Just back
from a trip to Taghia
We
put up a route 'Fat Guides 260m 7b+' in wind, rain and snow which was not
exactly the weather we had in mind whilst preparing for our trip to Africa
but with the support of our daily tagine we managed to bolt it and
free every
pitch.
We started trying to bolt ground up in the rain but after only equipping one and half pitches in the first day and wading through thigh deep rivers for access to the gorge we decided on rap bolting.
This worked well as a day later we were under 30cm of fresh snow so only certain sections of the route were climbable. Actually not much of it was but we tried anyway.
The last day of our trip was the only day of the 10 day trip that the whole route was dry and about 1 hour before having to pack our donkeys and leave we successfully managed to lead the wet crux pitch. Good work twid.
Our route goes up the obvious blank headwall in the middle of the face which the other routes have avoided and
covers a massive mix of climbing styles from crimpy slighly overhanging endurance fests to juggy roofs to delicate slabs where we seemingly made progress on nothing other than foot smears and pressing moves.
But the most amazing thing about this route and the area is the sustained style of climbing of the routes and continous interest of the pitches. That combined with an amazing culture, great people, tasty food and an abundance of rock makes it possibly the best multi pitch sport climbing area i have been.
.JPG)
