Invisible ledge! I flew by this intimidating wall in a heli last year. As we skirted past the overhanging Prow, I spotted this ledge about half way up. It looked flat but impossible to get to.
A lot was on the line when we reached the base of this Tepui 6 weeks ago in November. We had air dropped all our climbing kit and hiked 100km through the forest to get there. The success of the climb relied heavily on our strategy. Good decisions regarding which line to aim for on the wall were esssential.
All we could see from the ground were overhanging roofs and I felt even more intimidated by this cloud covered mountain than I had for the entire build up to the expedition.
The idea of heading directly up the steepest, most intimidating part of the wall seemed total ludacris; especially given how much work, time, support and effort had gone into getting us to the start.
That’s why I like climbing with Leo. Somehow he manages to break down and compartmentalise insane ideas and create a graspable reality from something that seems better suited to story books and fairy tales. “I think we should go for the Prow” he said. “That is THE line of the mountain” Wilson replied…” well it looks suitably impossible i thought. Knowing Leo and Wilson I wouldn’t expect any less. The stoke was high and myself and Anna were very much aware that we were going for the boldest and proudest objective we could.
Thankfully this ledge did exist and Leo pulled onto it after just 2 days climbing. It’s not every day you find a perfectly level ledge that can house 8 people and all their stuff needed to survive in a vertical world and it’s definitely not every day that a route of this magnitude goes free the whole way!
Awesome!
📸 Credit @waldo_etherington
🗻Mount Roraima, 2810m