ICMC had the Summer Tour of 2022 go to the climbing Festival Drill and Chill.

Background

History

Climbing in Bosnia & Herzegovina is a new pastime, with all of the routes being developed since the millennium and most in the last 10 years. It is a region full of beautiful unclimbed rock and stunning scenery. Very few locals climb, this hampers the growth of the sport as there are very few people who have the skills to develop climbing areas and inspire people to take up the sport. In 2015 the Extreme Club in Banja Luka created the ‘Drill & Chill’ Festival. This sought to bring experienced climbers and highliners from all over the world to the region to develop new climbing routes and to celebrate the unique culture within the sport. Since then it has grown from strength to strength, and is responsible for the development of over 350+ new routes. The festival is located in the beautiful Canyon Tijesno on the outskirts of Banja Luka. It contains some of the region’s finest climbs, with sport routes ranging from easy 5+, to a near impossible 9a as well as a range of adventurous multipitches. The canyon is also ideally suited for highlines, ranging from 35m in length to a regional record breaking 705m line. As well as the climbing the festival has a range of workshops, ranging from juggling and traditional embroidery to acro-yoga and aerial silk. The festival also runs a free bolting course, teaching competent climbers how to develop and bolt new routes.

Objectives

The team was keen to experience the beautiful scenery and climbing the region has to offer as well as contribute to the development of the sport in the region. Developing crags and bolting your own route is something that is near impossible in the UK as the climbing scene is very mature and potential sites saturated. Some team members were psyched on creating their own route and developing the local scene, others wanted to push themselves on highlines and all were keen on enjoying the delights of Bosnian limestone. A few wanted to progress into multipitch climbing. Some just wanted to chill after a stressful summer of high frequency trading at one of the city’s top cream sucking firms.

The Team

Tour Overview

Day 0

Alisha and Tim were keen beans and flew out a day ahead of the main crowd, most of whom were working on Friday. The extortionate cost of roaming data meant their trail went cold shortly after crossing the border into Bosnia.

Day 1

The main pack congregated at Liverpool Street for an early train out to Stanstead. Will and Elliot managed to blag a lift from relatives and so missed out on the egg & bacon breakfast McMuffin. After clearing security, the group stopped off for some light refreshments. Boarding the plane was hairy as some members of the group had come up with creative ways of maximising their hand luggage allowances, much to the dismay of the Ryanair staff. After a short argument Will had managed to convince them that a helmet was an item of clothing, and his roll mat was simply a blanket.

Two uneventful hours later we landed in Zagreb. After getting confused by local taxis we made it to the bus stop. George put his incredibly poor Croatian language skills to use and convinced the bus driver that we had 7 tickets through some broken Czech and vigorous hand gestures. We boarded and headed off towards the border. The 8 Bosnians on the bus promptly started smoking creating a veiling haze and giving most members a migrane.

We arrived in Banja Luka a few hours later and stocked up on provisions for the week. We got lucky and managed to stumble upon the only taxi driver in Banja Luka who also climbed and happened to know where the festival was. 40 minutes later we were cruising down the dirt road to the festival site. Upon arrival the group was pleased to find Alisha and Tim, both alive and well.

Day 2

The group were psyched to get going. Jake was starting to panic as we hadn’t found any gas for our stove the day before. Will attended the bolting course theory session. 2 hours of PowerPoint presentations later he worked out bolting was a lot of effort and promptly decided that 5 days of manual labour was not the optimal way to spend a tour. So much for developing the local climbing scene. At least his trad climbing ethical standards are still intact. Jake and George went off to charm a fellow festival attendee into boiling some water for a brew. Upon the first sip of the coffee Jake realised we had bought the most disgusting beans possible, but soldiered on for his caffeine fix, rubbing the remaining grounds into his gums to little added effect. After this it was discovered the camp had a Snack-bar run by Vito, a local legend, who served coffee at reasonable prices. Jake had never been happier.

The group spent the rest of the morning day getting acquainted with the site, visiting all the crags and highline spots. Sector ‘Amfiteatar’ proved to be the most inspiring with its stunning setting and steep overhanging walls. Sadly grades started at 6c+ and topped out at Interklemezzo - 9a a route bolted by Adam Ondra, the team decided some warm up routes were needed. After lunch a contingent headed out to sector Vito, where Liam, James, Will and Elliot enjoyed the pleasant at the grade ‘Living La Vito Loca’ – 6a and the slightly chossy ‘One hand minus’ – 5b.

