Megalos Vrachos (Great Wall) is the largest limestone headwall of Avantas with a domineering position on the south side of the valley. As a result, on its summit is the largest castle in the region, which offers a great view of the Aegean sea.
With a north aspect and a variety of climbing styles, Megalos Vrachos offers some traditional climbing routes graded IV to VII with heights of 70m to 160m, as well as many sport climbing routes of difficulties from 4a to 8a/a+ with heights of 12m to 30m. Because the crag is especially popular on hot summer days, at its foot is a specially arranged sitting area. The anchors of the sport routes are in their majority open-type.
The castle of Avantas at the top of Megalos Vrachos remains enigmatic, mainly due to the lack of historical references, only being associated with the unknown town of “Kereopyrgos”. This theory is based on the shape of the formation which is reminiscent of a horn.
Access
Approaching the area via EO35 from Alexandroupolis, the Megalos Vrachos formation can be seen on the left-hand side of the road just after the village, however, the headwall cannot be seen due to its orientation. To access the crag, we pass by the chapel of Agios Athanasios and after 100m we turn left on the dirt road, directly after the bridge. Continuing onto the dirt road for 250m, a clearing is reached where parking is possible, from there we follow a signposted steep and narrow trail for about 15min to the sports crag. For the base of the traditional routes, the approach is similar until the clearing but then is unique for each route.
Climbing history
Megalos Vrachos was the first formation which was climbed at Avantas, with the routes “Second ridge” (V, 85m), “The president’s” (V+, 70m), “Honeymoon” (VI-, 110m), and “Perifereiarchis” (VI, 110m) being recorded on 24/5/1992 during an unofficial climbing meet between A. Pieta - N. Koukouroudelis, K. Siozos - Th. Alexandridis, Th. Chatzisyrlis - K. Bakratsas and A. Tsilogeorgis - M. Kontis - K. Sarantakos respectively. During the rest of the 90s new routes were established almost on an annual basis with the contribution of Karkatselis, Tsilogeorgis, Sarantakos, Exakoidis, and Zacharopoulos, among many others. A notable turning point was the free ascent of “Ace of clubs” (VI+, 110m) of M. Karakousis - Th. Chatzisyrlis by A. Karkatselis and A. Exakoidis in 1996, which led to the establishment of “Rastafari” (VII A0, 130m) two years later. This route waited 8 years until it was successfully climbed and today remains the only old aid climb of the crag.
Even though the establishment of new routes decreased, the bolting of the sport sector between September 2019 and May 2020 by A. Du rejuvenated interest in the headwall. Today the sport climbing sector has many routes, one of which is traditional, that have been created by A. Du, A. Exakoidis, Chr. Karanikas and N. Teogiannis. In recent years the traditional sector has again come into the forefront with new multi-pitch routes.
