A Whinge: Europeans....

Now... I'm not racist, but........

Kalymnos is quiet now, the cats are starting to out number the people..

The bin, home to many a Kalymnian kitty

So quiet, that I can post this list, without fear of being stabbed in my sleep....

This is just what I can remember from the past month!

1. Getting snaked; I've tied in, I'm putting on my last shoe, when some euro starts up the climb I'm sitting in front of. I say 'hey, I was going to climb that', they just shrug their shoulders and continue.
2. Not sharing; Someone is on a climb, I wander over and politely ask, 'Excuse me, how many more of you will climb this? Can I climb it after?' they say, 'oh eh' jus' one/two more', I say, 'OK great thanks, I'll go after'. So I sit there and wait while 4 or 5 of his friends go first! If you said 4 or 5 I would've gone to another climb.
3. Not being patient-climbing; You've barely touched the ground when someone is racing up the climb you where just on... Chill dude, just give me a second to untie, take off my shoes and pull my rope.
4. Not being patient-cleaning; I'm nearly at the top of the climb, someone finishes a climb next to me, insteading of waiting a minute for me to get to the top, they just pull there rope, it falls all over me or my belayer... Thanks..
5. Hogging a climb; I walk up to a climb, 'oh hey can I climb this' to which I get the reply 'no, we are climbing it'. Looks like you're sitting there eating bread and cheese to me!
6. Not hanging their own draws; This one is even more obvious now that it's quiet. There's lots of empty routes around, but as soon as you hang your draws on a climb, people flock over asking if they can have a go. Pick another route damn it!
7. Bad belays; Now I've been pretty lazy with the camera on this one, I could have heaps of photos... But imagine so much slack out the rope runs along the ground for 3 or 4 meters, while they belayer has no hands on the rope, while they play with there baby! Munter hitches, laying down while belaying, sitting there smoking a cigarette with about 5 meters of slack out, eventually the rope goes tight, just pump out another 5 meters of slack and continue smoking... All of these things seen regularly!
8. Bad parenting - babies at the crag; Now this one probebly isn't fair, but I don't like it. They cry and yell etc. etc. Parents put them right underneath you, so if you accident knock off a rock you could kill an infant or baby! You ask them to move the kid and they say 'oh it be OK'... Yikes.....

So that's about it.....

Glad I got that off my chest!

Don't get me wrong though, 99% of people are great, Kalymnos is just so busy, that other 1% is quite a few people!!!

A typical euro belay....

Thanks for reading,

Danny