Klanci climbing

Crag: Klanci, Paklenica, Croatia
Routes: Via Normale (f4a:led), Miki Maus (f5a:led), Njofra (f3:led), Husky (f3:led), Petar Pan (f4a:led), Zava (f4b:led), Zajcek (f4c:sec), Cuja ti si Bog i Batina! (f5:sec), Vuga (f4c+:led), Kos (f5b+:sec)
The rain that had started at 11am yesterday continued through the night, and it was still hammering down as we arrived at the park entrance after breakfast this morning. I tried to get some extra sleep in the car, and eventually it eased to light drizzle, so we decided to climb anyway, given the bolts, and just tick some easy routes instead. The detached pillar of Ljuska seemed a sensible place to start, and I led a soaking wet Via Normale, which takes an obvious line up the front of the pillar, no more than 15m, to a tree then a groove: all simple but obviously awkward, as soaking wet very polished limestone tends to be! Further left, at the Veleshit sector, Miki Maus seemed fairly dry, as this steep wall misses the worst of the rain. A few steep wet moves gained drier rock and a juggy crack led to the lower-off; a nice little VS. The rain got heavier, so we dropped the grade again, doing two ultra simple climbs that were soaking throughout. Petar Pan was a tad harder and a tad drier, and after another easing we moved onto to the Zava sector, where I led the eponymous central climb. This is a great route, up a shallow, slabby groove with some wonderful juggy and pocketed holds. There were even a few dry sections! Zajcek, to its left, takes seepage anyway - so was even wetter. While the f5 to its right was thought-provoking in these conditions, but gave more fine pocketed climbing. The rain got heavier again, so we retreated to the apartment for lunch. It eased in the early afternoon, so we returned to Ljuska: this time trying the high slab right of the detached pillar. Vuga seemed the strongest line so I led that. Another excellent pitch, albeit very wet in places. It takes a wall to a broad open groove, almost a shallow chimney, which curves left towards the top but keeps its identity. In these conditions, the route to its right (Kos) seemed desperate - with a smooth and very technical crux up a steep slab with some seepage. This seemed 6a+ or more, despite the grade, and involved a very technical sequence up smears and tiny holds, at least when taken direct. We then crossed the river and I was just about to start another route when the heavens opened and we beat a rapid retreat - very annoying.