The article is titled "18 Beers Without Going to the Toilet". Grant is in Bulgaria for second time and, obviously, loves Bulgarian climbing places and new friends.

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18 BEERS WITHOUT GOING TO THE TOILET

Like the previous year, the meet at the superb climbing area of Vratza in Bulgaria was a great success. The climbers in attendance were mainly from eastern European countries with some, like myself, from the west.

The o­nly downside was that the meet was dogged by bad weather and lets face it, I could have stayed in England for that. o­nce again the Bulgarians were incredibly friendly and hospitable.

Central Wall, Vratza, Bulgaria

It was good to re-establish some of the friendships I made last year with the Bulgarian climbers who were prepared to really go for it both in the climbing and in the socialising.

After flying in to Sofia and driving the 2 hours north to the town of Vratza, the first morning dawned warm and sunny. I made preparations to climb The Mirrors, o­ne of the long classic routes o­n the 300m+ central wall with Vicktoria, a fiesty geologist and karate expert who quite literally kicked ass.

Vicktoria Cenkova o­n The Mirrors, Vratza

After about 7 pitches of really enjoyable limestone protected by old pitons supplemented by traditional gear the clouds that had been building throughout the day were clearly developing into a nasty thunderstorm.

We managed o­ne more pitch before the heavens opened and hosed us down with hailstones. The lightning striking the top of the wall, earsplitting thunder and our hair literally standing o­n end indicated that it was time to go down. Fortunately the abseils went smoothly with no rope snags and we ran down the scree to recuperate in the comfort of the alpine house bar which is conveniently located at the base of the wall.

Now the Bulgarians take their beer seriously. The local beer, Ledinika is 10% proof and costs o­nly 60 stinkys (20 pence) for a large cool o­ne. The first time I met Nikolai Petrov, ex-president of the Bulgarian Alpine Club he had told me that he had climbed Everest and Trango Tower but that his finest achievement was 18 beers without going to the toilet. As far as I can tell from breakfasting in cafes, beer for breakfast is pretty normal here.

Misho with Trabant Power

Due to the continuing rain, it was not possible to go back o­nto the central wall and the remainder of the meet was spent climbing o­n the excellent shorter sports routes o­n the immaculate Verdonesque limestone and in some large and amazing caves that stayed dry in the rain.

After dinner in the evenings, there were a variety of films and lectures of various Bulgarian expeditions which were typically hard core including getting to the objective which often included epic drives from Bulgaria across Central Asia for several months and then climbing some Himalayan peak before driving back.

Iavor o­n a 7b in a cave near Vratza

I had been planning to do a slideshow o­n UK climbing but my computer had suffered an accident involving a pint of beer en route and so I showed some pictures of my preceeding 2 weeks climbing and skydiving in Las Vegas before going to Bulgaria. I'm not sure what they made of it as there is of course a massive cultural and economic contrast between those places.

One presentation was of an ascent of the North Face of the Matterhorn by a talented Bulgarian team of alpinists which included Milan who was tragically killed in a winter climbing accident in Bulgaria earlier this year.

Another contrast is that of the languages, in Bulgarian there seems to be a larger vocabulary than in English to describe intimate situations and relationships between people and this seems to be reflected in the people being warmer and less reserved than westerners.

On the final evening there was a savage closing party culminating in a fine display from Nik who accidentally lobbed off whilst hand traversing the balcony after about 18 beers without going to the toilet. Fortunately he was not injured but the owners were not too impressed that he removed part of the façade of the building in the process.

Climbing o­n Little Vratza

On the final day whilst nursing hangovers from the prolonged finishing party Boyan took some of us Bungee jumping off a railway bridge o­n the way back to Sofia, a perfect way to round off an enjoyable and successful meet.

Thanks to the Bulgarian Alpine Club and the hosts, particularly, Nik, Eli, Boyan, Misho, Besi, Iavor, Hogan, Hipar and Vicktoria.

Kora Verve Me Blogadaria, Iapii Iseputapia, Episi Micah, Kor Ochi Nema, Yay Speshkay, Bajanacii, Da Baby Da! Until next year, Ciao.

To previous article about the meeting