The 3rd Leonidio Climbing Festival (1–4 November 2018) has come to a very successful conclusion. The number of registered climbers and participants in the Climbing Marathon was impressive, with a nearly 40% increase in registrations compared to the previous year’s festival. The Leonidio Climbing Festival is an ambitious effort to promote alternative tourism, showcase the natural beauty of the Leonidio Climbing Park and the entire area surrounding it, and introduce the region’s potential abroad.

For the third consecutive year, the Leonidio Climbing Festival was organized by the Municipality of South Kynouria under the auspices of the Prefecture of Peloponnese, Peloponnisos S.A. and Mythical Peloponnese. Petzl was the event’s main sponsor, with the valuable support of Buff.

We are especially grateful for the contribution of wonderful people to the development of climbing in Leonidio. Furthermore, we would like to thank the festival’s special guests and outstanding climbers Angy Eiter, Klemen Bečan, and Said Belhaj. As always, Vertical Life supported some of the event’s highlights, like the Open Climbing Marathon and everybody’s favorite Zlagboard Contest. The schedule of events was enriched by multiple other activities, such as yoga, climbing lessons for beginners and especially for kids, movie screenings, presentations, generous prizes, and the famous Saturday night live party courtesy of the band Omikron. A special sensation caused the Dodecachordo Duo with the soloists Notis Georgiou and Susan Marku in their “Mare Nostrum Orient-Occident Music Dialogues” program. Festival events took place at the indoor and outdoor spaces of the beautiful Fabbrica of Culture. Once again, all events were photographed and filmed by climbing media professionals.

To thank all visitors attending the festival, the Organizing Committee held a raffle with very generous prizes, including climbing gear (ropes, harnesses, climbing shoes, helmets); traditional local products; and the grand prize, a 4-day all-expenses-paid trip to Leonidio for two.
See below for the details of registered climbers. Besides a sizeable number of climbers from Greece, Germany, and France, countries of origin included Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Romania, Ukraine, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Norway, Netherlands, United States, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Japan, and Morocco.

Participants
Total number of registrations at the 3rd Leonidio Climbing Festival: 721
Greek: 270
Other nationalities: 451
Climbing Marathon participants: 191
Free climbing lesson participants: 40

Climbing Marathon winners:
1. Evgeny Kryvosheytsev (Petzl 1000 €)
2. Enzo Fappani (Petzl 500 €)
3. Gabriele Pirocchi (Petzl 300 €)

Everybody has vowed to continue working with the same zeal and enthusiasm to establish Leonidio as one of the best-organized and safest climbing venues in the world!
Very warm thanks go to all the contributors, volunteers, sponsors, and supporters of the festival. The contribution of everybody was absolutely essential, raising the bar even higher for subsequent events.

THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF THE LEONIDIO CLIMBING FESTIVAL