Tim enjoyed soaking up the chilled atmosphere and continued to make friends with the other festival goers at the camp. George, Jake, Alisha and Victor and ventured out to the 35m highline to test their mettle. Each taking turns to roll out into the middle of the line and soak up the exposure. Jake was mesmerised by the 200m of open air below him, so much so he decided climbing was actually a rubbish sport and he was going to become a highliner instead. George, who had previous highline experience was reminded how painful sitting on the 1” webbing was, especially for the duration of time it took to compose himself before attempting to stand up. He never stood a chance and fell straight off. This would become a recurring theme throughout the week.

The team congregated for dinner, refreshed from the previous days travel and thoroughly psyched for the week ahead.

Day 3

Day 3 started with the team attending a functional breathing workshop. Tim, Alisha, Victor and especially Will getting invested in the practice. George and Jake were finding it hard to keep a straight face as the coach explained the kidneys stored all the soul’s trauma, over the sound of 50 hyperventilating climbers. They made a B-Line for Vito’s to get their morning caffeine fix.

James, Will, Victor, Elliot and Alisha headed out to sector Krilo and finally found some rock that was more secure. Some highlights of the day include ‘Paprika’ – 5c which all the team managed to tick, whilst strong James eased back in after an injury by climbing ‘Dirty Dan’ – 6B which was then repeated by Victor and Will. Over at the highlines, George, Jake and Liam were making progress towards their goal of standing up. This involved a lot of falling followed by an equal amount of shouting. The Trio decided to mask their inadequacy and build their confidence by hanging upside-down from the lines instead of walking them.

After regrouping at dinner, the team prepared themselves for a big night: the drill and chill Triathlon. This team event involved a timed race across 3 disciplines: rope coiling, 10 pullups and drinking a beer whilst on a slackline. Sadly we did not make it out of the selection phase and were forced to watch from the side-lines. The team quickly forgot this disappointment and started enjoying the rest of the evening. To add to the misery, DJ Baba Djex was unable to make it and instead we were treated to a evening of Jawharp music. This was complemented nicely by a substantial quantity of local brandy known as ‘Rakia’. Jake and Elliot seemed to lose themselves in the tribal tones as the team danced the evening away. Tim’s networking earlier in the week paid dividends as he was offered a shot on the stage playing a jaw harp. He did the team proud, and despite not attracting the attention of any record labels on his debut, he held his own.

Day 4

Nursing a slight headache from the day before, the team decided to make the most of the workshops on offer and take a rest day. After two visits to Vito’s Jake was just about feeling human again and the pack headed to the forest chill zone. Here a large space net was found, and the team proceeded to do very little for the next few hours.

The first workshop of the day was in the art of Aerial Silk acrobatics. The team took to this like ducks to water. After a few pointers, Will was able to string together a series of moves, taking in two elegant poses whilst fully embracing his inner swan. He swiftly forgot the details for the subsequent move and ended tying himself in a knot on the floor and in need of a rescue.

The group then ventured to the highlines in an attempt to do something with the day. Victor and Tim made their maiden voyage out onto the lines, whilst Liam struck up a conversation with some people playing the guitar. Tim later leveraged his newfound musical reputation to form a band with them, and they promptly released their first single “like a butterfly”. This went down a treat, with the rest of the highliners joining in for the chorus. Rumor has it their EP drops in early December.

That evening a classic Bosnian film was shown in camp. It covered the trials and tribulations of two pioneering Bosnian hip-hop artists as they navigated their way through failed relationships to fame in Yugoslavia. Whilst not suitable for the British cinema industry, it didn’t stop a few team members from having a good chuckle.

Day 5

The objective of the day was to climb a route bolted by George the year prior, ‘Crack and forth’ – 6a+. The team headed out to sector Jazbina, only to find the sector shut and the bolting course attendees hanging 30m above our heads. A swift retreat to sector Vito followed. George, Victor and Alisha enjoyed excursions up the delighful ‘Veni, Vidi, Vito’ – 6a and the less delightful ‘Livin la vito loca’ – 6a+. Will, James and Liam kept themselves occupied and tackled the more difficult ‘Einfach Tapfer Sein’ – 6b. Jake and Elliot had a hairy experience on ‘Illatos Olomos’- 4+ which seemed to have more trees than a medium sized arboretum. This killed their psyche for the day and they headed back to camp to further develop their aerial silk skills. George and Victor later tried to repeat Einfach Tapfer Sein but to little success. The team returned to camp and enjoyed a traditional local cabbage soup dinner with accompanying burek.

