Climbing Trip to Lebanon

I knew I was going to like Lebanon before I went there; I have amazing Lebanese friends, I love Lebanese food, I’ve heard so many good things about climbing in Lebanon, there was no chance I wouldn’t like it. However, I did not expect I was going to love it this much!

I bought my tickets to Beirut only two weeks before the beginning of the anti-government protests in 2019. I was sure that by the time I arrived the situation in the country would calm down. For a month-and-a-half I’d been updated by my Lebanese friends and I closely followed what was happening in the country of a cedar tree. People were out on the streets because they had had enough of corrupted politics, and the politicians, who divide society for their own gain. Hmmm… Sounds familiar? Peaceful demonstrations escalated, causing political deadlock, which slowly evolved into an economic crisis. Until the very last moment, I wasn’t sure if I would be forced to cancel my trip. Taking into account the relatively recent history of civil war, the neighboring Syria torn apart by war and increasing recession, it would probably have been a reasonable thing to do. However, inspired by the Lebanese-Mediterranean temperament, I decided to listen to my heart, not reason and in the end, it was the right thing to do.

Before my trip to Lebanon I had my priorities very clear - and let's be honest - the main reason why I wanted to visit Lebanon was the food, not the climbing. It was simple and delicious food: hummus, baba ghanouj, tabbouleh, kibbeh, manoushe and many more. The list is very long. Rich culinary traditions and practices in Lebanon are the result of a varied climate, cultural diversity and its geopolitics making it a mixing pot between east and west. These are the same reasons which make this country so special. Extraordinary landscapes, mind-blowing historical sites, lovely people and... did I mention delicious food already? Yes, delicious food. Just Leba-om-nom-nom-nom!

Amazing dinner prepared by Gio’s mom.

I managed to visit only a few popular sites, try only a few local culinary specials and send only a few climbing routes. Six days is not enough to be able to say much about a country, even if it’s only one-third the size of Belgium. It is the smallest country in Asia, but it packs in more history than a few European countries together. In addition, it is unbelievably varied geography-wise; warm most of the year, sea, cedar forests and mountains rising up to three thousand meters straight out of the sea.

Climbing in Tannourine El Tahta

When it comes to climbing, Lebanon has a very active community and a few very well developed crags. I managed to visit only Tannourine El Tahta; the largest and one of the most popular climbing crags in the country. There are about 50 routes from 5a to 8b. A huge rock wall is divided into two sectors: the lower with a huge choice of easy routes and the upper mostly with 7s and 8s. Climbing in Tannourine is magnificent, technically demanding and its grading is comparable more to Slovenian Mišja Peč than Greek Kalymnos.

Besides the climbing, the location itself is absolutely spectacular. Only one-hour-forty-five-minutes (and about 75km) drive from the Capital, but already almost a thousand meters above sea level (which makes it possible to climb there almost all year). Views are breathtaking and there is a warm family hotel with reasonable rates, located just at the bottom of the crag. The village also shares its name with the Tannourine Cedars Forest Nature Reserve, which is considered one of the largest and densest cedar forests in Lebanon. In addition, Tannourine hosts a remarkably large number of monuments dating back to the Phoenician, Romanian and Greek eras.

I left Lebanon feeling absolutely delighted with the newly discovered place. However the whole time I had a bittersweet feeling, taking into account the current economic and political situation there. Lebanon is a gem of the Mediterranean, I sincerely hope that its situation will finally stabilize, because I’m sure this was not my last visit there.

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