Namibia, May 07
What
can you say about Hot Rocking through Namibia…. driving through one
of the best safari parks on the continent, cuddling a few cheetahs, driving
along the Skeleton Coast with the most impressive views of nothing I’ve
ever seen, paddling in the freezing Atlantic ocean, all before ending up at
the most beautiful climbing spot around.
Spitzkoppe is a huge pointy granite mountain that rises 700m from the flat, barren pink deserts that surround it for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. We spent 7 days camping at its base. The campsite is basic, there are no bars or restaurants, it has no water supply, no facilities bar a few long drop toilets in falling-down sheds. The nearest place to get food and water is a 40km drive away, and it’s beautiful. Imagine sitting with your mates in what feels like the middle of nowhere, drinking a beer after a great day’s climbing, watching the sun set the desert and rock alive with strong red light, marking the end of another great day.
And the days were great. It doesn’t matter what kind of climbing you’re
into, you’ll find it at Spitzkoppe. I think everyone did the Normal
Route, a fun 400m scramble that has you furkling through caves and chimneys,
which takes you to the base of the 6 pitch VS route that takes you right to
the summit. There are only 500-odd names in the summit book, and plenty of
them are Hot Rockers from the now 4 trips we’ve made to this great place.
Surrounding the main peak are plenty of other crags. A few of these are super-slabby and quite big, so they’ve been covered in (sportingly) bolted lines. You really gotta trust the friction in this place, otherwise you’ll whitey in the 10m between the bolts! There are heaps of boulders everywhere, some boulderable, others actually 40m high and littered with sport routes. There must be well over 200 well-bolted single-pitch routes to play on, ranging from 10-29 in the South African grading system, so ranging from a hands-free walk up a gentle-angled slab to silly hard and steep with no holds.
Running east from the Grosse Spitzkoppe, is a line of summits – the Pontokspitze – and this is where the big trad routes live. We never got round to doing anything on these, simply because there was so much other stuff to go at. They do look awesome though, and I for one will definitely go back to play on these…
And then, dominating the views from camp, there is the SW-wall of Grosse
Spitzkoppe – a huge and imposing, continuous cliff some 600m straight
up. 
This
is where the hard and scary routes reside, every single one of them a huge
undertaking of 12-20 pitches, climbed with the desert sun beating on your
back the entire way. We had three parties climb up on this wall, two groups
on the SW-wall route, a route that starts with 4 pitches of grade 24 slab
and wall climbing before entering a never-ending chimney that takes you right
to the summit.
The most famous (or infamous) route on this huge wall though, has to be INXS, a route with a fearsome reputation for death run-outs and sustained hard climbing, relentless exposure, difficult and contrived protection involving duct tape and skyhooks. The route enjoys an almost legendary status in South Africa, having caused a few broken bones in its better climbers, and it has sparked a huge retro-bolting debate over there, with most people agreeing that this route should be an exception to the never-retro-bolt-rule, because it’s ‘unfair’ to have a route of such calibre that is as dangerous as it frankly is.
So we were all awed when Nick and Lucy climbed it easily in a day, after a relaxed morning drinking tea around the camp fire (it’s cold in the desert on winter mornings) and with no food or water. The two of the enjoyed hero status for quite a while after that!
And now I’m going to let the photos tell the Namibian story – they’ll do it so much better than I will.
| Pad. Wobble. Pad. Wobble. Airy & scary an the spitzoppe. |  |
| Mmm. Now how do I get down? |  |
| Ah, he must be the barman |  |
| And there's the bar. |  |
| Brent crimping |  |
1...2....3 BUNGEE! |
 |
| Cat & Keels in the middle of the Namib desert. Obviously. |  |
| Spitzkoppe summit |  |
Hey Punk! What you lookin' at? This rock ain't big enough for the both of us. |
|
| Simply awesome |  |
| That ain't no chimney |  |
Now THAT'S a chimney. Come to think of it, has anyone seen Dan lately? |
 |
| Overheard: "now I remember why I love climbing..." |  |
| My toes conceal a lethal barb |  |
| YEAH! You betcha! |  |
| Once again, the argument over who-does-the-skinning got them nowhere |  |
| Is this one of the big 5? |  |
| Spitzkoppe days |  |
| Deserted diamond mine on the Skeleton coast |  |
| Hot Rock teaches the locals some rhythm...honest |  |
| dune buddies nr Swakopmund |  |
| Martin bouldering |  |
| "If I can't see you, you can't see me. Right?" |  |
| After days of cranking just that fraction too hard... |  |
| "I'm just going out to cross the Namib. I may be some time." |
|
| Here kitty kitty, here kitty |  |
| And good night |  |
