Rock climbing in Meteora

The rock climbing at Meteora consists of huge pinnacles and monasteries (similar to Montserrat in Spain), with some of these monasteries actually located on top of the pinnacles. The routes here are a mixture between bolted and traditional (placing own protection), and vary between single pitch and multi-pitch routes up to 285m long.

There is a considerable variation in the amount of fixed gear (bolts and some pegs) used on routes and, historically the ethic was to use as little as possible. Therefore you can climb a well-bolted single pitch route, and then a more committing multi-pitch trad route, where you will need to place nuts and friends along with the occasional bolt or peg. The type of rock is a combination of limestone, granite and conglomerate, with mainly slaby or vertical rock. This means the majority of the routes are in the 5a to 6b range (French grades).

Close to Meteora there are also some other crags (Theopetra, Pyli and Mouzaki), which offer well-bolted sports climbing on good quality limestone rock.

The information opposite has been extracted from Greece & The Middle East Rock Climbing Atlas, which is available to buy from our shop. This useful book describes the different crags, number of routes, style of climbing, how to get there, where to stay, and general information about the area, though it doesn't describe any individual routes.

At Rizoma there is a good bouldering area on sandstone rock.  This area is reasonably well developed with approximately 100 problems, with most of the problems marked with numbers or arrows.  There is a good range of grades here (Fb 2a to 7b+), though the more popular problems are in the Fb 5a to 6c+ range.  A crash mat is advisable though most of the boulders are not that high, which makes the bouldering very enjoyable. The bouldering at Rizoma is featured in the Olympic Blocs guidebook, which is available to buy in our shop.