Ethiopia - Blogabond

With internet access so scetchy in Ethiopia I was unable to write blog reports as I went along, but the trip was so utterly awesome that it definitely deserves a little airtime.

Ethiopian experience

Three weeks before departure, I was hooking up with a friend-of-a-friend to go on a climbing trip. I had left England, and was based in the States for nearly three months. I thought this was a great opportunity to get some girly climbing time in a new area of the States... except that it was in a different continent!

Homeward bound

It transpired that there was an all-girls trip planned to check out the climbing potential of the enormous sandstone cliffs and pillars in the North of Ethiopia. Prepared only for winter sport climbing at Smith, plans started materialising, and another week had passed. I didn't truely believe that I would be going until I was actually on the plane; there was so much organising, and a long roadtrip from Portland to LA (where I left the States), via Smith Rock and Bishop to accomplish in the meantime.

Addis street

Touchdown in Addis Abba was much like landing in any third world city, and was somehow comfortingly familiar in that way. The city smog, honking horns, smell of old cars and hot tarmack filled the air. Shacks lined the road selling everything from clothes to phonecards to fruit under the same corrugated roof.

Lucy

I spent 3 days recovering from jet-lag and checking out the city, spending one day visiting the markets, and and day on the museums, paying my respects to our first bipedal ancester Lucy in her 3ft glory.

The team amassed slowly. Majka was already in Addis when I arrived, then Gabe, the photographer joined us before our flight to the North. Mekele was an interesting town, somewhat cleaner and more up-market than Addis, but then that's not hard! There's a cool Italian-style Castle for Emperor Johannes IV that acts as the museum, and a tour with a theatrical guide was well worth the £1.50 cost.

Girhalta Escarpment

We just spent one day there before heading up to our first climbing destination Hawzen. The three of us had a few days climbing and exploring before the rest of the team, Kristie and Caroline arrived to join us.

Audience

In our first few days, Majka and I soon discovered that the rock was not as solid as we would have liked it to be and we had some fairly hairy experiences, pulling off flakes and losing footholds. We did, however, arrive on the summit of one of the Sheba spires, by the sheer (5.10) face, which was quite exhilerating;

Escorts from Theodros

marred slightly by the fact that the local children had found an easier ascent around the backside, and met us only 10 feet from the top! It did, however mean that we had an easy way off, with the benefit of their knowledge. We called the tower 'Theodros Tower', after Emperor Theodros who shot himself rather than surrender to the enemy, and the route we named 'Learning the Hard Way', in honour of the children.

Hawzen Hotel

The hotel we were staying in in Hawzen turned out to be much better than expected. It had a shared shower and a Turkish toilet with a door that didn't shut, but at least everyting was clean,