Sesi is a weird place. Urban legends mix with facts regarding violent crimes and pagan rites in the crag’s pre-climbing past. Specific route names stand as a testament to old grudges. As far as location is concerned, Sesi is situated in the southern side of Ymittos as far from downtown as any other crag and next to impossible to reach by public transport.
Despite these ambiguous facts, Sesi remains one of the most popular crags in Athens and for a good reason. What the cliff lacks in public transport accessibility, it makes up for in tranquility and minimal beauty. What the routes lack in height, they exceed in power and character. The crag is quite extensive in terms of route number and variety. Inarguably, crimps (often of brutal littleness and sharpness) are predominant but there are moves and lines for every taste.
The limestone rock is uniformly of the best quality, compact and mildly featured but also slightly polished on the easier and most popular routes. Due to its size and the number of routes the cliff seldom feels crowded except at the easy routes’ neighborhood which can get congested. Bolting is acceptable with some notable exceptions. Often, erratic bolt placement and risky runouts are compensated by semi-permanent rope extensions.
Relatively unknown “Pano Sesi”, lies on the hill southeastwards of the main Sesi wall. Often overlooked, it has no less than 28(!) routes to offer on four distinct small faces. Climbing here is very similar to Sesi, quality is surprisingly good (especially on the uppermost sector “Left”) with continuous yet finger-aggressive climbing. A word of caution though: don’t come here if you are chasing grades. Not only are the grades low but also quite sandbagged. If, on the other hand, climbing is the goal, the routes are good, the views even better and peace of mind is almost guaranteed.