Demir Kapija

Demir Kapija is an area in South-Central Macedonia about 120 km from Skopje. A journey down the Skopje-Solun (Greece) highway or a railway connection will take you to the small settlement of the same name. The river Vardar separates the settlement of Demir Kapija from the big limestone rockface that rises up right from the left bank of the river (making it hard to approach for climbing). The rock itself is fragile - like any other limestone but also because it has not been climbed very often – frequent climbing “cleans up” the rock by pushing down the loose rocks or even blocks, but here in Demir Kapija you could till find some dangerous patches, not because of the technical ifficulty but because of the potential danger of falling rocks. On the ther hand, there still remains many possibilities for new routes. The existing routes are about 200-250 metres long (depending where they start) and in the IV-VI grading area.

-The approaches

There are two ways to approach the routes - one by climbing up over to

-Pozav(left) and Tulumba (right)

Slavkova is a shorter route that starts somewhere on the half of the rock, but much harder and here the crux reaches up to VI+ grade. The line of the route is far from “diretissima” - it just starts and goes up fearlessly towards the hardest technical difficulties that are in its way. After some easy scrambling from the river bank we got under the route which starts following a dehidre and ends up few meters under the overhangs. The first belay stance is actually at the tree on the top of this dehidre after which the route goes up the slab and traverse to the right. After this there is a line that will get you right under the first overhang. Here the climbers feel (and are) very exposed. The hand and foot holds are such a position that we had to move almost lying with our bodies horizontally in the air, turned sideways on the rock and stretching over as far as we could to the right. The overhanging area is so big that when climbers move through the first overhang they can see the ground 200 meters under their legs … The first overhang can be climbed following a crack that moves diagonally to the right towards the second overhang. We made the second belay stance under the second overhang because there was a drag on the rope and I just couldn’t move through something this difficult pulling up the rope with my hand or body. The correct line goes straight up through the second overhand, but if you want to climb it free without using the pitons “in situ” for aid climbing but you can’t because it’s just not your day, you can go around to the right. We didn’t do this - but I must say that I was not successful passing this overhang from the first try (even second, third…:) There is enough protection “in situ” through the overhangs and in the area over and under them, but not enough in the first pitch where we used the crack that we followed that is cam-friendly.

-Slavkova route and climbers under the second overhang

Blazeva is easy long route where the crux of grade VI is in the last 7-8 meters where the route gets a little overhangy. For a route of around 250 metres this means pleasant long climb with beautiful views over the ridges that this route follows. The start is over an easy and wide chimney (IV+/V) with lot of possibilities for putting cams and slings. But the rock here is more fragile and I had to be very careful how I was climbing and what I was holding to because everything that would brake would fall directly down on Vesna through the chimney where her belay stance was. After the first pitch there are two or three easy pitches of easy II/III scrambling. Here we moved parallel and when we got at the point where the route gets more vertical we made the belay stance. From here on it gets a little harder but the rock was very hospitable for belay means. The last (very short) pitch has a grade VI and it starts on a big terrace where we enjoyed the views on the both sides of the canyon. The name “Demir Kapija” actually means “Iron Gate”. The canyon is like a gate from one valley to another so being on a top or close gives you unique opportunity to see how the river curves through the valleys on the both sides. The last pitch can be also climbed by another variation that goes a little towards to the left where we found big handholds and big cracks for cams (I could see a few old and rusty pitons on my right that were from the harder variation). These were the only “in situ” protection that we saw in this route.

-The upper part of Blazeva

The Demir Kapija area is one of the hottest places in Macedonia (if not the hottest), so usually we don’t climb here during the summer period. The rock faces south so during the whole day climbers are exposed under the sun and climbing on temperatures high over 40 degrees Centigrade can be very exhausting… Still between the tunnels, there is enough protection and shade and there are some short sport-climbing routes that can be done if it is really hot. There are good places for putting up a tent near the small stream that also passes through here.

This was the place where, 7 years ago, I began climbing unprotected big routes and I had to plan the route all by myself. I remember during that first climb I was so concentrated on what I was doing while climbing that I only started noticing the surroundings after reaching the upper half of the route. During that first hour or two of climbing I couldn’t see anything else around only the gray rock, the forms on it, cracks, hand and footholds - I was so concentrated climbing and protecting my climbing partner that it was only after some time that I started seeing the valley. It was like being awakened from sleep - looking at the surrounding environment, the river that was passing down there, the train, the town. It was like the picture was slowly getting filled piece by piece. I was amazed by this effortless concentration that climbing got me in… In few books written by climbers I’ve read how they compare this activity with meditation. Meditation, like climbing, gives you a rare opportunity to analyze yourself and go deep and find your limitations and go over them. I remember a quote from one climber (unfortunately I can’t remember who that) who said that only when we will climb the mountains that are in ourselves, the mountains of jealousy, fear, anxiety, only then we will be on the highest mountain of the world…

This is what Sri Chinmoy says about concentration and meditation:

“…Concentration is the open secret of focusing all one’s attention on a particular object or person in order to enter into and have one’s identification with that object or person. The final stage of concentration is to discover and reveal the hidden ultimate Truth in the object of concentration. What concentration can do in our day-to-day life is unimaginable. It most easily separates our heart’s Heaven from our mind’s hell so that we can live the constant delight and joy of Heaven and not in the perpetual worries, anxieties and tortures of hell while we are on earth…”

“Meditation is man’s self-awakening and God’s Self-Offering. When men’s self-awakening and God’s Self-Offering meet together man becomes immortal in the inner world and God becomes fulfilled in the outer world…It is only through meditation that we can get lasting peace, divine peace. If we can meditate soulfully in the morning and receive peace for only one minute, that one minute of peace will permeate our whole day…We need meditation because we want to grow in Light and fulfill ourselves in Light…”