Kalymnos… this island holds a special place in my heart. Almost exactly two years ago, Kalymnos was my first real stop on my nomad journey and finally I was headed back! And as I do so many times, I ended up staying longer than expected – exactly 3 months. I experienced everything from late summer with melted chocolate bars and high humidity to storms and freezing temperatures in November. I was really happy to be able to meet up with so many friends I had made over the past years – lots and lots of people coming to Kalymnos for part of the season. People came and left again… I stayed.

Of course, I already knew exactly what to expect of Kalymnos – and it definitely delivered all of that: beautiful sunset, awesome tufa climbing, lots of fun climbing partners and a fun night with drinks here and there. Climbing-wise, I had improved a lot since my last visit, where I was mainly climbing in the 5s and low/mid 6s. This time, my goal was to leave the island with a new max. grade in the pocket – something that unfortunately didn’t happen. Sometimes, everything needs to come together for a high send, so in the end I decided to focus on building my base and trying to send lots of routes between 6c-7a+ to just get stronger in general and to build that famous pyramid everyone keeps talking about…

Some of my proudest sends were:

• Ivy 7a+ (first 7 on Kaly)
• DNA 7a (3rd go)
• Kerveros 7a (2nd go)
• Kaly Pige 7a (2nd go)
• Island in the Sun 7a+ (hardest project)
• Aurora 7a (first 7a flash!)

I left the island feeling much stronger, more confident and happy with my climbing, despite the lack of sending higher grades. Many projects are left on my list for the next visit. Kaly – I’ll be back! Here are some more photos.