Sesi

Sesi is a weird place. Urban legends mix with facts regarding violent crimes and pagan rites in the crag’s pre-climbing past. Specific route names stand as a testament to old grudges. As far as location is concerned, Sesi is situated in the southern side of Ymittos as far from downtown as any other crag and next to impossible to reach by public transport.

Despite these ambiguous facts, Sesi remains one of the most popular crags in Athens and for a good reason. What the cliff lacks in public transport accessibility, it makes up for in tranquility and minimal beauty. What the routes lack in height, they exceed in power and character. The crag is quite extensive in terms of route number and variety. Inarguably, crimps (often of brutal littleness and sharpness) are predominant but there are moves and lines for every taste.

The limestone rock is uniformly of the best quality, compact and mildly featured but also slightly polished on the easier and most popular routes. Due to its size and the number of routes the cliff seldom feels crowded except at the easy routes’ neighborhood which can get congested. Bolting is acceptable with some notable exceptions. Often, erratic bolt placement and risky runouts are compensated by semi-permanent rope extensions.

Relatively unknown “Pano Sesi”, lies on the hill southeastwards of the main Sesi wall. Often overlooked, it has no less than 28(!) routes to offer on four distinct small faces. Climbing here is very similar to Sesi, quality is surprisingly good (especially on the uppermost sector “Left”) with continuous yet finger-aggressive climbing. A word of caution though: don’t come here if you are chasing grades. Not only are the grades low but also quite sandbagged. If, on the other hand, climbing is the goal, the routes are good, the views even better and peace of mind is almost guaranteed.

The earliest recorded climbing activity in the area is by Ntinos Xanthopoulos and Evangelia Karabela on year 1998 when the first routes and some of today’s classics like “Aroma Ymittou”, “Mikroula”, “Dionysos”, “Perdika” and “Frapedia” are established. Later on the same year, N. Potamousis with N. Xanthopoulpos establish also “Nifada” and “Glaros Ionathan” one of the hardest lines in the crag to date. With the dawn of the new millennium, Sesi receives the largest number of visiting climbers, new routes and free ascents. New routes are opened from 2000 onward by D. Stravogenis, S. Mountzouvis, G. Aligiannis, S. Kostantakopoulos, T. Karali, S. Gkezerlis, C. Tsoutsias, N. Kounitis, G. Nastoulis, V. Giouri, G. Aliferis and others.

From 2005 and to the present date, route-setting activity slows down but never ceases completely. Notable some of the hardest lines are set and freed during that period by D.Papageorgiou and others. To this very date potential for new lines still exists, as do a few unfinished and open projects. Pano Sesi has been almost exclusively the work of A. Skevofilakas and D. Botos with some assistance from P. Karaberopoulos. Most lines have been established between 2005 and 2006.