Lelaki

Lelaki, is the smaller sibling of Vrachokipos crag, located on the east side of Ymittos. With similar red-grey excellent rock and long sustained routes it is a very good choice for climbing in mid-to-high range difficulties. Lelaki is an ideal crag for afternoon climbing during the warmer months. Some of the lines are particularly long and require a 70m rope. The cave offers some top quality hard routes in the 7b-8a+ range, mostly on pockets and tufas. Although the crag already has 18 lines, there is still room for more routes in the cave (i.e. top-end grades).

It is worth noticing that similar to Vrachokipos, the place is a common bird nesting area therefore climbers should show the appropriate respect and avoid climbing all routes close to nests during the spring and early summer months.

Lelaki was discovered more than a decade ago by N. Xanthopoulos and E. Karabela, just like Vrachokipos and Sesi crags. The couple opened the first 9 routes (“Evridiki”, “Agriolouloudo”, “Gata tou Siam”, “Alepou”, “Prasino Pepromeno”, “Artemis”, “Ymittos”, “G.Lelakis” and “Oginis”) plus 2 attempts on the left part of the cave which were left unfinished. The place remained relatively unnoticed for around 10 years due to being close to the more impressive Vrachokipos. However its potential for more difficult routes was noticed by D. Papageorgiou, A. Areteos, G. Aliferis and A. Koutrouba who on May 2011 opened 7 more routes, most of them above 7a.