Part I
To warm up the atmosphere of this autumn, we would like to
write something about our August trip to the beautiful region of Croatia
- Paklenica.
Paklenica is a National Park located in northern Dalmatia, in the Velebit Mountains.
The most interesting part of the park is Velika Paklenica - a huge limestone canyon, located near the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
The canyon bottom trail stretches for over 10km and the highest rock walls rise to a height of 400m from its base.
It is a great place for active recreation, both for climbers and also for hiking tourists who will find here many beautiful, well-marked, scenic routes.
Our main goal on this year, was to increase climbing skills and the willingness to test ourselves on long multi-pitches routes.
It would be a lie if we wrote that we did not go there for the beautiful clean sea and the warm Croatian climate.
We chose the coastal, extremely charming town of Starigrad-Paklenica as the main starting point.
It was filled with numerous restaurants serving local cuisine, shops with various souvenirs, travel agencies, hotels, boarding houses and campings.
It is also worth mentioning that there is a shop with climbing equipment in the town :)
We stopped at the Marko campground at Paklenicka Street.
At first glance, the camping did not look the best, but as it turned out later, the climate that prevailed there and the efforts of the delightful lady owner dispersed all our earlier fears. It is also worth emphasizing that the campground is located in the shade of trees, which is extremely important in the summer months.
The most important advantage of the location of our base was that we walked on the gate to the Paklenica National Park for 15 minutes, and it was only 300 meters from the sea.
From the first days of our stay in Starigrad, we tried to divide the time in the best possible way: for the one we spent on a wonderful transparent sea and the one we spent on climbing in the canon.
Admittedly, August is not the best month for climbers in Croatia.
Sometimes it happened that the temperatures at noon reached even 40 degrees Celsius.
We were able to deal with this, we spent the first hottest part of the day by the sea and the second (more or less after 15 o'clock) we devoted to climbing in the canyon.
Such a layout worked well :)
" Travels have a magical power to heal the soul and definitely help to distance themselves from the problems of everyday life. They do not solve them directly, but they help to re-evaluate them and look at them from the other side of the river. "Martyna Wojciechowska
Paklenica is a National Park located in northern Dalmatia, in the Velebit Mountains.
The most interesting part of the park is Velika Paklenica - a huge limestone canyon, located near the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
The canyon bottom trail stretches for over 10km and the highest rock walls rise to a height of 400m from its base.
It is a great place for active recreation, both for climbers and also for hiking tourists who will find here many beautiful, well-marked, scenic routes.
Our main goal on this year, was to increase climbing skills and the willingness to test ourselves on long multi-pitches routes.
It would be a lie if we wrote that we did not go there for the beautiful clean sea and the warm Croatian climate.
We chose the coastal, extremely charming town of Starigrad-Paklenica as the main starting point.
It was filled with numerous restaurants serving local cuisine, shops with various souvenirs, travel agencies, hotels, boarding houses and campings.
It is also worth mentioning that there is a shop with climbing equipment in the town :)
We stopped at the Marko campground at Paklenicka Street.
At first glance, the camping did not look the best, but as it turned out later, the climate that prevailed there and the efforts of the delightful lady owner dispersed all our earlier fears. It is also worth emphasizing that the campground is located in the shade of trees, which is extremely important in the summer months.
The most important advantage of the location of our base was that we walked on the gate to the Paklenica National Park for 15 minutes, and it was only 300 meters from the sea.
From the first days of our stay in Starigrad, we tried to divide the time in the best possible way: for the one we spent on a wonderful transparent sea and the one we spent on climbing in the canon.
Admittedly, August is not the best month for climbers in Croatia.
Sometimes it happened that the temperatures at noon reached even 40 degrees Celsius.
We were able to deal with this, we spent the first hottest part of the day by the sea and the second (more or less after 15 o'clock) we devoted to climbing in the canyon.
Such a layout worked well :)
Part II
"Climbing is the thirst for life, not death. The mountains live more fully "Tadeusz Łukajtys
As we wrote in the previous part of the Climbing capital of Croatia -
Paklenica is a paradise on earth that you could never go back. :)
Beautiful and high rocks with numerous climbing routes accumulated in
the canyon of Velika Paklenica and the warm and clear sea make it a
truly great place.
In this part, however, we will focus on the climbing qualities of the region.
Paklenica is a place in the world where every climber, regardless of
experience and preferences, will find something for themselves.
If you are planning a climbing trip, it is best to stop at one of the
campsites around Paklenicka street, leading straight to the climbing
paradise.
Camps are located at the gate of the national park about 1.5 km.
If you intend to climb more than one day, you should consider buying an entrance pass.
One-time entry costs 50kn, while for a 5-day pass we will pay 150kn.
To ensure yourself a pleasant time without unnecessary wandering around, it's worth getting a climbing guide of the area. In case we did not manage to do it at your home town, nothing is lost! On the spot we will also find stores where we will get such a guide.
The most popular, readable and up-to-date guide to Paklenica is the 2017 edition. by Boris Čujić.
In a situation where we accidentally noticed any deficiencies in our
climbing rquipment, already in Starigrad, this is also not a big problem!
At our disposal is quite a richly equipped climbing shop, offering practically everything we need.
At this point, it is worth to say that the standard length of the rope
is a 60m rope, and it is precisely this way that climbing routes are created here.
You can find here short, well-reflected sports roads with very different
degrees of difficulty, as well as long multi-pitches roads, adapted for sport climbing and classic climbing.
The first rocks can be found after a few minutes of walking from crossing the gate of the National Park.
At this point, we must decide what interests us most:
Will it be a short sport climbing, or maybe long multi-pitches roads.
The largest amount of short, sports climbing roads with good protection, up to 35m,
with various difficulties can be found in the central part of the park,
the so-called Klanci (canyon).
Most climbing routes are located near the road.
Recently, there have also open other, new, interesting sports sectors,
characterized by excellent rock friction, eg Baltazar, which is part of
the Kukovi rock, near the entrance to NP Paklenica.
It is worth mentioning a slightly different way of protecting climbing roads.. The rings are most often located at greater distances than on our rocks. As the height increases, these distances usually also tend to grow. However, everything within the limits of security :)
An important difference is also the structure and related roughness and sharpness of the rock.
In a word, you can not count on the smooth skin of your hands after the
first days of climbing. :)
The huge boast of the region is the huge and distinctive Anica Kuk, with its unique shape. It is the epicenter of attractive, almost historical multi-pitches roads. Some of them reach a length of up to 350m.
Multi pitching roads are available here on almost every major rock.
An amazing perspective for people who start their adventure with this
kind of climbing are simple ridge roads with valuations II / III / IV.
When planning a climbing trip to Paklenica, it is worth taking into account the weather and the climate there.
The summer months are characterized by very high weather stability but also by very high temperatures exceeding even 40 ° C
The most affordable for climbers are spring months: April, May and
autumn: September and October, of course we can not count on such a
certain weather as in the summer but in exchange for pleasant climbing
without excessive heat.
Below is a map with marked main rocks and climbing areas.
See you in the rocks!
