Ascenso al Grossglockner por la ruta normal

First of all, our guide changed. The new guide Suzuki Hidetaka was everything and more you can hope for in a guide. His expertise is truly incredible and he is quite a famous rock climber, well respected in the scene. He completed insane routes all over the world, particularly in the USA. With all the vindication I can muster in words, it was an honor to climb and talk with him. The trip was fun overall; however, it was very different than advertised. It was titled “2-days basic rock climbing at Mt Oyama” and the itinerary described it as a rock climbing/camping/campfire trip, which was immediately intriguing to us. Yet, the other guide informed us right away that Mt Oyama was not an option as it is high season and he recommended that we look for a hotel in Tokyo and drive to the rock-climbing site on the day of the trip as it was not clear at this point where we would go instead. We informed him that we were going to wait until the location was set, since we at least wanted to stay in the countryside – as a crucial part of the trip was the get away from our time in Tokyo. The guide change was quite short noticed as well (only 5 days before the trip) and the rock-climbing location was still unclear. Luckily, Suzuki Hidetaka was quick to react to our wishes. On the first day, it rained and the alternative of climbing outside was an indoor climbing gym in Yokohama. This was not an issue at all! You can’t control the weather and it even helped us to get used to the equipment and the technique. However, we had to pay the entrance fee for the gym on top, which was suprising because that is something you can control and should definitely account for. On the second day, we enjoyed the rock-climbing site of Takatori, which was a bunch of fun! In all honesty, we had a great time! Only the overall organization was not what we had expected – in particular, the lack of camping and the campfire trip was disappointing. Even if it was due to the weather conditions, it should be clearly communicated beforehand what the alternatives are in such a case.

Great adventure, totally different than climbing with tons of tourists.

Shame the weather didn't play out nicely for ice. Cheers to Cveto for finding a small patch to try climbing on. Was a great summit day and Cveto was easy to get along with and kept me safe for the trip.

We had a great day climbing with Cveto. He was responsive with communication prior to the day. He was very knowledgeable about climbing and the area. We found some fun routes and really enjoyed being out of the city for the day.

Cveto was really nice and knowledgeable about climbing. For someone who has never done outdoor climbing it was a great experience and I felt a lot safer having a veteran around