Guide to Climbing in Madagascar

Tsaranoro offers big wall multipitch adventure sport climbing in a spectacular location. The Tsarnoro Massif offers granite peaks up to 1900m in altitude with several distinct walls to climb on. Small rural villages and rice fields dot the landscape of the valley floor and give a very unique climbing experience.

The granite is rough and there are little in the way of cracks – althougth a few wide crack routes do exist. The general style is for crimpy, technical climbs on slabby ground. The majority of the routes have been bolted ground up. The older routes are sparingly bolted, and 10m – 15m between bolts or more when the climbing is easy shouldn’t come as a surprise. The newer routes such as the Arnaud Petits new route (Soava Dia), Vazahamateurs and Blood Moon are more reasonably bolted and should allow you to fall off without injuring yourself. In recent years a number of multipitch routes have been bolted for less advanced climbers and there are now several multipitch routes in the 4c-6a grade. Local climbing guides are easily obtainable if so desired.

The left most section is the cliff of chamleon (so called as it looks like a chameleon is sitting on the top) at 1540m this separate peak offers several climbs. Being only a 20 minute walk from the Tsarasoa camp it gives the shortest approach. The newly bolted Vazamateurs (6c) gives a good introduction to the style with little commitment as it is extremely well bolted. The classic Air Chameleon (6b+) is bolted in an older style, with 10m between bolts when the climbing gets to 6a or easier, however it gives great views of the main Tsarnoro faces. The view from the top of Chameleon is well worth it and the walk down follows the obvious ridge and cairns all the way back to the camp.

Final pitch of Vazahamateurs on Chameleon.

Chameleon cliff (chameleon can be seen on top).

To the right of Chameleon are the walls of Vatovarindry and Mitsinjaorivo giving good climbs of about 9 pitches in length with beautiful approaches through the long grass. The climb Dancing with the World offers varied climbing, from bolted chimmneys, slabs, traverses and overhangs.

Vatovarindry to the left and Mitsinjaorivo to the right.

After this comes the major walls of Tsarnoro, the first being Tsarnoro Atsimo. This contains Adam Ondras route Mora Mora (8c) along with Soava Dia (7c+). Soava Dia was bolted in 2018 by Arnaud Petit and a young french team. It offers great face and arete climbing with perfect rock and shiny new bolts. Normally done over two days the advantage of the route is that it offers a perfect bivi spot after the 9th pitch in the dip between Tsaranoro Atsimo and Tsarnoro Be. So no portaledge is needed which is a great advantage. Also on this face is Robbie Philips and teams route Blood Moon, which has been sportingly bolted and it yet to see a repeat.

Tinned fish lunch on the grassy ledge on Soava Dia

Next comes the biggest wall of Tsarnoro Be. The routes on this wall are up to 800m in length so should be tackled over multiple days, apart from the most competent of teams. The new route Cuento de Habas (7b+/7c) contains 250 bolts and offers a better and newer alternitive to the classic Gondwalaland (7c) – as this route is showing its age and is not recommended by the local climber in its current state. Apparently only having one bolt on a 50m 7a pitch with unreliable bolts and anchors due to rusting bolts. The route Vazimba (7a) looks like an obvious challenge on this wall, following the huge obvious crack on the main face but would need a number of large cams to make it safe.

To the right is Tsarnoro Kely, this contains the must do classic Out of Africa, a 580m 7a. This should be very doable in a day and the two crux 7a routes can be easily aided through. It does contain a very run out 6c pitch, however over all this route is very considerately bolted. A very early start is recommend and lots of water, as you will be in the sun till around midday. If walking in in the dark it is recommend to already know the path you should take as it is very easy to get lost.

The walk ins for the Tsaranoro walls all take around 1 hour 20 minutes. However it is very easy to get lost in the long grass and small diverting paths. The descent from the routes adds further complications and taking a headtorch is always advised. Abseiling off the route can be done, however you do risk getting your rope stuck on the flaky granite. Walking and abseiling off the backside of the peak is a better option. From Tsarnoro Atsimo it is necesarry to abseil to the right of the peak and then ascend a fxed rope to Tsarnoro Be.

