The Welsh/KMC Tsaranoro Massif 2001 Expedition.
Date: September 17th - October 16th 2001
Members: Dave Kenyon and Duncan Lee
The Tsaranoro Massif
Dave and I arrived at the fixed base camp (Camp Catta) on Sept.
19th after hauling 80kg of kit half the length of
Madagascar (the 4th
largest island in the World) by taxi-brousse (a minibus bursting at
the seams with roof rack piled high), taxi-be (a 9 seater battered
estate car with 13 occupants plus assorted belongings), bache (a pick
up truck with 14 people and tonnes of cargo) and a decrepit 4x4 for
the final 10km.
The first three days were spent repeating some excellent existing routes ("Alien II" 350m 6b, "Croix du Sud" 300m 6b+ and "Pectorine" 250m 6b/A0) on a variety of crags to get a feel for the place, the coarse granite, the style of climbing and the intense heat.
Dave Kenyon on Alien II and le Croix du Sud, Vatovarindry
Sept. 24th-27th were spent on the water
streaked dome of Vatovarindry
(a boulder by the standards of the area being a mere 320m high and
600m wide with only two existing climbs) opening up a new route from
the ground up; the local ethic. The result was a 7 pitch 6c (maximum
and obligatory), which we called "Malagasy Maroto" (Madagascan
Hammer) in memory of the happy hours Dave spent hand drilling on
pitch 2.
Vatovarindry
Sept. 29th saw us going for the Alpine start (ish) in order to repeat the superb "Out of Africa" (600 m, 14 pitches) on Tsaranoro Kely. A fantastic route, that saves its 7a+ crux for the last pitch. The ascent took us 8 hours and the abseil descent a further 2 hours.
After a brief look at the new route potential of the right hand section of Lemur Wall and Mitsin Joarivo we decided once more to focus our activity on Vatovarindry where we spent 5 days opening up an 8 pitch (325 m) route which saw the first 5 bolts being placed from skyhooks. The result, "Karma Chameleon". 7b max/6c obl., was finally completed on Oct.7th.
Dave Kenyon on the runnel pitch of Karma Chameleon
Oct. 8th started early in order to attempt the first
repeat of the
bold and impressive "Norspace" on Tsaranoro Be. We backed off after 6
pitches due to Dave's fingers and my head being in bits. The climbing
up to that point was good but worrying due to the slightly friable
nature of the rock and the scarcity of bolts. A bit of traffic should
result in the route becoming a classic. We salvaged the day by
repeating the highly enjoyable "Le Cas Nullard "(a classic 450m 6a)
and traversing Karambony in order to look for the further new routing
projects.
Oct. 9th and 10th saw Dave desperately trying to regrow his finger tips whilst I opened up the amenable "Lemurs Ripped my Flesh" (220m, 6b+ max or 5+ with 2 points of aid) on Karambony's lower slabs.
Oct.11th and 12th saw the drilling continuing as we ascended a groove line high up on Karambony to produce the jolly "Le Mur Lemur" (6b+ max and obl., 100m). Our final route before the tortuous journey home. At least the bags were considerably lighter on the return trip.
Dave Kenyon on Le Mur Lemur
In total therefore we repeated 5 of the Massifs 28 routes and
climbed 4 new routes (22 pitches, 1000m) on which we placed 120
protection bolts and 42 belay bolts over the course of 13 days new
routing in the baking sun.
The members of the expedition would like to thank the Karabiner Mountaineering Club, Bendcrete Climbing Walls, Fuji and Hilti for their generous support that helped to make this expedition a success.
Duncan Lee
