Kayacık Towers · Aladağlar · Turkey
Read the cautionsEasy to bailBolting confidence: medium
Five pitches on very rough red and grey limestone ten minutes from the car park, with long 5c to 6a+ pitches on knobs and water-worn flutings. The only hard climbing is one physical 7a move on the last pitch, which can be aided. Recommended locally as the route to do on this wall.
Bolted and abseiled, but thinly documented, at altitude, and the latest party found the bolting committing.
The route
Turkish Delight climbs the south-west side of the Kayacık Towers above the Kazacık camp. Four pitches of 5c, 6a, 6a+ and 5c lead to a final pitch with one hard move, graded 7a or 6a+/A0. Parties describe big knobs on pitch 1 and a fine fluting on pitch 2. Documentation in western languages is thin: the camptocamp page gives grades only, and two trip reports disagree about how committing the bolting feels, so treat the grade of the easier pitches with respect.
In pictures
The climbing
| Pitch | Grade | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | 5c | Climbing on large knobs of rock. |
| P2 | 6a | A fine water-worn fluting. |
| P3 | 6a+ | No description published. Reports describe long, even pitches on flutings. |
| P4 | 5c | No description published. A 2018 party linking pitches 3 and 4 on the abseil needed about 64 m of rope. |
| P5 | 7a | A final flight with one very physical 7a move that is easy to spot from below, or 6a+/A0. The 2025 party found it not that easy to aid. |
Getting there
The camptocamp pages give only the last leg: drive the track past the Sokullupınar camp and take the right-hand branch to the car park at the Kazacık camp. In May 2025 a party in a small hire car stopped short of the first car park because of a muddy section and walked 30 minutes to the second. Reports mention staying at the Aladağlar campsite, whose owner Recep İnce equipped these routes and hands out topos.
10 minutes. From the car park at the Kazacık camp walk up towards the wall by sight; the face is obvious from the second car park.
Loading map
The point is approximate: it marks the area, not the crag.
Coordinates · area: approximate
Point from camptocamp waypoint 1051926
Contains the route point. Opens in most mapping apps and GPS watches.
Points are compiled from published sources, with the precision stated above. They were not surveyed on the ground: check them against a current topo.
Coordinates: 37.81566, 35.13049 (area)
Getting down
Abseil the route in four. A 2018 party tried to link the third and fourth pitches in one abseil on 2×60 m ropes and came up a few metres short, finishing with some down-climbing, so stop at each belay.
Retreat
Easy to bail
The route is descended by abseil from its bolted belays, so retreat from any belay uses the same anchors. Do not try to link abseils: one party came up short doing so on 60 m ropes.
Safety
Sun and weather
South-west facing on towers whose top is given as about 3000 m. In early May the face came into the sun at about 12:00. The rock is extremely rough on the skin. A muddy track stopped a small car short of the car park in May 2025.
Sun on the wall · SW-facing
Working out the sunlit hours for this month.
Sun on the wallDaylight, wall in shade● Usual season
Estimated from the wall's aspect only. Ignores surrounding terrain, gullies and the wall's exact shape. Clock times are in your device's time zone, for the 15th of each month.
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May (usual season) | Jun (usual season) | Jul (usual season) | Aug (usual season) | Sep (usual season) | Oct (usual season) | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily high °C | −5 | −5 | −1 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 19 | 19 | 15 | 9 | 3 | −3 |
| Mean daily low °C | −10 | −10 | −8 | −4 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 1 | −4 | −8 |
| Rain days 1 mm or more | 11 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 11 |
● marks the usual climbing season. Averages for 1991-2020 at about 2755 m. Area climate from Open-Meteo reanalysis. Temperatures are adjusted to the height of the crag; rain comes from a grid cell of about 10 to 25 km, and summer highs on sea cliffs can read a few degrees low. The wall and valley can differ. Data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
What to carry
Quickdraws (number not published) and two ropes; 2×60 m is what the reporting parties used. A 2018 party carried four cams and did not use them. Helmet.
Derived from the route data; check it against a current topo
From climbers
Reader reports are not being collected yet. Until they are, check a current topo and the local club or guidebook publisher for recent changes to Turkish Delight (Türk Lokumu).
Worth knowing
Open questions
Provenance
Same area
Turkey · Aladağlar
Often named as the best route in the massif: seven even pitches of 6a to 6b+ that move from delicate slabs and giant flutings through a steep, rough wall to mountain-style ground at the top. The 6b pitches are no harder than the 6a ones, but the bolts are far enough apart to keep you thinking.
6b+7 pitches235 m
Read the cautions
Around 7a · about 5 pitches
France · Ariège Pyrenees
The hard classic of the Calamès pillars above Bédeilhac: technical slabs, a well-bolted roof and a sustained 6c wall, capped by a short 7a slab pitch after a walk across a garden. Compact rock and close bolts make it a good place to try harder grades on a multipitch. The middle pitch is vegetated.
7a5 pitches180 m
Morocco · Akchour (Rif)
Five pitches through tufa columns, a leaning corner and a lichenous chimney on extraordinarily abrasive rock. The first pitch is a three-dimensional 6a+ on jugs between columns and the 7a fourth pitch is an athletic, well-bolted column climb. Two short passages on the easier pitches are run-out.
7a5 pitches160 m
Read the cautions
Morocco · Todra Gorge (Todgha)
Steep, fingery wall climbing that starts with your feet almost in the stream at the gorge entrance. The 7a second pitch is hard for only 2 to 3 metres and can be swapped for a 6b pitch on the neighbouring route, after which three pitches of 6b+ to 6c+ on pocketed and edgy rock lead to the top. Abseil descent.
7a6 pitches200 m
Read the cautions
Croatia · Paklenica
A short, hard line high on the shady north face of Anića kuk: a steep 6a+, a 7a corner on razor-sharp small edges, a slightly overhanging 6c+ corner and a long finish up water runnels. The rock is sharp and superb from the first metre. Good as a half-day or combined with a neighbour.
7a4 pitches130 m
Compiled from published sources and last verified October 2026. Bolts, anchors and access change. Climbing is dangerous and you are responsible for your own decisions: check a current topo and read the disclaimer.
