Croatia · Paklenica
Karamara Sweet Temptations
A five-minute approach from the gorge café. There is a polished boulder-problem start, then wandering grooves and an airy traverse on the 6a+ third pitch.
6a+4 pitches110 m
Read the cautions
Water Song
Veliki Ćuk · Paklenica · Croatia
Read the cautionsBail with caveatsBolting confidence: medium
Classic Paklenica water-groove climbing on beautifully sculpted rock. The crux is a rising crack traverse on P5, with delicate slab moves above.
- Hardest pitch
- 6a+
- Pitches
- 6
- Length
- 160 m
- Approach
- 20 min
- Aspect
- NW
- North-west-facing
- Rope
- –
Read before you go
Bolted throughout with bolted belays, but spacing opens up on the upper pitches, pitch 5 has a harder look-alike line that parties stray onto, and the walk-off crosses unstable scree.
The route
Overview
Water Song is a six-pitch route on the north-west face of Veliki Ćuk in Paklenica, known for its water grooves (runnels) on sculpted grey limestone. The first three pitches are closely bolted groove and slab climbing; the upper half is steeper, with a crack traverse, a short technical crux pitch and a delicate slab to finish. It is one of the most popular mid-grade routes in the park. The top half feels harder and more spaced than the bottom, pitch 5 has a route-finding trap, and the walk-off crosses loose ground.
The climbing
Pitch by pitch
5c5c4b5c6a+5c
| Pitch | Grade | Length | Bolts | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 5c | 30 m | 5 bolts | Wall and water grooves, closely bolted. Mountain Project counts five bolts and calls it short; bergsteigen.com gives 25 m. |
| P2 | 5c | 25 m | 9 bolts | Water grooves, about nine bolts. Do not skip R2: camptocamp warns you can end up 5 m short of rope below R3. Mountain Project says P1 and P2 can be linked with a 70 m rope and 15 quickdraws. |
| P3 | 4b | 30 m | – | Easier grooves, straight up then leftwards. Some find it harder than the grade. bergsteigen.com gives 40 m. |
| P4 | 5c | 15 m | – | Short pitch rightwards up an oblique crack/ramp on big holds to the top of a large block, staying inside a big flake. Awkward and somewhat polished; one party suggested 6a. Do not link with pitch 5 because of rope drag on the crux. |
| P5 | 6a+ | 20 m | – | The crux, concentrated in a few metres. camptocamp describes traversing left along a rising crack to a belay on the left; Mountain Project says to start right from the belay, traverse left and finish right, and to stop at the first two bolts you see because the guidebook misplaces the belay; bergsteigen.com describes a left-then-right loop, slabby and steep at first, then big holds over a small bulge. A separate, harder line also leaves this belay; see hazards. |
| P6 | 5c | 30 m | – | Two delicate slab moves (one party suggested 6a), a big crack with some bridging, then easier grooves and slabs to the summit platform. The longest pitch; extendable draws or slings help. |
Getting there
Approach
To the parking
Base is Starigrad-Paklenica. Drive into the gorge, pay at the national park entrance and park at the last car park (about 120 m altitude).
On foot · about 20 min
20–30 minutes. From the last car park follow the main paved path up the gorge. At the second bridge (a sign reads 'Veliki Ćuk') turn right and climb steeply for about 50 m, then leave the gully to the right (the gully is the descent). Traverse about 15 m and take the steel cables up and left over the rock step. At the notch you pass the foot of the north rib (Sjeverno rebro); carry on roughly level, across an open bowl below a wooded gully. The route starts from a small ledge reached by a few metres of scrambling (some parties climbed a corner to reach it), 5–10 m above the arrival platform. A small plaque reads '6a+ Water Song'.
Finding the route · 2 photos
Start of the routeThe small triangular plate at the start, reading "6a+ Water Song".Photo: Cristol DE escalade · CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Walk-inThe steel cable on the rock step, seen from above (photographer's title: "descent and cabled part"). You climb this section on the way in and come back down it.Photo: Cristol DE escalade · CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Map of the walk-in
- Crag
- Parking
Loading map
The point marks the crag, not the exact start of the route.
Parking
44.30260, 15.47084
Parking marked on bergsteigen.com
Point from bergsteigen.com touren/klettern/water-song-veliki-cuk-paklenica (marker labelled approximate)
For your phone or watch
Download GPX
Contains the route point and parking. 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: 44.30624, 15.47542 (crag) · Parking: 44.30260, 15.47084
Getting down
Descent
Walk off; no abseils. From the summit area go east and scramble down (maximum grade II, a few sections with cables), following a well-cairned line and red paint marks down the gully. You join the approach to the Anića kuk routes and then the cables that bring you back near the start and the gorge path. camptocamp allows 1 h; bergsteigen.com gives 30 minutes; a 2019 party was back at the car park 30 minutes after topping out.
Retreat
Bailing off the route
Bail with caveats
No source describes a retreat: the route is a walk-off with no abseils. The facts suggest you can abseil back down, because the belays are bolted, the pitches are only 15 to 30 m and the route is 160 m long, but expect to leave gear. Mountain Project mentions parties bailing from the wrong line on pitch 5.
- Retreat from
- Not documented. By inference, from any bolted belay, most simply from R1 to R3 where the line goes fairly straight up the water grooves.
- Point of no return
- None documented. From the top the walk-off takes 30 min to 1 h, so above the pitch 5 crux finishing is probably quicker than abseiling five pitches. That is an inference.
