The Climbing Festival of Kalymnos Kicks Off Friday Oct. 5th

Climbers from all over the world will take part in this year’s Climbing Festival of Kalymnos scheduled for October 5th, 6th, and 7th. This year’s program includes presentations, climbing lessons, competitions, deep water soloing, live rock music, and a lot who lot of climbing.

Since 15 years now, Kalymnos has become one of the world’s top sport – climbing holiday destinations. The rocky landscape and views of the endless Aegean of this locale afford enthusiasts a unique climbing experience unlike anywhere else. Added to the uniqueness of Kalymnos are the almost 2,500 well-equipped sport climbing routes laid out for every experience level.

Professional climber and dual two-time Bouldering World Cup gold medalist, Alex “AJ” Johnson will be joined by World Youth Champion, Klemen Becan along with veteran big event climber Peter Croft at this year’s Kalymnos. 

There are easy routes for beginners,  extremely hard ones for the experts, and an endless array of possibilities in between. The area is noted for easy slabs, technical wall climbs, wild overhanging and climbs between stalactites. The majority of the routes are single pitch but several multi-pitch routes are available as well.

Co-organized by the Prefecture of the South Aegean with Gold Sponsored by Elena Hotels, registrations for the event take place at the hotel on Thursday, and at Elena Village on Friday. The first climbing clinics kick off at 10 AM to get things rolling. The official schedule is here in English. 

The goal of the Kalymnos International Climbing Festival is to boost the development of a unique tourist market leveraging the intensity of the sport of rock climbing. The festival is the perfect vehicle for Kalymnos to brand  the island as an ideal destination for climbing and other sporting holidays.