An awkward entry pitch leads to a long easy section which ends about t way up the face. Now trend left into a line of very steep open chimneys. Climb these keeping as close as possible to the N ridge until a short vertical ice bulge leads to a cave. Tension across the vertical ice wall and climb up for 2 very steep pitches (65-70°). Three more pitches at a slightly easier angle lead to the end of the main difficulties. A long but straightforward ice slope leads to the top of the couloir (50-55°, 9 h climbing time). EUROPE (SPAIN) Picos de Europa Naranjo de Bulnes, W face (see picture in AJ 86 plate 82) The classic route on the face is the Rabada-Navarro. This gives 500m of mostly excellent rock with probably more than enough pegs in place in the lower t, a bulging wall where etriers are useful though not essential. Above this most parties apparently escape to the right, but the true continuation involves a committing traverse of about lOOm, very reminiscent of Beeston Eliminate, with protection from tied-off bolt heads. Midway it is necessary to make an exposed abseil in the very centre of the smooth grey wall. At the end of the traverse is a small bivouac ledge and above excellent crack and chimney climbing leads to the summit. As all the pegs are in place it is unlikely that any more need be carried, provided that a fair selection of nuts is taken; tie-offs are recommended for the bolts. The descent is reasonably straightforward. Four abseils down the S face followed by a short walk leads to the hut below the W face. Reaching the latter, however, from the Puente Poncebos in the Cares Canyon is an appalling 5-6 h slog on scree and it may be worthwhile to consider an approach from the Fuente cableway and crossing the Rojas col to descend to the hut. On the Spanish topo reproduced here many of the pitches tend to be overgraded-in fact there is nothing harder than V + and AI. TD + lED -. 15-18 h total (Tony Howard). AFRICA The Hoggar Tony Howard writes: The summits of the Hoggar rise to between 1700 and 2700m, and give rock climbs ofaround 300m. Situated 1500 miles S of the Mediterranean in the heart of the Sahara the Hoggar is now accessible by a road which only deteriorates for short stretches during the final 200-300 miles to Tamanrasset. Although not remarkable for the quality of the rock the unique nature of the region in general makes a visit well worth while. Tamanrasset is the main oasis in this area of the Sahara and has its own airport. Land Rovers and camels can be hired and almost all the peaks in the most popular area-the Atakor-are within minutes walk of the track. Most of the routes follow crack lines which can be somewhat repetitive, and some deteriorate towards the summit. South face routes tend in general to be on poorer rock and almost too hot to touch by midday, even in early February. There seem to be very few truly hard climbs in the Hoggar and many of these involve a fair amount of aid climbing. Caret El Djenoun has most of the modern hard routes. The classics of the area are in the TD, TD + category, with the occasional pitch of VS or a little harder. Details of many of the best lines which have been climbed can probably be found in the Italian and French Alpine Journals. Spanish climbers also seem fairly active here, but on the whole one is unlikely to meet many other people in the mountains. Probably the best group of peaks are the Tezoulag-a collection of towers rising from the roadside with a further and higher peak rising from a high col behind them. 216 This enables two routes of300m or more to be combined with a minimum of descent between-an excellent mountain day. The rock here is amongst the best in the Atakor and climbing varied. A classic combination is to climb the W face of the S Tezoulag (350m, TD) followed by the S ridge direct on the N Tezoulag (TD/TD + ), 250m which leads to the 2760m summit-an excellent viewpoint. The descent finishes with a 30m free abseil which is not without interest! In February 1979 M. Shaw and A. Howard made the first ascent of the NW Diedre on the S Tezoulag (2709m) C\\i.f\ ()((.. 1.D8--l ,PI I­ J...:5\"II-\. 77 Naranjo de Bulnes, W face (This and next photo: A. Howard) 217 78 S Tezoulag Mount Kenya Alan Kimber has supplied the following information on access to and costs in the Kenya National Park, based on a visit made over the Christmas period of 1978/79. Much of this information should till be useful, though the costs will clearly be omewhat higher. 