- Carry
- Not stated. By inference a 60 m single rope reaches belay to belay (pitches up to 30 m); bergsteigen.com lists 2×50 m. Carry maillons or spare karabiners and cord, since no source says the belays have chains or rings.
- Basis
- Inferred from the route factscamptocamp and bergsteigen.com state only bolted belays, pitch lengths and a walk-off descent; camptocamp says nothing about retreat, so the whole judgement is inferred.
Partly inferred from the route facts
Safety
Hazards
- Pitch 5 route-finding: a harder line leaves the same belay. A 2019 camptocamp party who took the leftward line concluded it was a different route graded 6b then 6a where cams are recommended, with spaced bolts and an obligatory crux; a 2016 party graded the left traverse 6b+/6c; a 2017 plezanje.net comment says a 'project' on the left at the start of pitch 5 is missing from older guidebooks; Mountain Project reports parties bailing after running out of bolts on the left. Sources do not agree on the exact line, so study the current guidebook topo and expect to look around.
- Bolt spacing: very close on pitches 1–2, clearly wider higher up, and 4–5 m apart on easy sections.
- Do not link pitch 2 into pitch 3: you may run out of rope 5 m below R3.
- Descent: part of the traverse crosses a very unstable boulder field, and stones fall straight into the funnel the path runs through below. A 2016 party saw another group send large blocks onto the path. Space parties out.
- The last two pitches feel hard for the grade to many parties; Mountain Project grades the route 6b overall.
Sun and weather
Conditions
North-west facing (camptocamp; bergsteigen.com says west). In summer it stays in shade through the morning and into the early afternoon: an August 2019 party started at 13:20 because it was still shaded. Rock is slightly worn but not unpleasantly polished, except pitch 4. The trip reports read are from August and September.
Usual season · Apr to Jun, Sep to Oct
JFMAMJJASOND
Sun on the wall · NW-facing
Working out the sunlit hours for this month.
- January: not yet worked out
- February: not yet worked out
- March: not yet worked out
- April (usual season): not yet worked out
- May (usual season): not yet worked out
- June (usual season): not yet worked out
- July: not yet worked out
- August: not yet worked out
- September (usual season): not yet worked out
- October (usual season): not yet worked out
- November: not yet worked out
- December: not yet worked out
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 local to the wall (Central European time), for the 15th of each month.
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr (usual season) | May (usual season) | Jun (usual season) | Jul | Aug | Sep (usual season) | Oct (usual season) | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily high °C | 7 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 21 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 13 | 8 |
| Mean daily low °C | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 2 |
| Rain days 1 mm or more | 11 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 12 |
| Sunshine hours a day | 6.1 | 7.6 | 9.3 | 10.6 | 12.1 | 13.0 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 10.5 | 8.5 | 6.4 | 5.6 |
● marks the usual climbing season. Averages for 1991-2020 at about 262 m. Area climate from Open-Meteo reanalysis (about 10 km grid): the wall and valley can differ. Data: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
What to carry
Gear
About 10 quickdraws (bergsteigen.com and Mountain Project), plus 3–4 extendable draws or slings for the last pitch and material for the bolted belays. bergsteigen.com lists 2×50 m ropes and says no cams or nuts are needed. Two camptocamp reports say medium cams can be useful on the upper pitches, pitch 5 in particular. Helmet.
Checklist
- Quickdraws
- 10
- Rope
- Length not given in the sources
- Helmet
- One each
- Abseil device and prusik
- The descent or the retreat involves abseiling
- Maillons or spare karabiners
- To leave behind if you retreat
- Cord
- Mentioned for retreat
Derived from the route data; check it against a current topo
From climbers
Reader reports
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 Water Song.
Worth knowing
Tips
- The descent from Anića kuk passes close to the start, so the route combines well with a morning route there.
- Start early in summer to climb in shade.
- The alternative for pitch 5 mentioned on camptocamp (the right-hand variant) is also 6a+.
Open questions
Where sources disagree
- Overall grade: 6a+ on camptocamp, plezanje.net and bergsteigen.com (UIAA 7-); 6b on Mountain Project. Trip reports suggest 6a for P4, 6b+/6c for the left traverse on P5 and 6a for P6. Kept 6a+ as the guidebook grade.
- Pitch lengths: camptocamp 30, 25, 30, 15, 20, 30 m; bergsteigen.com 25, 25, 40, 20, 30, 30 m. Used camptocamp.
- Total length: 160 m (plezanje.net, camptocamp), 170 m (bergsteigen.com), 136 m (Mountain Project).
- Protection: bergsteigen.com says very well bolted with no cams needed; camptocamp reports from 2016 and 2019 say bolts are spaced higher up and medium cams are useful.
- Descent time: 1 h (camptocamp) against 30 minutes (bergsteigen.com). Approach: 20 minutes (camptocamp) against 30 minutes (bergsteigen.com, Mountain Project).
- Descent gully orientation: camptocamp says N in French and E in Spanish; bergsteigen.com says leave the summit eastwards.
- Aspect: NW (camptocamp) against W (bergsteigen.com).
Provenance
Sources
- camptocamp – Water songUsed for: approach, pitch grades and lengths, descent, hazards, trip reports 2015–2019
- Mountain Project – Water SongUsed for: bolt counts, linking pitches, pitch 5 route-finding, gear, first ascent
- Mountain Project – H/2 North West FaceUsed for: approach
- bergsteigen.com – Water SongUsed for: pitch lengths, gear, approach, descent, first ascent
- plezanje.net – Water songUsed for: pitch grades, length, comments on bolt spacing and the pitch 5 project
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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.