From Tsarnoro Be you must then abseil down to Tsarnoro kely, from Tsarnoro kely a further abseil is needed to find the path (marked by cairns) back to the camp. This descent is hard to find and make sure you gather the information on how to get down before you start a route.

The next face is the obvious face of Karambony, a challenge for BASE jumpers and climbers alike. The contains several hard routes including Tough Enough (8c). Next to Karambony is Lemur Wall. The Lemur wall gives brilliant climbing on solid dark granite, the classic Pectorine (6b+) is well worth the visit.

There is also the 2200m peak of Mount Dondy which offers longer routes, with a walk in to match.

New routing is still very possible on all the walls, in our stay several new routes were put up by Swiss and French teams. The potential seems endless, and for a long stay bolting a new route would be a brilliant idea. There is unlimited bouldering to be done, and near to the camp are some great problems. Bouldering pads can be easily borrowed from the camp.

Fallay – the madagascan mountain guide bouldering.

Althought most of the area has been deforested there is an effort to replant the tress in the area. You will see several species of wild life including lemurs, chameleons, lots of lizards and snakes (there are no poisonous snakes in Madagascar).

When to go?

Giles Gautier, who runs the Tsarasoa camp, recommended the colder months of June, July and August if you want to climb hard. However we visited in September to early October and the temperature was very manageable and there is very little/ no rain in September.

How to get there?

Note – £1 is 4500 Ariary

You will have to fly to the capital of Antananarivo and reutrn flights cost £500 to £1000 from London. From the capital you have several options to get to Tsarnoro. The easist and most expensive option is to get a private minivan directly from the airport, this can be arranged through the Tsarasoa camp and cost €300 one way for the bus, this takes around 20 hours.

For people on a budget or who want to experience the country it is possible to get to the camp by local transport. A taxi can take you from the airport to the taxi brouse station in Antananarivo (40000 Ar) – make sure you get the station for Fianarantsoa (Fiana). From here get a taxi brouse to Fiana (26000 Ar) 10 hours. It is necesarry to stop in Fiana for the night, the hotel next to the bus station is

acceptable and costs 30000 Ar. From Fiana get a taxi brouse to Antanambao (7000Ar) and from here, either wait for a car to take you or call the camp and arrange to get picked up to be taken the down the short dirt track to the camp. Overall this costs around £20 and is by far the cheapest way.

When travelling on taxi brouse always go to the office to book a ticket as prices will be on the wall, touts outside these offices will try and overcharge you. You can take as much luggage as you like as this will be strapped to the roof. It is also possible to book a “vip” taxi brouse through Cotisse transport (google this) this gives you added comfort and the knowledge you won’t have to share a seat, however you will need to pay for luggage over 20kg using this.

Where to stay?

There is only really one place to stay for climbers, this is Giles Gautiers camp called Tsarasoa (https://www.tsarasoa.com/en/). Tsarasoa is a real climbers hub and offers Topos, good food (25000 Ar 3 course dinner), small huts, camping (20000 Ar a place) and a brilliant bar. Giles Gautier has lived in the valley for 30 years and is a wealth of knowledge. He used to own Camp Catta, however he then opened Tsarasoa. Camp Catta is still open however is is far more touristy and less accomodating to climbers.

Food

There is food avaliable at the camp and lunch can be prepared. However if you want your own fod, this will have to be bought in a town before coming – Fiana is a good option. In the valley there are several small local shops that offer basic supplies such as rice, biscuits, tinned fish e.t.c. Water is all filtered spring water and all the taps in the camp are drinkable. Pierce gas is avaliable on request but not screw on.

