A day in Luknja

Tufa paradise, Osp, Slovenia

Tufa paradise, Osp, Slovenia

This spectacular crag has many names: local villagers call it Cave-castle, because they used to have some fortifications here (and you can still see the remain of the walls). Local strong climbers simply call it the Hole, while its more elaborate and poetic nickname is Spider’s roof. It used to be only interesting for some aid climbing endeavours and it was considered way too hard for sport climbing.

It all changed in 2000’s with Klemen Bečan (of rocktrotters) and Matej Sova, who bolted the first crazy lines here. The true classics are over 50 meters long, but you need a level of 8b at least to climb them. Since they have many no-hand-rests, ascents lasting many hours are quite common and it’s true spectacle to watch someone climb them – even a tragedy if they fall at the top after 2-hour fight.

Apart from climber-watching, the Hole is famous for its amosphere, which is fairytale (or more precisely Lord-of-the-rings) like, with surrounding walls, lush vegetation, tufas hanging from the rock and countless birds flying around at breakneck speeds. Of course the crag is rain-proof, but beware. Sometimes the whole area can fill up with water even a couple meters deep.We tried to climb from a boat then… and somehow it works 🙂

What does the Hole offer to non-PROs? There are just a couple of easy routes, and some more on the way there. But if you climb 7a or above, you’re up for a treat. The routes in the 7s range are all fantastic, long, continuous and very much like Kalymnos. Here are also many starts to multipitch routes, some of them approachable even to beginners.