Here are lots of crags that are "hyped" and where everybody is going, whereas some places are literally forgotten. Just across the border in Slovakia in the Male Karpaty range, this small limestone cave is hidden in idyllic green hills. I haven't had much information about it besides one old article in climbing magazine from 2001. It is always great for me going into crags I have never been to. It always feels like my adventurous soul is alive.
First, I was a little disappointed that all the hard routes are more or less chipped. The steepest abandoned project, called Tadej Slabe (after Slovenian climbing legend establishing hard routes in the 90s, mostly on the total roof of Misja peč crag), was covered in the ash from the fireplace underneath. It took half an hour to discover not only hand- and foot-holds but even bolts! The route is mostly chipped in a completely blank roof, but it climbs pretty well and requires unique power endurance, which is rare to find on the rock. I feel like these old chipped routes are testimony of that time, and despite not agreeing with chipping nowadays, I don't mind climbing on old chipped routes from time to time. There is an interesting moment around time 1:30 when I was sure it would be easy to campus that move, but I found out I was pumped and had to find a sneaky heel hook above my head. On that day, apart from this route called Black Roof of Ashes 8c+ (Černá střecha od popela 8c+), I also did another project called Haremyeb 8c+ and flashed Anacunda 8b+ that day (more about that in the next post).
Only on the way back to the gas station I found out that my face was still full of ash :-)