Guide

The topos can easily be obtained from the bar at Tsarasoa but I found that the book – Rock Around the World (http://thierrysouchard.com/en/rock-around-the-world-2/) contained a great selection of the climbs with helpful images and maps and is well worth buying. A full guide to the area is apparently in the pipeline. An online PDF also exist with a comilation of the majority of routes: https://www.steinfibel.de/madagascar/Tsaranoro_Valley_Collected_Tops_08_2016.pdf

Gear

It is necessary to bring your own gear although lots of gear can be rented from the camp. Bouldering pads, portaledges and other items are avaliable. If you

want a guide to take you up a route they can provide all the equipment for you. Double ropes or a single rope and tagline are required for the abseils. 20 quickdraws should suffice. Trad gear is not really needed at all unless you have a specific route that requires it, for these routes it seems very big cams would be most useful.

What else is there to do?

The is a number of hiking trails around the area as well as paraglinding and base jumping if you are so inclined. It is possible to pay to go for a swim in the camp catta swimming pool which is a great rest day. Breaking up the trip on the way there or back is a good option and Ansirabe is a great city to stop in.

By William Rupp (willrupp@hotmail.co.uk)

Morocco Choss

It was the last climb of the trip and myself and Will Goldsmith had decided on a seemingly easy classic route to have a go at. We had been climbing in Morocco for the past 2 weeks, interchanging between the granite outcrops around the town of Tafrout and the more adventurous cliffs to the North.

Tafraout (foreground) with the more adventurous cliffs to the North.

Will on one of the Granite routes outside Tafraout

Sungold is a 6 pitch E2, located on The Thumb. A 300m tall quartzite face that lies to the North of Tafraout in Morocco above the small village of Assldrar. We knew it would be a long day and even in November it can get unbearably hot in the Sun. Deciding for an early start we arrived at the base in our rented 4×4. We parked in what was a typical Anti-Atlas village, they all have a seemingly large number of mosques compared to the size of the village. The morning call to prayer had just begun, with one Imam on speakers from one side of the town, and another from the other. This and the sound of goats were the only sound.

A classic Morocco wide climb- Tizgut Crack E2

We had a vague description of the climb from our topo and UKC. Starting up the first pitch, a stiff 55 metres long E2 5c by headtorch we were unsure whether we were on the right line. The sun was just rising from across the desert and we had yet to see the full cliff. After finding a vague ledge I built a belay, the rock wasn’t ideal but it would suffice. As Will joined me at the belay I handed him the rack and we tried to find where we were on our topo and where to head next. We knew we had to go up and right, but with no defining features we just decided to follow the easiest line.

Will headed off, it didn’t look promising, complaints of loose rock, unsure of where to go and poor gear. After 50 metres he had pretty much used the rack, 20 quickdraws, 25 cams, and a triple set of nuts along with most of the slings. I joined him, under a steep hand crack. It seemed we were on route, the hand crack was just my thing. Hard and well protected, I was happy to get some solid gear before going on another spirit quest into the choss.

A couple of more pitches and faff after going up “the wrong vegetated gully” Will made a belay. The pace had slowed and he had worked himself up to the bottom of a large crumbly offwidth. This wasn’t part of the route. I came up and joined him with the large cams for the inevitable struggle coming up. His belay mainly consisted of himself wedged into a crack. He had decided to belay in a huge birds nest full of shit, tying off a selection of manky gear that he had left when he had down climbed to the nest. We laughed at the situation and how lost we had become. It became obvious why he had stopped. The next pitch was wide and loose! R.I.P was scratched onto the rock with the nut key, for the next climbers which would inevitably mistakenly venture this way.

Taking the number 5 and 6 cam I squirmed up above Will through the shit. Bumping the cams through choss, carefully climbing, worried about dislodging rock on him directly below. Booming flakes and precarious footholds abound. Appearing above the offwidth onto the ledge above, I found myself below a steep corner crack. This was it, we were back on route. Will led through the corner, forgetting the nuts at the belay he managed to flap all his 6 foot 5 inches to the top of the pitch.

From there it was more tentative choss climbing and a sketchy descent. We were happy it was the last day climbing and drove to the beach. Ending up in a surf hostel it felt like a different country, and when asked “wow dude, you climb? Rad.” we just nodded.

