Talking about ice in Crete, don't imagine hundreds of meters of frozen waterfalls, but frozen snow. Rarely someone can find proper ice on the routes but even then the ice is in some places and not in the whole of the route. The hardest (so far) winter climbing route in Dikti (Crete) is ''O Trelos" (the Madman), grade V (UIAA) rock, long, unprotected mixed climbing sections. Apart from the so far unclimbed difficult mixed routes, which are big on the whole, there are many gullies of lower difficulty in which no one has climbed. Winter climbing in Dikti offers many things and it is worth climbing here, as the advantages are many: short walk in, water, shelter (you can sleep in the chapel of Limnakaro plateau) big routes, difficulties for all tastes and spectacular view from the exit of the routes.
The biggest advantage of the climbing area is the opportunity for new routes. Get your ice axes and start! At the far right of the lower face, next to the big scree slope, are three long gullies of easy angle (up to 50 degrees) that the Spinthakis brothers soloed in March 1996. These are about 300m long offering a good introduction to snow climbing. Follow the E4 path until the second (upper) plateau then turn left and traverse to the start.
