Paklenica climbing

Crag: Klanci, Paklenica, Croatia
Routes: Skorpion (f4a:led), Wiener Wurstchen (f5a:led), Marija (f3+:sec), Figa (f5a:led), Nane (f4+:sec)
The forecast was disappointing for this short trip to the world-class venue of Paklenica on the Adriatic coast of Croatia. A real shame, but it was dry last night when we flew into Zadar and remained so first thing this morning. Steve was not in the full bloom of health, but after a quick breakfast in our Starigrad apartment, we headed straight for the park entrance - five minutes away - intent on grabbing something before the rain arrived. It is, essentially, an earthly paradise: a 2km drive from the entrance brings you to the gorge proper, and from there everything is accessible - from high peaks to mountain huts to trail runs to long mountaineering routes to big walls to short technical climbs. Literally everything you could ever wish for; every conceivable shade of the mountain experience. So, shame about the weather! With rain imminent, we got to work on the short 15m routes of Auhe, a neat dome of rock near the entrance. Skorpion was a steep grade 4 with some wonderful juggy holds, and Wiener Wurstchen was similar but harder - a nice route with good moves over two overlaps on sharp limestone. Marija was a strong VD groove line between the two which Steve led. Further right, I jumped on the enjoyable Figa, a longer (20m+) pitch up wonderful pocketed limestone to a higher slab which had some characteristic Paklenica bridging up waterworn tubes of limestone and led to a final groove. The rain got a little heavier, so we nipped up Nane, a parallel 20m line immediately left in the same vein. This was all a tempting aperitif, so it was incredibly frustrating to be rained off. We headed back to the apartment for large slices of burek, and to consider our options.