El Chorro Adventure – 1

2 weeks were spent in El chorro. Climbing, sleeping and eating and not much else.

After arriving in El Chorro I was met by Mark, Jake, Felix and Andy. The flight was cheap £28 return and a very easy train took me straight from the station to walking distance of the main crags and wild camping spots.

Andy had picked me up from the station in his much cherished van. Picking up the shopping for the week I knew this was going to good. Our first stop was climbing at Momia, time to see how the training had been going, 7b second go, not too shabby. Unfortunately for climbing it was getting to hot , it was making us tired and our skin wet.

So off we set in Andys van for the more shady crags of Desplomilandia, according to Mark, who from living in spain for the past 6 months had aquired some spanish – the English translation of Desplomilandia is “overhang land”, a fitting name. We setup camp on the roof of an abandoned house, with views of the lake and nearby mountains. Dinner was cooked in the van and some lovely Spanish rum was tasted into the evening.

Felix Looking Strong on Eye of the Storm

Waking up damp from the low cloud we immediately set up trying to dry our kit before heading out for the next days climbing.

The crag of Desplomilandia allowed steep climbing with long pitches on brilliant tufa and pockets. A team ascent of a 7b along with other routes and some brilliant attempts on a beaslty 7c allowed the first use of the rubber knee pad (it truly is cheating).

With the weather cooling we made our way back to the main crags of frontales, enroute we stopped at the bar in El Chorro. El Chorro is a tiny village with all the activity centred around this small climbers hangout bar. Its full of dirtbags and the local spanish climbers. Serving €1 cervesa along with cheap burgers, its hard not to linger.

We had found an ideal camping spot based just in the woods at the base of the crags. A firespot, chairs and walls already had been created for our comfort. Here we spent the majority of the time. We climbed around frontales, taking down a multitude of classic routes and simulclimbing classics such as Amphtrax on our rest days.

As the week passed more of our friends from Manchester arrived, combining of a grounp of 10 climbers from Manchester, including one girl (poor her, we were all very smelly by this point).

As the days became cloudy it was time to head to Makinodromo. Makinodromo is situated away from the main climbing areas, and a hike along the train tracks is needed to access it (of course we didn’t do this). Maki, it’s nickname denoted by Jake, allowed all sorts of climbing with the main appeal of the crag dominated by a huge tufa encrusted wall. The bivi spot was found – a perfect cave, that kept us dry in the rain and offered a multitude of comforts.

The first day at Makinodromo was awesome, are the grades soft or was all this climbing paying off?! 6b+, 7a+, 2 7b and a 7c all onsight in a day can’t be too bad. After exhausting ourselves the cave welcomed us back.

The next day we awoke to rain, there was only one thing for it… Lourdes. This route dominates the crag and is not wet in the rain. It is the classic 8a, 40m of steep tufa. Although not sent it did give great entertainment throughout the day.

Heading back, we finished the trip climbing around the village. Meeting a couple of rouge american climbers. One of which had come to El Chorro to boulder, a funny proposition, but he did have a bag that looked like a scrotum made from one of the several deer he had killed.

On the way back to Manchester we stopped off at Malaga for some much needed rest and slept well on the plane after two weeks of continuous climbing, I will be back!

A Strange Trip to the Moors

On a small trip down to devon we learnt what strange things happen in dark car parks in the middle of Dartmoor…

The week started well, our first climb of the apparent three pitch classic HVS ‘moonraker’ at berry head. Abseiling down a 70m rope to find you’ve descended in the wrong location and are forced to either prussic back up or gain enough momentum on a swing so you can grasp the rock at the bottom of the cliff and build an anchor. We decided for the latter, something that the people queuing up to get on the route didn’t look too kindly on. After this had been managed, I abseiled down, clipped into his anchor all ready to belay him… then I dropped my belay plateinto the sea. This being my first sea cliff didn’t help the confidence. However, through the use of munter hitches of which I now realise why they are named so, I was able to be belayed up. Getting up the climb early in the day and after a days deep water soloing by Torquay and fannying about, it was decided to head inland to Dartmoor.

