The Lords of Hot Rock, 24 Feb 07
by Tom
Set deep with the heartlands of Uganda, directly to north of Kampala, there is crag that singlehandedly reaffirmed my belief in the quality of East African rock, and its potential to deliver unique and spectacular climbing venues.
Whilst
bush camping in the shadow of a great protruding volcanic dome, which formed
the venue's primary source of climbable rock, we stumbled across a field of
boulders scattered across some gentler slopes. Dominating this landscape,
no matter where the eye might roam, an imposing pinnacle of rock jutted into
the skyline, seeming to challenge all to attempt its sheer face. 
On closer inspection this beast of rock, towering some twelve metres high, dwarfing all its opponents within the area. Its main face appeared to be predominately solid but with minimal holds, which were all razor sharp and succeeded in shredding my precious finger tips to the bone. Well, never being one to turn my back on a challenge, me, Tommo and Riah resolved to return the following day to plan and then bolt our first sports route of this epic journey.
So early next morning, with a stomach full of eggy bread and god knows what else, we set forth heavily laden with the necessary equipment. Then, over the next day or so, we forged our route up that merciless rock, with a mixture of nail biting moves and hell of lot of good old fashioned blood and sweat. When we were finally done, the first ascents began and were achieved in quick order by both Riah, who seem to flow up the rock much like a gecko, and then Tommo with his usual silky smoothness. God how I hated and envied those bastards, because unfortunately I was forced to abandon my attempt that day, mainly due to whatever foul demon had crawled into my stomach and was now trying to work its way back out.
With
nothing else for it I returned the next day, though in the company of a new
comrade determined to conquer that daunting rock, Sarah, who was also keen
to supplement the route's new name 'Lords of Hot Rock' with the addition of
'Ladies'. What followed was a gruelling trial of both mental and physical
limits, pushing me to the edge. Though I eventually achieved the lead, much
to my frustration I couldn't do it cleanly, requiring a brief pause. Sarah
encountered much same problem, gaining some successes that included 
the
devising of a new ingenious sequence of moves through the first crux, but
still not attaining that elusive clean lead. Though in some respects I was
defeated by that rock I'll remember it fondly, and hope one day to return
and to try again.
We named the route 'Lords of Hot Rock' and the rock 'Gates to Another World',
though an early nick-name of 'The Tooth' would prove difficult to shake. It
was the first route I've bolted to date and I've never had so much fun.