Day 6

The team was full of psyche on the last full day. With reports of bad weather brewing in the afternoon they set off early to make the most of the day. Shortly after setting off the wind and rain rolled in. The window in Will and James’ tent decided it was the perfect opportunity to detach itself, leaving an 8” hole for the menacing rain. As any self-respecting engineer would do, George decided the obvious answer was duct tape and a Sainsburys bag. 10 minutes later the tent was good as new, Will initially doubted the repairs integrity, however preferred this to the porta-loo alternative.

Thankfully the rain packed quickly, and after a few hours of drying we headed out back to the rock. Victor took the opportunity to take climbing barbie to new heights on ‘Honeymoon Suite’ - 6a, whilst George got to the top of the route he bolted the year before ‘Crack and Forth’. The send train was then left the station with Will, Victor, Liam and James also ticking the route. Jake pushed himself and ticked ‘Toxic MascuGINity’ – 5c as did Elliot shortly after.

The pack then headed to Sector Amfiteatar for the afternoon. Will was keen to try something hard and hoped on ‘Hustensaft’ – 6c+, which he onsighted, but not without a few expletives. Strong James not to be outdone, then repeated the route. George and Victor raced up ‘Good boy’ – 6b. George, Jake, Liam and Tim had one more go on the highlines and failed to make any significant progress. Before they could get a second attempt the wind picked up and the lines started oscillating, they figured it was safer to retreat to the camp and get a beer.

Due to the weather the goodbye party was moved a day earlier, and the team took full advantage. After getting bored of the light show, Elliot embraced his inner ‘Mr Badcock’ and put his PGCE to good use by organising a festival wide game of hide and seek. None of the team got lost and we quickly congregated around the slacklines to attempt some night slacking. This was unsuccessful, with most of the team making fools of themselves.

Day 7

The team awoke to it chucking it down. It was clear nothing was going to climbed that day, and packed the tents down in misery. We then said our goodbyes and left the festival site. Tim decided to cancel his flight and venture onwards to a Hungarian Jawharp festival with his new friends Bruno, Dan and Sophie. The remainder of the pack got back on the early bus to Zagreb. We stashed our bags at the station and decided to explore what Zagreb had to offer. After finding the main cathedral was under repair, Liam and James decided to flip a coin at each junction they encountered to explore the less visited parts of the city. The remainder of the pack ventured to a park, where Elliot climbed the final route of the trip ‘Playground’ - 7c+, then decided we needed to find a pub. Luckily James and Liam’s coin had a similar idea, and the group congregated to reminisce about the tour. We then headed to Zagreb airport and found a comfortable corner to setup camp for the night.

Day 8

With the sound of ‘please do not leave your baggage unattended’ being blared over the tannoy every 15 minutes, it’s safe to say the team did not find themselves well rested in the morning. After boarding the flight most passed out to recoup the lost sleep. We landed in London and went our separate ways.

Footnote: After a further 10 days cruising around Europe with his new friends, Tim safely returned to London to continue his geology degree.

Conclusion & Lessons Learnt

Overall, the tour was a massive success. Everyone had pushed themselves either through climbing or highlining. The team developed new skills in the art of aerial silk, embroidery, juggling, acro-yoga and music. Liam returned more chilled than ever before and ready to suck some more cream. Most importantly, the team were all exposed to opportunities they would not have had within the UK. The outdoor climbing experience of group members was significantly improved, and all were exposed to highlining for the first time.

Despite all the things achieved, we did not completely fulfil our aims. Many had wanted to climb some multi-pitch routes. The multipitch routes in the canyon rarely get climbed, leading to lots of vegetation growing in the holds, and the routes remaining ‘dirty’. This makes them much harder than the grade indicated. They are also quite committing with an abseil in approach meaning the route needs to be climbed in full to get back to the camp. The team all displayed sound judgement and adapted their aims to ones that could be achieved safely, an attitude that is a credit to them. I would recommend all future tour leaders to not be afraid of changing plans based on the conditions you find on the ground.

Future Development

There is a strong desire within the club to do more highlining. Since returning we have acquired a slackline for the club so members can develop these skills in London. Building on this another tour to a highline venue could be a possibility in the years going forward.