After a couple of days climbing around devon we decided to look at that E1 we had failed at. Looking at UKC a crucial flake had come off and pushed up the grade. It wasn’t just our lack of abilities, it was the rock. We wanted another go at it, now knowing the grade. We decide to return to Haytor that evening, camp in the car park and attempt it the next day. This we later realised to be a mistake.

There are three carparks at Haytor. We had decided to camp at the very edge of one of these on the grass, under a tarp tied to the boot of the car, a very lovely bright red Ford Ka.

As it grew darker people came, seemingly at first to feed the foxes, annoying but relatively normal. However verging on midnight more and more cars appeared in this car park. This was in the middle of nowhere in Dartmoor. Surely they couldn’t all be here to feed the foxes? Cars would drive slowly up the road and some would turn into our car park, flash their lights and flicker the brake indicators towards our car. After about 20 cars (not an exaggeration) and some strange goings on we were curious about what all the activity was about. The decision was made to google “Haytor car park” and see what came back…

We had decided to go to Haytor, a small outcrop of rock from the moorland. An ice cream van, a national trust café, picnicing and parents taking their children to play on the rocks. First attempting a simple looking E1 ‘Letterbox wall’, Felix ending up upside down a couple of feet from the floor and myself backing off the crux we were doubting our abilities, unable to do it. So we tried another E1, this one being more successful, but not without one of us ending up upside down a couple of feet from the floor again and an unenjoyably layback just above an anchor.

Haytor on Dartmoor. Three car parks, always action after dark and boy it’s dark.”

This wasn’t what we had hoped to find, and I’m sure you can figure out what was going on. After being approached, having torches shined at us and hiding under the car to save embarrassment we realised we had unintentionally camped in ‘’one of the top dogging spots in the south west” (swingingheaven.co.uk, 2016). At this point I was questioning why Felix had decided to camp here, especially after he spontaneously decided to put his lycra wetsuit on in the middle of the night and “have a look around”. (this didn’t actually happen)

At about 3am and 40 cars (once again not an exaggeration) they began to leave and we were left together, alone once more. Eating breakfast, watching children play on the Tor, and having learnt to never camp in a rural car park on a Friday night we decided to give the climb a miss. ‘Letter box wall’ had somehow developed a more sinister undertone to its name, and neither of us wanted to put our hands in ‘the letterbox’.

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Summer Climbing and Adventure in Morocco

A climbing, food and music trip in Morocco 2018

Not many climbers frequent Morocco in the Summer months. There is a reason for this, the 40 degree heat of the desert and mountain region that surround the key climbing village of Tafraoute don’t give ideal conditions. Tafraoute is notably famous for its painted rocks, it is a small typical Moroccan village apart from the fact that it is surrounded by granite domes and quartzite faces. The granite adds only limited climbing interest, it is flaky and sharp and the lack of bolting leaves many unprotectable walls unclimbable. The large multi pitch quartzite routes however are why climbers visit and why my two companions, Mark,Felix and myself had made the trip.

Flying in on the 13th June to Rabat in the north of the country during the time of Ramadan, renting a car we travelled the 700 miles down the country. Sleeping under benches in service stations, on beaches and by the road to save a few pounds. The country seemed empty with the fast occurring, food was difficult to find during the day and rations of yogurt, jam and tinned fish sandwiches (yes, all in the same sandwich) was imposed; a combination which became a staple of the trip due to the limited choice and our lack of refrigeration.

Mark had picked up a speeding ticket and misread the SatNav multiple times, much to my annoyance but we had arrived in Tafraoute.

We were camped out at the painted rocks, as we had heard it had a spring. It did, and we slept here in hammocks throughout the day deciding what objectives to climb. After talking to locals who warned us not to climb, due to the prominence of snakes in summer we set off bashing the vegetation and shouting to warn the snakes of our presence.

We had decided to begin the walk in to the climb at 4am so we could be back down before the main heat of the day. This wasn’t early enough, by 10 am we had completed the climb “Braveheart” a 210m HVS and it was scorching. The next night we moved further in the mountains.

