In reply to UKC News:
Hello All,
i have just seen the several comments coming out regarding ''Avaatara" and the fact that there are some people who complained about Lama not being the first to climb in the gorge.
As Jad Khoury, personally i guess i could be one of the few that could answer this debate and settle it.
In order to put thing into perspective, i will be posting the following facts about the rock climbing in Lebanon in the last 10 years almost:
1- Rock climbing in Lebanon has been developped since the early 2000's by the french army bolting routes for the lebanese army training purposes. This has been one of the seeds of the current climbing community. most lebanese climbers started climbing on these routes.
2- Most of the climbing in Lebanon consists of Sport Climbing, Bouldering and DWS. Trad is very rare but can be found, as the nature of the rock does not always allow for natural cracks.
3-Prior to 2009 there was very few development being done in matter of bolting new routes (which is very accepted here as the rock is limestone same as found in france, italy, spain and greece. I totally understand the ethics in the UK and sometimes other parts of the world where bolts are prohibited, as for Lebanon it is quite different).
4- Since 2009, 'Rock Climbing Lebanon' the registered local rock climbing association, has been raising the development standards and working on putting Lebanon the world rock climbing map.
Chabot visited lebanon in 2010, followed by brittany griffith, Sam Elias, Andrew Bisharat, Boone Speed and now David Lama.
Regarding the route Avaatara please find the following answers for your questions:
-Is the gorge a trad venue or sport or a mixture of both? the gorge is a touristic destination, with commercial companies that run paid abseiling and zip line activities. with the in-existence of an entity to regulate these businesses, un-professionalism could sometimes lead to accidents that i sincerely hope that would not happen.
There were not even 1 single climbing route (sport or trad) prior to Avaatara. the only climbing sector is 5 mins drive close to the sink hole location. So the whole area does not qualify of being a sport or trad venue, it is a unique location having the honor of hosting THE hardest climbing route in Lebanon currently.
-Were there any existing routes in that sink hole and if so how many and were they trad or sport or a mixture of both? the only scramble done on this location is a very easy gulley that was used as a climbing test for a yearly climbing session done by an outdoor activities company.
-What is the local Lebanese concensus about Lama's route? Is it seen as a positive thing or a retrograde, unwelcome step and future routes should be established on a trad only basis? Prior to the set up of the whole thing, being a part of the project and representing the lebanese rock climbers community, i recommended and demanded that Redbull would communicate the project to the local municipality of Chatine which is the location of the Sink hole. The acceptance of the municipality, the local residents and civilian society organizations such as local associations is a very important side that we took as a priority. As for the local rock climbers community, every climber has found that this route has been a very positive point to promote the good side and image of lebanon.
Of course bolting a route in a unique location could sometimes represent a burden if it gets unaccepted by the local community, this was not the case of the smiling locals every day that saw us at the location.
It is important to point out that the amount of trash from tourists and abseiling clubs sometimes cannot be imagined, this is a bad side of the location being touristic. before the ascent, we had to work to haul more than 20 trash bags full of garbage (200kg+) of all types that are impacting the location more than 10 bolts or even less which originally are not something regarded as bad here in Lebanon.
As for the people claiming in their comments on face book that they were the first to climb in that location, jugging up a rope following a caving or rappeling day does not qualify of being bolted sport route. it is important to mention that this location as well as other locations in Lebanon are sometimes littered with hundreds caving 8mm bolts that are used for training and that does not look well on the eyes...
Being a French 9a route, and the first of its grade in Lebanon. the whole community in Lebanon is very proud of it, as well as the magical video that was shot to show the best image of Lebanon. I am not sure if every person on this website has heard of Lebanon, maybe you've heard about Lebanon through the war media stating that it is still a war torn country.
Truth is, Lebanon is paradise despite all the issues that happened 30 years ago involving war and killing.
Lebanon in 2015 invites you to visit it and climb on the best routes limestone can offer.
I invite you to check my blog and to read more about rock climbing in Lebanon:
http://rockclimbinglebanonblog.blogspot.com/
Best Regards,
Jad Khoury