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Billy smile

This is a really hard route (550m VII+/A1 (+200m IV)) opened in the summer of 2010 from X.Tsoutsias and N.Kalatzakis in memory of Vasilis (Bill) Naxakis who died in Himalayas a few years ago. There is a detailed topo on the next page of this article (see bottom of the article).

GigilosRoute description: The total lenght is 760 meters where the first 560 meters are VII+/VIII- with 3 A1. It's a very hard route and you need to climb onsight VII+ to try this route. The route itself starts on the right from the route "Oxia" and "Fighter" and left from "Fleap and freak"

SL=Pitch number

SL1: Climb the wall with direction to the center of a characteristic yellow rock as can be seen on the right while we've been on the bottom of the route. This pitch is maximum V+ and there is just one bolt on the belay. Obviously you will need to place at least one more nut or friend.

SL2:  Follow the bolts and 4 meters after the latest you need to do an A1 and then hard climb (VII-/VII) for around 10 meters until you reach a roof (crux, VII+). After the roof pay attention for rotten rocks (VI+) and move on until you meet the belay (one bolt only).

SL3: Direct climb around V until you reach a small tree on the base of the face. Belay (R3) on single bolt. This pitch is 60 meters.

SL4: Follow the crack (VII-) until you reach the belay (single bolt, 60 meters).

SL5: Climb fast without belays for the those 80 meters (V/V+) until you reach a big dihedral and before start climbing this make a belay.

SL6: This is the hardest pitch of the route. It goes inside the dihedral for around 25 meters. There is a crack in the middle of it making easy to secure the pitch with nuts and friends but due to high difficulty there are bolts. The pitch starting with difficulty around VII and around in the middle of dihedral it goes up to VIII-. Be aware that there are some parts with bad quality of rock. Just before the dihedral there is a roof where you need to go on left of it. This is maybe the most scary part of the route as the rock is really bad but the difficulty high (around VI+) and you need to make the traverse until you reach a crack for the next 15 meters. After you climb the crack too, there is a belay on single bolt. This pitch is 60 meters too.

SL7: Climb the ridge for 80-90 meters without belays until you reach the summit (R7 80-90m), see topo on the next page.

SL8: VII- for the first 3-4 meters without the option to place your gear. Then follow for the next 55 meters the route as it is shown on the topo (see next page) until the belay. This belay does not have any bolts so make your own.

SL9: Climb direct and a little bit on the right by following the crack (V+) for around 40 meters untli you reach a dihedral (VI-) for around 15 meters. When you exit that make anywhere you like your own belay (R9 60m)

200 more meters of easy climb on rotten rocks until you reach the summit and you are done.

Source: http://climbinchania.blogspot.com/2010/07/bilys-smile.html, Article by Xristos Tsoutsias

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Posted on: 20/09/2016