Klemen Becan frees the heaviest multi-pitched tour in Croatia

The Slovene Klemen Becan succeeds with Roctrip (8c +, 220m) the celebration of the heaviest multi-pitched tour Kroations.

Already four years ago, Klemen Becan made the route on a three-month journey through the Balkans Roctrip set up on the huge limestone wall near Drašnice in southern Dalmatia. A few days ago, he managed the entire tour (8c +, 8a, 8c +, 7c, 7b) in one day. His comment: “It was my best project so far and it doesn't just look amazing, it's also really good to climb!” With Klemen, who has climbed up to 8c + onsight and 9a + redpoint in the past, we have over the most difficult multi-pitch tour Croatia's spoken. Below is his description of the tour Roctrip.

Klemen Becan drilling the route Roctrip four years ago
Klemen Becan drilling the route Roctrip four years ago

Klemen Becan on the heaviest MSL route in Croatia

"The route is next to the sea, around 220m high and it has 5 pitches. I bolted it in 2014 on the beginning of my three month long Roctrip on Balkan and all the way down to Turkey. I did it from the top in one week and in the first two pitches with tufas I used glue in bolts.
The first pitch starts easy on the vertical wall and when it gets steeper you have nice big tufas and fun climbing with lots of kneebars, heel hooks, sitrests and so on. Than it follows a bit tricky traverse on pinches and underclings until a giant tufa and on the top of it you have a perfect no hand rest. Until here it's around 50m of 8b more or less. Here starts the crux that was usually wet. Long moves, bad footholds and small gaston moves and finally a long move to the jug next to the anchor.

The second pitch is the best one. Three 40m long tufas next to each other are just big enough to enjoy the climb and get nicely pumped for the crux just before it finishes. If it would be on the ground and in some sport climbing area I'm sure it would be the most popular route in the area. Also it's perfect for learning fufaclimbing techniques, I think you use all of them in this pitch.

The heaviest multi-pitcher tour in Croatia - Roctrip
The hardest multi-pitch tour in Croatia - Roctrip
Pitch number three starts easy. Than it gets harder and you have a few weird and not so nice moves to two big pockets in the middle of the wall. Last chance to chalk, then 13 hard moves on bad footholds and even worse holds. I needed lots of tries just to figure this part out and I like my final beta especially since it's really technical and if you don't use your body well enough there is no way you can hold those holds. After the crux you still have to do quite a few long moves on kind of good holds which are not perfect for resting so pumped forearms are a problem up here. The pitch finishes with a nice and easy face wall where you need to stay focused until the anchor which is finally comfortable enough to sit down and relax normally.
The fourth pitch is around 7c. It's a gray wall with holds left and right and I still don't know the easiest way to climb up there. Sometimes it felt easy, other times I almost fell.

The fifth pitch is a 7b on a vertical orange / gray technical wall with long moves and hidden holds. It's super easy to fall if you don't know where the holds are and since I don't like tickmarks it was fun each time I tried it. After this you have some easy finish and a 10 to 15 minutes walk to the road where you can hitchhike back down to the sea. Or even better: just rapel down the line if you have 100m rope. "

What a fantastic wall
What a fantastic wall

Klemen Becan on the first pitch of Roctrip

Credits: pictures Anja Becan

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