Spindel / Adrachti

Overview

Spindel / Adrachti

Spindel is one of the smallest summits in the Meteora (Μετέωρα) area, a charming and suggestive climbing site located in the Thessaly region of Greece. Spindel is a free standing spire about 45 meters high located just in the center of the valley between Grosse Heilige and Sourloti. The fact of being alone and having a narrower footing than the top makes Spindel an eye catching formation.

Given the limited height of the spire, the routes are obviously short, at most a couple of pitches. The most famous climb on Kelch is Scorpion and was climbed first by Roman Ziegler and Kaspar Ochsner in 1980. 

Shade: early morning and from middle afternoon 

Getting There

Meteora is situated in the Thessaly region of Greece, Northern half of Greece, approximately 25 km NNW from Trikala, and immediately North of Kalambaka and Kastraki, the two main towns in the area, both located very close to the rocks. The closest main town is Larissa. The distance to Kalambaka is about 360 km from Athens and 237 km. from Thessaloníki.

By plane - Meteora can be approached from Athens Eleftherios Venizelos airport or from Thessaloniki airport. From these airports you can:

- take a domestic flight to Larissa (about 85 km from Kalambaka)
- rent a car, useful once you are in Kastraki, but not essential, then 4 hour drive to Kalambaka on a new highway.
- use public transports (bus or train). Getting to Meteora without a car is easy thanks to the train from Athens that stops in Kalambaka.

By ferry from Italy – If you wish to travel with your own car, there are different shipping companies and many ferries departures to Igoumenitza from the harbours of Ancona, Bari and Brindisi across the Adriatic.Then a mountain road to the small town of Kalambaka at the foot of the wonderful Meteora.

Approach to Spindel

As you drive North from Kalambaka towards Kastraki, you will pass an indistinct rightward fork shortly before entering Kastraki proper. Take this narrow road which will put you above the village. The road makes a run-around a low and slabby formation. Stay on it as it enters Kastraki and switchbacks its way uphill toward the mouth of the valley formed by Pixari (on right) and Sourloti. Park at the dead end road near a church and follow the obvious trail that heads up the hill in front of the church. After about 15 minutes you'll arrive at the Spindel.

Routes

- Via Scorpion L1 6a+ / L2 7b  30 m, 2 pitches     FA: Roman Ziegler & Kaspar Ochsner, 1980    Same start as "Silken Thread", then go right at first belay.

- Kieserroulett (Pebble Roulette)  6b+, 45 m, 2 pitches   FA: Rainer Rosenberger, G. Baumgartner & H. Zak, 1990   On the NE side

- Seidener Faden (Silken Thread)  L1 6a+  L2 6b  40 m, 2 pitches   FA: Uwe Rößler, U. Langer, E. Brutscher & J. Seifert, 1991  Follow Scorpion until it gets small pebbled, then leftwards wall (6a+) to the ridge (belay). Further leftwards to the top 

- Gordischer Knoten (Gordian Knots)  L1 6a+  L2 5c+ 40 m    FA: Detlef Augustin & J. Stockmann 15.5.1997 (upper part)  FA: Detlef Augustin, H. Abele, G. Steiner 21.5.1999 (lower part)  Left of "Via Scorpion" directly to the belay of "Silken Thread". Ridge to the top.

- Plakias wall  45 m     FA: Radek Meier, M. Homolka, M. Meier & B. Vockova, 12 Apr 2016   In the northwest side bolts to the finish of "Silken Thread"

Descent: rappel ring bolt under the summit register box, 1x 40m

Red Tape

No fees and no permits required. Anyhow, if you are visiting this area, remember not to climb on rock formations with inhabited monasteries. In the Seventies Dietrich Hasse and his team decided, in agreement with local authorities, not to climb any route on these latter rock formations. This rule applies even today. Please preserve all other historical remains. Another important suggestion is not to add fixed protections on the classic routes to the pre-existing ones. If you plan to visit the monasteries, keep in mind to be appropriately dressed: men cannot wear shorts, while women must wear long skirts and not trousers, arms must be covered. Since the year 1988 Meteora was declared a Meteora Unesco World Heritage Site .

When to Climb

Spring and Autumn are the best seasons for Meteora. Virtually you could climb all year round (snowfalls are rare), with the warning that summer is really very hot and in winter the temperatures may be unpleasant, unless you are very lucky. The best months are late March, April, May, September, October and November. 

Accomodation

There is a great number of hotel rooms, B&Bs and rooms to rent in the village of Kastraki, the village built in the shadow of the Meteora towers. The nearby town of Kalabaka also features many accomodation choices. There are also three organized campsites, amongst which the nearest one to the crags is Camping Vrachos in Kastraki. There is also a smaller campsite near the tower of Doupiani. There are plenty of eating out options, particularly tasty traditional Greek food and pizzerias, both in Kastraki and Kalambaka.

Meteo

Meteo Kalambaka

Guidebook and maps

“Meteora – Climbing and hiking” by Dietrich Hasse and Heinz Lothar Stutte - I edition 1986, in English and German. It contains around 230 routes. Also, it provides general information about mountaineering, hiking in Meteora, maps, directions.

The second guidebook is:

“Meteora Climbing Part II” by the same Heinz Lothar Stutte and Dietrich Hasse – II edition 2000 – German, Greek and English - Note: the II edition is not a complete guidebook, but an update to the I edition

The Meteora guidebooks can be purchased in Kastraki, Taverna Paradisos or Camping Vrachos. There is also a useful map by the same authors that can be purchased in local shops in Kastraki.

A new guidebook was recently published (2022) by the local climber Vangelis Bastios 

Meteora – Sport Climbing Guide by Vangelis Bastios, Edition 2022 - The guidebook includes routes from Meteora, Theopetra, Sarakina and Agia Paraskevi.
Says Vangelis: “Because sport climbing has become increasingly popular in recent years, it helped me decide to create a guidebook for just the sport routes in Meteora and Theopetra (a cliff only 10 km outside Meteora, with good quality limestone).

External Links

Climbing web-sites:

- Climbgreece
- Climb-Europe Greece/Meteora
- Meteora-rock-climbing
The site of Jörg Brutscher, one of the German climbers, who first climbed many hard cracks in Meteora. Unfortunatelly his site is only in german.
Also by Jörg Brutscher, check : www.sandsteinklettern.de. In german only, but with a lot of information. Click on Wegedatenbank, then Griechenland. There are a lot of routes and very good drawings/maps of the various rock groups. Some very interesting climbing photos from Meteora, Elb and other places.

The site www.routes.gr is the best database of mountain climbing routes in Greece. Unfortunatelly has only a few, mainly new, routes from Meteora in this link: www.routes.gr/?Lang=en&Page=Climbing/Trad/Areas/Meteora

Other info here:

The site of Kalambaka town: www.kalampaka.com 
The site of the Hellenic Mountain Guide Association.