Hi Everybody,

I will have to move to Zimbabwe due to professional reason in a couple of months. Anybody know if there are climbing possibilities and if there is a climbing community I can hook up with? I won't survive if I cant go climbing there

Khalid

There is/was a Mountain Club with its own club house. They produced a journal in 2000...lots of climbing in it & various other journals.

I think that there are some big granite walls up there, the pioneer way back when was Rusty Baillie
The MCSA library will no doubt have some literature about it (couldn't find anything online)

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Climb ZA - Administrator

I started climbing whilst at high school in Zimbabwe, which I left in 1997.

Our school was just outside Bulawayo. Unfortunately, the amount of climbing in the area was minimal. Besides our artificial wall at the school, we used to go climbing on Mbala Mbala peak. While there may be some granite climbing in/near the Matopos, we didn't ever venture there.

We also used to visit an old quarry in Harare that had named routes stenciled onto the rock.

Back then, there were no bolted routes, so it was all top-rope climbing. I'd be interested to find out if anyone has bolted these spots at all.

a friend of mine grew up there climbing trad... i've only driven past and seen some of what he said they climbed at a bit of a distance, but it looked good. there used to be a pretty active climbing scene that was very much linked to to the hiking clubs (according to him)... probably best to contact them...

i remember something about a fair bit of bouldering potential as well...
ill ask and get back to you

ive attached some pics that he sent me...

and some more...

he promised me pictures of the bouldering, but they havent materialised...

Wow

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Climb ZA - Administrator

I reckon Zim has tons of good climbing, climbing partners may be scarce though!

My brother just got back from a trip to the Botoko gorge (below Vics falls) and said that the cliffs looked super good for multi pitch trad-climbing. I know there's good climbing in the Vumba and Chimanimani (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... babwe1.jpg) and there's granite boulders all over the place so the bouldering must be good!

Good luck and post photos!

Some more good info on climbing opportunities in Zim.

http://www.climbhotrock.com/hotrockroot ... mbabwe.htm

Awessome photos. Thanks a lot! :-) Does anybody know if that the mountain club over there is still active? Contact details? I have been told that the eastern highland are supposed to be awesome.

That one wall in particular looks really great.

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Open hand, open mind...

Wow the wall in P2 and P3 looks sick! what type of rock is it and where is it?

It's Granite in Zim.....tsk tsk! Some people....

Anyone up for a trip to Zimbabwe to go and climb some local rock sounds more like trad climbing to me, can get intresting. Just imagine you climb and far in the distance there is a gun fight, animals running what is left of them baking in the sun, sounds all super to me living life on the true edge.

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Live life to the full, Or make full use of Life.

Something along these lines...

"We were looking through our camera lenses, and we could see them waving to us and they kept shooting at us. And they were getting pretty close, so John volunteered to go down."
Climbers Recount Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Hi, Just by chance saw your message about climbing in Zim. There are heaps of boulders and bigger faces. I left in 1981 but the club of which I am a life member continues. A friend of mine there recently sent me an email with the clubs email address - its is c/o
marge@ambus.co.zw. Hope you find them and have a great time- Hurungwe, Damusi, Bari, Ngomakurira, Rocky mountains, Masungwa, Murigabvveni are some of the bigger domes within a 2 hr drive from Harare and the Quarry and Mcilwaine boulders and Christon Bank pinnacles are closer and ok for after work bouldering!!! Happiest days of my life
Keith Pyle

The above email address for Marge is not working.

Email/PM me if you would like her phone number.

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Check the 1994 MCSA journal, there is an article by ADK on climbing in Zim, Nam and Moz. If you don't have access to it, I can make a plan and scan the pages that are relevant.

cheers
Ian

Climbing in Zim was great. There is a lot of routes there. I have opened about 30 or so my self in the eary 70's.There use to be full descriptions of most routes. Keith Pyle gave you a list of some places to climb. In the pictures before there was a dome callled Ngoma kereira . there are 2 good routes on that face called Olympus and Touateck. Bolts were hard to place those days and long run outs and big balls were the order of the day. Those 2 routes are about Grade 17-19 with one bolt on each route at the crux. Enjoy it . Still have my best memories of climbing in Zim. Butch de Bruin

Micky - P2 and P3 are of Ngomokorera (I never know how to spell it) - it's 40mins out of Harare. Gorgeous spot, not many places for gear on the overhanging orange bit, so would have to be bolted. Not a huge amount to hold on to, so would be fun! Lots of cave paintings to avoid though.

hyronimus74: I know a few people in the mountain club at the moment, and can put you in touch if you'd like. Mail me on juliawakelingATgmailDOTcom. I'm from Zim and am super keen to get a crew together to explore some of the big granite domes I've seen in some backwater areas in the north. Send me a mail and we can make a plan! I recon you could easily inspire folk about climbing. There's loads of bouldering potential, so you can develop climbing partners :-) Are you going to be based in Harare? What a great spot! Enjoy it!

J.

hi guys i am from zim origionally and Ngomokarera is a favorite old spot, i am a falconer and worked in raptor research there and so did a lot of climbing as a result. Motoko, Murewa, Makuti on the zambizi escarpment and TTL motopos, as well as chimmanimani and the eastern highlands(nyanga) all offer exerlent climbs. what a place if you like granite . i lived near makilwane at admirals cabin and did plenty of bouldering in and around the lake and lion park. my favorite spot was motoko a friend worked at a granite quarry and so we had a base camp and could spend many days there. the bakota gorge is also aweinspiring and it has the highest concentration of breeding Taita falcons there +/-18 pairs when sa has only 3 known spots that they are found. the Motopos also bosts the highest raptor consentration/density in the world and is magical. Vallerie garnett a well known researcher spent over 20yrs studing black eagles there and the Bilbe of Black eagle publications is a testiment to her work.

happy climbing

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"WHERE IS THE THICKET, GONE , WHERE IS THE EAGLE , GONE ..... THE END OF LIVING AND THE BEGINING OF SURVIVAL! "