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This weekend in Demir Kapija was held the first meeting for advanced alpinists in organization of the Macedonian Alpine Association and the Centre for professional qualification.
Several alpinists took part of this event. The plan was to climb some difficult routes.We arrived in Demir Kapija on Saturday, in the morning. The access to the rock was from the sector ARM to the peak of the ABZEL line, because of the high level of the river Vardar. The cable to approach the alpine routes from the parking between the two tunnels was under water. Me, Bobi, Miki and Pande climbed the route Vlatceva. I leaded the first part and with my last force, due to the non-climbing couple of mounths, I succeed to climb up to the anchor. When I thought that this is the end of my “troubles”, I had the second part of the route to climb, but this time as second. As time went by, I “scratched” up the rock and I don’t know how, but at the end I succeed to climb up. The whole time, on the same route behind me were Miki and Pande. We all came on the third anchor, but there I decided to quit. Miki and Pande continued to climb, and they climbed the two next parts. That night we slept under the stars, but only for an hour, because the rain forced me and Ziko to move to the car, while Zoki and Bobi found a rock overhang where there wasn't enough room for us. The next morning, Pande sang “ooooo my knee hurts”, because he injured his knee and I started to sing “I’m sour after you” (this is a Macedonian song) because of the cold and the muscle inflammation after the Vlatceva’s route. The others went to climb, but we slept all day. That is also a part of the alpinism, isn’t it …. or maybe not???
After a long time, this weekend was a good training for us, and also the beginning of the new climbing season.
