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Rock Climbing Atlas - South Eastern Europe

Order now for € 32,50 excluding shipping costs.
Or, order both atlases and save on the shipping costs.

A climbing guide made by Dutch people is extraordinary, but with the publication of 7 + 8 a few years ago, Bart van Raaij not only showed a new standard with respect to accuracy, but also with respect to graphical design. The couple Marloes van den Berg and Wynand Groenewegen followed Bart's foot steps in October 2006, by publishing two great climbing atlases, which will strengthen the fame of Dutch authors in the climbing community. With graphics by graphical designer Irene Pieper, the guides describe climbing destinations in South Eastern Europe (this page) and in Greece and the Middle East, in a Lonely Planet kind of fashion. So they are guides with a lot of photographs, maps and background information, that make you want to go and climb in these countries.

Like the Jingo Wobbly guide Europe - Sport Vertical (which describes Western European climbing destinations), Rock Climbing Atlas - South Eastern Europe doesn't contain any topos or detailed route descriptions, but it does contain detailed information about all the areas, such as:

How to get there and how to move around.
Clear maps and descriptions how to get to each crag.
GPS waypoints of the parking and the location of the crags.
Where to stay.
Where to find the local climbing topo.
Other things to see & do on restdays.
Number of routes.
Level of difficulty.
Quality of bolting.
Face direction & weather suitability.
Family friendliness.
Etcetera.

However, mentioning these Rock Climbing Atlases in one breath together with the Jingo Wobbly guides doesn't do justice to the publications of Marloes van den Berg and Wynand Groenewegen. While the Jingo Wobbly guides do not excel in graphics design, and Europe - Sport Vertical tries to cram as much as possible information on one page, the Rock Climbing Atlases try to raise your appetite to go climbing in the described countries, through excellent (graphical) design and a better balance in the quantity of information that can be found on each page. That's why the Rock Climbing Atlases resemble the Lonely Planet guides so much, which also make you want to go on vacation as quickly as possible.

[ Rock Climbing Atlas - South Eastern Europe ]

After an introduction with a very handy 'quick scan' of all the areas, the atlas deals with the following countries (the links open in a pop-up):

Every chapter starts like a real Lonely Planet guide with an introduction containing relevant information about a country, like the climate, transportation costs, places to stay, currency, etcetera. Every country has an overview map with all the sportclimbing areas, and the most important ones are dealt with in depth. Because the Rock Climbing Atlases have an English editor in the person of Daniel Jaeggi, the English in the guides is well looked after, unlike many climbing guides that originate from French or German speaking countries. It is very noticable that the authors worked a lot with local climbers, also with respect to the photographs, which of course turned out quite favourably for the quality of the guides.

South Eastern Europe is clearly emerging as a popular climbing destination, and one might pity the fact that this climbing atlas does contain overviews and background information, but no specific route info. On the other hand, these countries and their crags are so unfamiliar to most of us, that there is more than enough to tell apart from lists with routes. Rock Climbing Atlas - South Eastern Europe is therefore an excellent guide for anyone, interested in more 'exotic' climbing destinations than just areas in nearby countries.

Order now for € 32,50 excluding shipping costs.
Or, order both atlases and save on the shipping costs.

[ Rock Climbing Atlas - South Eastern Europe ]