Written by Michael Jones, organiser of the trip.

On the 25th March to 6th April 20 members of ICMC travelled to the national park Paklenica for 2 weeks of climbing! Much fun was had by all, many climbs were climbed, many cheap Croatian pizzas were eaten and a number of local delicacies devoured.

Paklenica is famous for a river gorge lined with steep limestone cliffs up to 350m high which makes it ideal for big wall climbing. The climbing is protected by permanent bolts which made it accessible for even the more inexperienced members of the trip. The climbing experience of the members was highly variable therefore inexperienced members were partnered with two more experienced members to teach them the necessary skills to climb multipitch routes. All members experienced multipitch sport climbing on various routes. The other main activity in the area is single pitch climbing.

The trip ran smoothly, there was no language barrier as most locals spoke English. Nobod experienced any serious injury, all members wore helmets and had guidance on how to safely practise rope climbing. Accommodation worked out quite cheap at £10pppn and food worked out at slightly cheaper than that in the UK.

The tour subsidy was used to help members pay for their flights from London Stansted to Zadar in Croatia. The number of people attending the trip far exceeded that of any other tours in previous years, I thought it unfair to cap the number of people on the trip and allowed all members who were interested to attend. An application for subsidy unfortunately was aimed at a smaller group and therefore each member received less subsidy than planned.

Other than this the trip ran smoothly. Steps were made to keep the price to a minimum, the main expenditures included: flights, transport to and from the airport (via cheap local taxis), food and entrance fee to the Paklenica national park. Most members had their own climbing gear, those that didnd’t were able to borrow gear from the club’s store room and many bought new gear for the trip.