UKH

Hi all,

The other half and I are off to Kalymnos again in September, we've recently started getting into multi-pitch so I'm toying with the idea of giving Wings Of Life on Telendos a go.  The climb itself looks like a great day out, and the grades of all the pitches are right up our street...

However the only issue I'm worries about is the walk off - I've got a bit of a dodgy knee so if I walk down hill for too long I'm in trouble.  I've seen the walk-off being described as anything from an hour to all bloody night - how long is it really?  Could I expect to make it down in less than a couple of hours (the absolute limit of my knees).

Is there any way to abseil off this instead, or does the route traverse too much to make this a goer?  If so, is there other way I can ab off the top of Telendos to get me down a bit quicker and save the knee?

It can get very busy, abseiling it would likely end up in some sort of international incident. TBH I cant remember if its even equipped. Eterna further left is I think from memory.

The walk out isn't that bad if you take your time theres a choice of bars at the end of it all, anyone having an epic needs to learn how to navigate.

Good point, hadn't even thought about how busy it might be!

I've had a look at Eterna, it's apparently equipped with abseil stations and is less busy so that might be an option. 

Having said that maybe I'll just pack a head torch and take my sweet time over the walkout, that ought to be ok if I just take lots of rests.

I know. I should get poles. I'm in denial. 

I reckon the walk out is about 1.5 to 2 hours. The first bit to the top of the hill and big cairn is flat or rising up slightly.  Once at the cairn you head down hill,  the path is rough in places but just take your time. You can hide in or in the shade of the chapel if its baking hot. 

The section down from the chapel is probably the steepest bit but it's not too long. Eventually you'll be down quite close to the sea and you are a decent path.  It's a looooing and slightly undulating trudge back to the village. ..however keep thinking of cold beer,  juice and ice creams and you'll be fine.  

You can get some pretty dinky collapsing poles these days too.

Enjoy whichever route you do

Thanks for this, exactly what I was looking for, much appreciated!

Good description of the route above.

I'd just add that there are *lots* of *very* spiky plants en route.

Don't do it in shorts and flip flops...I speak from experience ;( 

If you're in the really spiky stuff you're off the path! There are spiky bits but you should be able to stick mostly to path and avoid the spikes.

Even if you don't stand on thorns etc it's rough and jaggy limestone in places. Trainers or similar are fine so no need for boots but you really don't want bare tootsies.

Oh, it’s most definitely possible to mess up the walk off. Especially if you don’t read the guidebook instructions and just charge off. Trust me. (Indeed, see my logbook entry for a good old lol at my epic on this route a couple of years back.)

But if you do read the description, it’s really bloody obvious. Did the walk off again at Easter after doing Wild Country and it’s pretty straightforward. 2 hours should see you back to Telendos Village. 

Abseiling the route is not an option; it’s not equipped for proper abseil retreat, you’d be all over parties below you, and the lower pitches and broken and traverse-y and it would be a nightmare to abseil them. 

Eterna is equipped for an abseil descent and in practice fairly straightforward. From the top and without anyone below (!) it's about 1.5-2hrs to get down.

We installed additional bolt belays to ease traffic at the end of pitches.

I would not recomend abbing off!!!  you'll upset a lot of people behind you plus it would be very difficult as it traverses over a massive cave.

The path off is the best option but make sure you don't overshoot otherwise it will be a very long walk off there are loads of cains and red dots to look out for and a small chapel to aim for. The prickly plants are off piste I've done this route 3 times in shorts and had no problem.

Enjoy

p.s. I can highly recommend stopping at Rita's for food and Mythos

The path does offer the option to drop down to the ferry 'jetty' near the Irox area which might reduce the distance a bit. It's pretty hard going though, but both ways down are to be honest, no worse than coming down from Grande Grotta or something, just goes on for longer.. The pick up times from Irox are posted somewhere, just don't miss the last one, or else you have to do the walk round to the village as well....

use your Wings of Life to fly off the top and back to Kalymnos

CIn reply to Iamgregp:

Carbon fibre poles are very much the answer and the walk is less hassle. Take a torch in case, take it slow, enjoy the view.

Might be worth a comment here, as I had one of those over the past 18 months and finally went to the physio after a mate took me to task. I went from limping upstairs with a bad attitude to 90% functionality and progressing in about three months. It's a bl00dy miracle - no surgery, just of lot of carefully identified minor interventions and exercises.

I'm sure they are blue.

Yes, despite their prime location the food and service is good.

Do you use an elasticated knee support? I have an intermittently dodgy ankle and I couldn’t believe how much difference an ankle support made

Have seen a physio a couple of times re this, never really had a proper diagnosis of what's causing the issue, just got some vague instructions to do more squats and legs exercises.  Need to have someone have a proper look at it really...  Only really flares up if I do a lot of walking downhill (hence this post), or do any running, which I hate anyway...

Yes, got one of those.  Seems to help...

As you might expect your issue is different to mine which involves bending the knee under stress more than a given number of degrees. The main categories of treatment were:

Four degree shoe insert to correct pronation (my running shoes are already corrected).
Wall squats
Step up and step over exercises
Ice at least a couple of times a day.

And also balance and core strength exercises (mostly for a dodgy ankle which she noticed).

My untutored impression is that the wall squats and the ice were the main contributors; it seemed to be a question of reducing inflammation and fluid in the joint, plus strengthening the support muscles around it to prevent a recurrence.

I'm currently moving house, and so am up and downstairs with 25k boxes a fair bit, so far no issues

HTH