218 Cheap public transport is easily available from Nairobi to Naro Moru at the base of the mountain. On arrrival ask for the Naro Moru Lodge Hotel where one can either camp, stay in chalets or in the hotel itself. Here it is possible to organize jeep transport to the meteorological station at 3000m (about £28) and also any porters that may be required. Porters carry around 15kg and 4 porters for 3. days will cost £16. Park entrance costs £1.50 each and 30p per night per person for camping in the Park. Huts are extra and are not up to Alpine standard. £1 per day is charged for each porter while he is in the Park and 20p per night for his camping (they stay in set camps). It takes about a day to reach a suitable base camp in the Teleki valley. Go +mile past the radio station to the Chouinard-Covington campsite. It seems fairly safe to leave tents and gear unattended whilst on the mountain, although there have been instances of theft. It is easy to buy food in Nairobi at the large supermarkets and it is relatively cheap, as is eating in the city hotels. Gaz is available in sports shops and paraffin at Naro Moru, where it is also possible to obtain good maps and rucksacks for the porters. To sum it up: everything is easy to organize-with money. South African rock climbing-19B1 Michael Scott reports on recent activity in the Cape. During the past 18 months relatively little development has occurred in the remoter mountain ranges. The most notable achievement has been the new route on Hutchinson's Buttress at Banhoek, Stellenbosch by Butch de Bruin, Dave Cheesmond and Chris Lomax. The same team were unsuccessful in an attempt on a direct on the Klein Winterhoek amphitheatre at Tulbagh, saying it would need at least 25 bolts on the big roof. Since Hans Graafland and Aleck McKirdy's new line of 400m of ramp climbing on the S face of Mt Superior, nothing else has been done in the mighty Hex River range. Miles of rock still lie unexplored here, due to difficulty of access. Last season saw numerous visits to the Spitzkop in SWA. During their trip, Eckhard Haber and Clive Ward put up a new line on the E face, which used 5 bolts on a G1M5 pitch. The E face has been climbed several times before, but no route ever recorded, because no line existed through the summit Dome until now. The kloofs in the Magaliesberg range in the Transvaal still have new lines to offer to the diligent bands of enthusiasts there. Virtually every line going up is G2 and several were graded H. With more climbers setting their sights on aid eliminations it was natural that a brand new mechanical route in the Transvaal would be scorned. The opening party claimed they would eat their karabiners if it was freed. When Lomax and Cheesmond did just that the following day words at least were eaten if not aluminium. In the Cape Peninsula, 9 points of aid on Sputnik at Elsies Peak were chopped to only 1, and the one stayed due to bitterly cold weather conditions at the time of ascent. Very little was done in the Drakensberg this year, but McKirdy's party did make an ascent of Shuttleworth's route on the Column-by all accounts a superior climb to Thompson's original line. The Natal climbers seem content to concentrate on the sunnier climbs at Monteseel, where the Australian grading system is used now. instead of the normal SA system. Accidents have been unpleasantly frequent though fortunately still only a few are serious. Tom Pinfold fell off Jerry's Jitters at Krantzberg, Tv!. He had led 20m up with one sling out when he came off. His helmet was badly bashed on the way down, and ended around his neck, but undoubtedly saved his life. When he hit the deck, he broke an arm and also got concussed from the rebound on the rope stretch, which bashed his now uncovered head on the rocks. 219 The tragic accident to Dave Levitt on Africa Cracks on Table Mountain was on the same FI pitch where Tony Lodge fell to his death last year. Dave was not wearing a crash helmet, and he received serious head injuries. Investigations showed that the much publicised wire-nut failure occurred under unusual circumstances. It was a no. 4 Interalp wedge, placed badly in a parallel-sided crack. When loaded by the fall, it pulled out and dropped to jam much lower down in the crack, and was shock-loaded a second time.