UKC

FRI NIGHT VIDEO - Big Wall Climbing in Africa

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Our film this week is an expedition to the 'armpit of Africa' - namely the island of São Tomé and Príncipe, just south of Nigeria. Gareth Leah from the UK attempts a first ascent on a beautiful volcanic pillar, which he found by googling 'super-villian lairs' and 'tower of Mordor.' The film encapsulates the extreme highs and lows of a painful expedition into the jungle, where basic tasks such as eating, drinking and sleeping become difficult.


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3 Feb, 2017
Nubivagant (Wandering in the Clouds) 455m, 5.13d/A0 (F8b) from the descripion: 5. 8 bolts, 15m 5.10b(F6a+) – Take the blocky face to the slab. 6. 9 bolts, 35m 5.6 (F4c) – A long scramble pitch with some vertical climbing at the mid-point. Run out. 7. 10 bolts, 35m 5.9 (F5) – Another scramble with a tricky exit onto the ledge. 8. 9 bolts, 25m 5.10c (F6b) – Hard start up steep rock to easy finish. 9. 8 bolts, 20m 5.9 (F5) – Traverse the foot ledge with good hands to a tricky exit. 10. 9 bolts, 35m 5.10c (F6b) – Hand jam the blocks to a ledge. Walk across and climb the technical face to the chains in the overhanging roof. 11. 13 bolts, 35m 5.11d (F7a) – Traverse right and up the gully to a hard finish on the ledge. Sounds so hard core! No wonder they were tired after drilling probably well over 200 bolts on the thing.
3 Feb, 2017
What a brilliant little video. Amazing climbing eccentrics! Alan
3 Feb, 2017
Gah! Such a shame to let down such an impressive peak. Was no trad gear possible at all!?!? (If it appears that the biggest challenge was locating parts to fix your battery charger, then you're doing it wrong! Very wrong IMO). A good exploratory trip no doubt and though they might ''improve as a person'' it deserves no respect if you do nothing but drill and bolt the mountain. But then I suppose you might not be able to haul a camera crew with you.... And thats clearly what its all about!
3 Feb, 2017
So basically they went into the middle of a pristine wilderness, bolted their way up an unclimbed peak, abbed off, attempted the route as a sport climb before failing and pulled their arses up on the bolts (again) to get to the top for a photo? I'm far from a hardcore "trad only, death to bolts" kind of guy and I appreciate that I've never even seen the route but those 'ethics' make my teeth itch.
3 Feb, 2017
The quality of the picture is top notch and I admire the enthusiasm, especially as it would appear a difficult island to reach in the first place. I couldn't find any information about the background of the crag but it does definitely seem very much lacking in a sense of purity when you're just watching someone drill holes and the most desperate part of the expedition seems to revolve around whether the final drill charger will work or not when it's suggested that even eating and drinking are difficult. Not to mention that they seem to be making daily trips from town to the crag. Fun it is Autana it is not.
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