Dry Tooling in Athens – Rizos’ Cave

Mountaineering is the set of activities that involves ascending mountains.

Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Sport climbing and Bouldering and even Dry Tooling are also considered mountaineering by some.

Unlike most sports, mountaineering lacks widely-applied formal rules, regulations, and governance; mountaineers adhere to a large variety of techniques and philosophies when climbing mountains. One of the various techniques is Dry Tooling too.

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_092853_401 — Petzl Quark for Dry Tooling

About Dry Tooling

Dry-tooling is a form of rock climbing in which ice axes are used to climb rock that is not covered in snow or ice. It has its origins in mixed climbing, ice climbing and more recently sport climbing. Dry tooling is controversial among many climbers. Some favour it as a new and exciting kind of climbing, while others dislike it for its nontraditional methods and the permanent damage it can cause to certain, generally softer, rock formations.

Personally, due to the fact I enjoy mostly winter mountaineering activities, I came to the conclusion that Dry Tooling in a dedicated climbing crag is helping me a lot with the technique and most of all, gives me extra confidence when I go to climb during winter time routes that require mixed-climbing techniques.

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_093137_923 — Grivel Monster tool

Rizos’ Cave – Dry Tooling Crag

The cave of Rizos, is located in the area of Epos Fylis and originally was a sport climbing crag that has been transformed in Dry Tooling crag on a later stage.

The first routes on Rizos’ cave were bolted by D. Stravogenis and S. Moutzouvis. In the past, there was a quite controversial discussion between the purists of rock climbing and the ones that wanted to use this crag for Dry Tooling training. At the end, due to the fact this climbing crag is often wet, pretty much no sport-climber was visiting it and therefore, this crag has been re-established as a Dry Tooling training area.

In addition, in 2019, Th. Panou, bolted some new routes and most of all, he took care of the entire area and made this crag a very welcoming place.

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_092047_121 — Rizos’ Cave

Access

From Attiki Odos Exit #6, follow Fylis Avenue towards Fyli/Chasia (north/west). Follow the road for 500m until big roundabout.

Take the third exit and continue on Fylis Avenue. 3,1 km after the roundabout you will see a golden-domed church on your right hand (Panagia Kanala) and a football pitch on your left. Take the right turn as soon as you pass the church opposite to bus stop 31st Fylis following signposts to “taverna – Ta Pitharia”. 1,8km later, reach crossroad, turn right and take the left branch. Continue straigth ahead on narrow winding road for 1,6km till you reach the end of the asphalt.

Turn right (by the green tank) on the dirt road for 100m. Park on the big clearing.

Total walking distance: 75 m
Walking time: 3 min
Kids friendly

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_091851_414 — Parking Area

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_091929_310 — Epos Fylis Climbing Crag Info Board

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_092015_206 — Common trail that leads to Rizos’ cave and Epos Fylis

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_092000_688 — Right turn towards the cave

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_092150_588 — The rock

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_093321_242 — The Rock

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_093112_349 — The view

Dry Tooling Routes

There are about 10 routes on this crag and rating of the routes starts from M3 (D3) and the most difficult is M8- (D8-).

All different routes are well bolted and the belays are very carefully placed.

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_093343_495 — Dry Tooling Routes

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_093642_767 — Dry Tooling Routes

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_093305_032 — Dry Tooling Routes

Dry Tooling Training – M6

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_092215_401 — Dry Tooling Training

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_092433_160 — Dry Tooling Training

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_093158_023 — Dry Tooling Training

Dry Tooling Training – M3+

Dry_Tooling_Athens_Parnitha_OlympusMountaineering_01 — Getting started

Dry_Tooling_Athens_Parnitha_OlympusMountaineering_02 — climbing

Dry_Tooling_Athens_Parnitha_OlympusMountaineering_04 — difficult move

Dry_Tooling_Athens_Parnitha_OlympusMountaineering_05 — Dry Tooling

Dry_Tooling_Athens_Parnitha_OlympusMountaineering_06 — at the Crux

Dry_Tooling_Athens_Parnitha_OlympusMountaineering_03 — almost at the anchor

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_092249_003 — Dry Tooling Training

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_093226_002 — Dry Tooling Training

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_093245_806 — Dry Tooling Training

DryTooling_Athens_Epos_Fylis_Rizos_Cave_092123_099 — Dry Tooling Training

More Climbing Activities around Athens

Athens area offers more than 2000 single pitch bolted lines in more than 40 crags and new routes are constantly popping up. In addition there are 4 multi pitch walls with trad lines, plenty of bouldering and a lot of potential for deep water solo. Limestone in Athens comes in a surprising variety of shapes and colors and can create climbing wonders ranging from sheer desperate slabs to highly featured, tufa infested walls. Tufa climbing has a strong presence in the area. In fact, the city’s best sport climbing crags can certainly rival those of Kalymnos’ in tufa climbing goodness. Undisputed king among the tufa kingdoms of Athens is the lost world of Mavrosouvala, a totally otherworldly place in the middle of nowhere. The craziest thing about this majestic stalactite forest is that very few Athenians actually know about its existence.

If you liked this post, see more rock climb activities on the links bellow: