Andre Hedger: Geyikbayiri

Green flashlights shinning and flashing as hundreds of climbers raved the night for the Works 5^th party. All the British big climbers were dancing along the beats including our very best McClure. Seeing all the top climbers got me psyched for another trip ASAP. Yes even in party all I can think about is climbing. I spoke to the Hamer brothers about a quick trip just after the New Year as we downed Jagerbombs with the big party among us. “yeah, yeah, definitely” “psyched” “Rodellar, Siurana” it didn’t matter to me where, as long as we got to go.

The hangover was awful the next morning but the excitement of the upcoming trip got me up early for some researching. After contacting the brothers, the conversation from the party appeared to be just booze talk. They wanted to save their money for some Easter climbing trip. Rubbish, well I am going somewhere. A friend of mine was out in Turkey, Dan Gibson was climbing on his own for 3 months. I am going to see him. I booked a flight ticket a week later.

Just before Christmas, I texted Sam that I booked a flight to tufa Turkey for some limestone and was to depart just after the New Year.

He replied questions after questions.

“Really???”

“when?”

“who with?”

“Send me the flight details”

“How long for”

The opportunity couldn’t be missed and the Hamer brothers booked their Tickets.

Let me tell you a little bit about Sam and Ed… they are a mini version of Alexander and Thomas Huber brothers. They want the rock more than anything. They had both climbed 100’s of grade 8’s up to 8b+ and had several sponsors. Somehow I had a lot to learn with communicating, I believe they went to some school of Ali G. They used words like homie, geeza, init, safe and spoke like true gangsters!

Quite a day traveling from London to the Climber’s Garden which wasn't too far from Antalya. There were climbers hanging out outside the hut. Some strong looking Swedish had just retuned from the crag with bloody knuckles from their crazy project. Strong coffee was boiling from inside as many gathered around the fire playing the guitar. Some were analyzing through the guidebook, discussing crux moves about the climbs they will hope to crush the next day. This was the magic of Geyikbayiri This is the life of my reality.

After a few days spending most of the time on my poor finger tips on small crimps with the joy of tufa and jugs also, the rain had arrived. It lasted days and we were all feeling damp for that time. The Hamer boys tent flooded, everything got wet. It was difficult to climb as the crag options became limited. The weather destroyed the mojo of being psyched. We mainly spent those cold wet days in the caves of Trebenna.

One day we were in threes and I was waiting for Ed as he was ticking the entire crag off. A long haired local Turkey chap appeared at the bottom of the cliff, he was looking around in a slightly innocent way. He asked me if I wanted to team up with him for the day. He looked like a 6b climber and I was so desperate to get a move on so I agreed. What if he couldn't belay properly? what if he was one of those slow ass climbers aiding bolt to bolt? He hid his bag near a route he wanted to warm up. He had the same bag as me, a Beal rope bag. I started to have a little more faith in him. He opened his bag to reach out his harness which revealed 30 shinny sponsored 'Petzl' quickdraws among a bottle of absolute Vodka. He shot up like a rocket warming up on this damp wet 8a+. Perhaps I was the one not belaying properly as my jaw dropped open not believing what I had just seen. The man's name was Mumin Karabas, he was the best climber in Turkey and was on the Petzl team. I belayed him on "Devers Royale" 8c. He was riding the stone like a real ninja fighting his was through a dozen crux's. After three attempt he missed the tick by a nanometre. "aww man, that was awesome" a huge smile was on his face not letting the stress take over. He taught me all about staying happy on unsuccessful climbing days in this bad ass sport we call rock climbing. It's part of the challenge in this sport we live in, difficultly is the game we play.
Eventually the sun came out again during our last few days and we finally managed to crush 'properly' once again. My highlight ticks of the trip was an 8a flash "Sarkit Souls" and 8a+ second go "Turkish Airways" Dan Gibson climbed an 8a and the Hamer kids climbed up to 8b+ and on sighting 8a+, it was impressive for sure!

A few pictures of the trip and a video of the Hamer bro's I made for their sponsors.