How to avoid a disaster climbing trip

I was planning a 10 week long climbing trip. I had two options: Spain or the Balkans. Since I had already spent a lot of time in Spain, I picked the exciting Balkans. I was not only fascinated by the cool looking crags off the beaten track, but also by the history, culture and re-emergence of those Eastern European countries. I was so excited about visiting them that I acted against all common sense in my trip planning and execution.

As I am writing this, I am sitting alone in a hostel. I feel myself out of shape and lazy. I have not done any proper sport for ages and the lack of exercise endorphins is killing me. I have been on this "climbing" trip for almost two weeks. I have climbed once and that was not even in the Balkans. So what went wrong? Could we learn from this?

Tip 1: Climbing partners

I decided to head east based on one single person, who I had met at a climbers' Facebook group. I traveled three long days in buses (then I was still aiming to minimize my travel carbon footprint) to reach Banja Luka, Bosnia. I met my climbing partner there and went out of my way to help him in buying a car. During the money and registration process we waited in cold and rain, killing time by going to the movies (that cost only 2eur!), walking around the town and sitting in cafes. When we finally got the car and drove to Split, Croatia, we fell out in an argument about what to do (wanting to stay in a rainy city vs. wanting to drive for 14 hours to access a possibly dry crag).

Banja Luka

Absurdly I had planned a long trip with someone I did not know at all. We had not spoken about our expectations towards climbing, loyalty, decision making or sharing. Naturally there was lots of pressure to make the trip succeed, as we both had invested so much in it. There was no relaxed ground to get to know each other. To make matters worse, I had known it is off season in the Balkans, thus there are no other traveling climbers around to whom I could reach out to if needed. Do not do that. Or if you do, at least make sure you can relocate without unreasonable amount of time and money.

Tip 2: Weather

The trip was going to take place in November and December, which I knew were already cold and rainy months in the Balkans. I had even googled the months' average temperatures and rain levels from Croatia to Greece, and they did not look promising. So I packed my thickest down jacket and warmest sleeping bag, somehow hoping that there would be dry and sunny climbing spots, against all the odds. Despite having seeing pure weather fact, I was imagining the beautiful pictures I had seen in magazines.

Storm in Split

Reality hit us. Off season is off season for a reason. It was almost heart breaking flipping through guide books with one amazing crag after another, knowing that they would be dripping wet or at least in shivering fog. We spent hours researching weather forecasts that were inaccurate, contradicting and just simply said depressing. Please, respect suitable climbing seasons if you want to avoid frustration, zigzagging between locations and replacing real rock with gyms.

After a few sleepless nights, failed attempts to solve the conflict with my climbing partner and last weather forecast checks, I booked a flight to Spain (despite the carbon footprint). Spain is the most reliable winter climbing destination in Europe and there are many climbers' hostels where to meet partners. I feel somewhat sad and defeated, but I have learned my lesson: Be psyched and search for adventures, but stay sensible.

PS. I have redefined some meanings. Before I thought that a failed climbing trip was a trip where I climbed like shit. Now I think that a failed climbing trip is one where I do not climb at all.