Mathieu Bouyoud, the 21-year old climber and college student from Chambéry, France, was in Kalymnos last month. Several of his days were spent at sector North Cape equipping and climbing new routes. But that’s not all: he also redpointed the powerful Inshallah 8c+ (watch the video here), a line traversing along the roof of the first cave, and “he seemed very pleased. Nice guy” says our friend Carl Dawson, who met Mathieu at North Cape. Mathieu has kindly provided us with info and suggested grades for his new routes; he climbed all but one, since, according to him, climbing and equipping are inseparable (“equipping and then climbing a route is a lot more satisfying than the mere repetition of a climb”). He also says he loves the opportunity afforded by outdoor climbing to travel and get to know different people and cultures. We couldn’t agree more!
Here’s a list of the new routes at sector North Cape by Mathieu Bouyoud, with comments by Carl Dawson.
NORTH CAPE:
16a ‘Marshmallow’ 8a, 12m (immediately right of Inshallah)
NORTH CAPE RIGHT:
25a ‘Le Mur d’Epicure’ 7c 25m
25b ‘Ahimsa’ 7b+ 25m (with Hugo Meignan)
Carl’s comment: The very obvious twin tufa line (and the headwall above) at the left side of the big overhanging recess. Looks like it will be a very major addition but the bolts look pretty spaced to me. Easy climbing maybe, but it’s ‘fresh’ rock.
NORTH CAPE UPPER CAVE
34a ‘Saglis’ 8? 12m (open project)
34b ‘Mudita’ 7c+ 12m
Carl’s comment: Two lines just left of Helios. Well-bolted. Short power routes.
Many thanks, Mathieu, and we look forward to seeing you on Kalymnos again soon!
7 Comments
thanks for bringing up this question – I was definitely annoyed by this sentence … to me sounded like appropriation of that space … I always loved the different styles of routes put up by different people, and sometimes found some of the bolting a bit industrial … lets have some routes bolted up there (to have some difference in style: on lines that have not been cleaned by others before)?
thomas
YES.
I was asking Bruno what does he think about the Rémy’s sentence in their article about their new routes:
“We will come back to make more routes and extensions, so thanks to wait before making more routes. ”
Same question to the climbers: do you agree?
I finished with a joke: though almost all the public property is getting sold in Greece, has this crag been bought by a swiss banksters?
Bruno & Pascal, do you mind continuing your posts in English since most readers don’t speak French?
Thanks!
Salut Bruno,
The new routes in the North Cape caves are the same length as the existing route, Helios, which is a well-respected and popular test-piece. There is room for top quality ‘power’ routes in Kalymnos as well as ‘stamina monsters’…. variety is the spice of life, as they say!
Short maybe, but good looking routes that really ‘pack it in’. Good job, Mathieu.
Faire du buzz en équipant des voies de 12m me semble un peut excessif (surtout sur Kalymnos où les voies font en général 40m), le smyley était juste pour montrer que même si je trouve discutable de passer ses congés à équiper des bordillos cela n’a aucune importance en réalité :-)
Sinon about la philosophie des Remys … “48 longueurs en 2 semaines” … chacun trouve sa motivation dans un délire … alors why not cela n’a aucune importance également!
Bruno, es-tu de la police du “bon grimper” (malgré le smiley)?
J’aurais préféré que tu réagisses à cette phrase dans le texte des Rémy:
“We will come back to make more routes and extensions, so thanks to wait before making more routes. ”
C’est vrai qu’en Grèce on privatise à tour de bras en ce moment…
12m for 3 of this newsroutes … :-))