him to walk across the sharp rocks and boulders covering the coastline. We found a dock, which we decided to take off from. I promised Joe to stay on the outside, closest to the wide-open sea, keeping a constant look out for shark. I don’t know what Joe expected me to do if a shark were to swim up, but it got him in the water. Once again it was an amazing time, and Joe and I joked around with different sign language, turning our snorkel route into a rock climbing route with rests and cruxes.

Joe on his project Racomelo

            We went home and cooked our usual dinner. We packed some beers and a bag of grapes to bring to the “party”. Immediately upon arrival, we get offered gin and soda, I’m the only one who accepts, I wanted to be a good guest! Josie hands me a drink concocted by herself, and probably contain 80% gin, 10% soda and the other 10% was probably the lime wedge. My mother taught me very good manners so I drank it with a smile. Pouring the last sip into the bushes I then moved onto my beer. Refreshing! Joe and I were amazing wingmen, and when the girl that Jess Tarry had the hots for came over to chat, we pretended to see something in the ocean and left the two alone. Unfortunately she caught on to our tactics too, and quickly mentioned her boyfriend back home in Vancouver. Oh well the thought was there. Meeting many climbers, the majority from the states, we concluded the night watching Boogie till you poop. It’s a rock climbing film on youtube, documenting a climber on a crack climb, when his knee gets wedge in the rock. A dude named Cedar Wright comes to rescue and situated himself under the climber. The climber is super hung over, and ends up shitting his pants. The reason the video came into topic is because Cedar Wright is here climbing at Kalymnos. We met him one day at Spartacus wall and offer to get stuck in a knee bar and shit our pants. He didn’t seem too impressed but his partner replied that he had his filming stuff here. We walked home then hit the hay for a new day of projecting.