We arrived at the base of the next climb later that evening. Upon hearing apparent shouting lights and screams from the mountain we departed upon a rescue mission.

Coming down from the base we were asked by a local what we were up to, it would have been a funny sight; three young white boys running about a rural hamlet in the middle of the Sahara with head torches, completely out place. After explaining our predicament he told us in broken English/ Arabic that the noise was “electronic goats” or that’s what we grasped from it anyhow. He offered us tea and Arabic delicacies and threw us pillows to give us more comfort as we slept on the concrete floor of his garden.

Waking up 3am we raced up to the base of the climb a 90m E1, got up it, couldn’t find a descent, ran out of water, not learning from our previous endeavours. It was 49 degrees (as the car said) and we were hiding from the sun when the Moroccan man from the previous evening offered to hose us down with water from his well, which we graciously accepted.

A couple more climbs were done and we moved further into the hills, constantly decking out the rented Fiat Panda on roads that really should be only used by 4×4’s. After going for miles off road in the Panda myself and Mark were stressed. We had both almost burnt out the clutch miles from anywhere in the desert. We decided to camp. Upon opening the door of the car a large black scorpion greeted us. We had read about the creatures of the desert in our climbing guide. The description of this one being “a very rare large black scorpion, which is never seen but can kill 100 men with a single sting” ah, that wasn’t good. I decided to sleep in the car, Felix on the road and mark put up a hammock right above the scorpion.

Climbing the next day, not running out of water and descending before it got too hot we slept during the day and moved onto Imlil that evening. In Imlil we allowed ourselves a hostel for the night, where we we conned of our money after our passports had been taken and we were woken by a hand coming through our window on the hunt for any valuables. From Imlil we climbed Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa and ran down it, much to the horror of the many tourists. After organising ourselves it was decided to go to Oukaimeden.

Oukaimeden is a small ski village in the winter, and empty in the summer. We met few locals who offered us cheap Tagine as we were surely looking worse for wear at this point. The café was called “Imik Simik” that we later learned was the Arabic slang for bouldering, a direct translation being “slowly slowly”. After sneaking into a French mountain retreat to bum showers we decided to go Imik Simik ourselves. The bouldering around Oukaimeden is pretty poor, and I wouldn’t recommend it, being mainly poor quality granite. This was the end of our climbing in Morocco; the rest of the trip involved many adventures but as this article is getting on I will summarise:

At the start of the trip in Tafrout we had heard of a music festival in Essouria, on the coast. We headed there picking up a Moroccan hitchhiker, Mohammed, en route to the festival. Mohammed end up showing us around Essouria, bartering on our behalf for food and cooking “Gamilla” for us; a Moroccan stew that took hours to simmer. We went to the festival with a particular favourite of ours being “Gnawa diffusion” an Algerian Reggae band. The crowd was far removed from any british festival; Moroccan crusties, African mummas, no alcohol but a strong smell of hash. After camping in a car park just outside the city and running into the police, a situation which Mohammed somehow managed to resolved with his gift of the tongue we were off again. Mohammed took us inland to see his friends and family.

After being treated like kings, being given beds and showers for the last days of the trip we started North. The last night we stayed in a small hut in the slums of Casablanca offered to us by a Moroccan man we had met in the festival. We were offered plum and beef tagine, once again given a place to stay and felt like royals as all his extended family were sent over to meet us in is small living room for our final feast! We stayed on the sofa in his lounge and were escorted back to our car the next day by a group of Moroccan lads, feeling very content.After driving the length and width of Morocco, visiting places tourists don’t go to, discovering lost desert cities and being invited into homes and meeting the families. Morocco is a fantastic place, the people being by far the most hospitable and generous I have met. Bartering is part of the culture and you must be careful not to be ripped off being an outsider. The climbing is incredible but I would only recommend it in winter, when the temperature suits it.

So all in all, go to Morocco: it is cheap, friendly and a new culture in which to explore.