January 30th, Tigray, north-east Ethiopia.
After spending a few days relaxing in Addis Ababa, exploring the markets,
experimenting with Ethiopian food and homebrewed honey-mead, and then somehow
ending up dancing the night away at a random wedding party, we hit the road
to Tigray.
Three
dusty drive days on partly built roads took us to this beautiful region in
the north-east of Ethiopia, famous for its ancient Orthodox churches hand-carved
into rocky crags high up in the mountains. A handful of climbers have visited
the area before and we thought we’d go and see what we could find…
We’ve been here for a week now, bush camping at the entrance of a wide valley hemmed in by huge walls, towers and impressive free-standing pinnacles. The climbing is all on Wadi Rum style sandstone, although perhaps a little more adventurously loose!
After
spending the first few days exploring, experiencing a few exciting moments,
a little crumbly rock and a few leader falls (met with loud cheers from the
audience of local kids who’ll inevitably accompany every group of climbers),
we started to find the good stuff. And when the rock is good, it’s truly
first-rate. Walls covered with small protrusions and chicken heads, and with
water-worn holes and hollows for some awesome natural threads, lined with
deep cracks that take satisfyingly solid gear. Between us we’ve put
up about 10 good new routes on (at least partially) solid sandstone, from
S to about E2, and 1 – 4 pitches long.
small.jpg)
Besides
the climbing, there were churches to visit – not as relaxing as you
might think. All situated in magnificent, remote locations, carved 
into
high rocky cols, or into crags near mountain summits. There was some serious
work to be done following worn steps up at times near-vertical rock, occasionally
passing caves filled with bones of long-dead monks. For our efforts we were
rewarded with spectacular views from the churches and amazingly preserved
religious art inside them.
From here, we are heading north to Axum, in search of limestone towers found by Pat Littlejohn and Steve Sustad a few years back. The seat of the ancient Aksumite kingdom, this is where the Queen of Sheba was born and spent her days. After stealing the Ark of the Covenant from King Solomon, her son allegedly brought it back to Axum, and many people believe it is still hidden somewhere in the hills that surround the town. We’ll keep our eyes peeled!
by Lianna
