Cut out the topos and replace with this....
"There is climbing here, but it is oldest of old-school climbing - long hard approaches, setting up base camps in caves, then vertical spelunking up dank gulleys, terrifying vertical grass slopes, "library climbing" where you pick out a handhold, and replace it if you don't like it, and general choss-mongering. The weather is incredibly variable, snow is possible at any time, you frequently go from howling winds to suffocating heat to zero-vis fog and back to hail in a single day. Berg adders lurk, waiting to bite you as you tremble up the grass tufts in terror, pitons are still the only reliable pro, and vultures big enough to fly off with whole lambs swoop on your firstborn if you look in the wrong direction. Route descriptions are from old Mountain Club of SA guides from 1958, and typically consist of entries like "Khumba Yah - 230m, F3. 6 pitches, Up SW ridge for 3 pitches, grass & loose rock, left at obvious corner, up 3 more pitches. Bertie and Anne killed on FA by lightning. Good climbing." |