Travel

Climbing in Peru: A Journey through South America

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Peru was one of the most impressive stops on our journey through South America. The quality and quantity of beautiful climbing areas is vast and we had expected this to mean it would be very busy with climbers, but that was not the case at all. In fact, we often had some of the country’s best crags, like Pitumarca, all to ourselves! Peru is one of the most touristic countries of the continent, however, the nature of the mass tourism is very honeypotted. For example, Cusco or Ollantaytambo will be heaving with tourists, with authenticity a distant thought. However, the good news is that when you get away from the tourist areas, in places like La Unión, you can experience the real Peru, its wonderful culture and friendly people – and you’ll probably be the only ones around! We began our time in Peru by crossing the border from Ecuador at Macara and after 7 weeks of fantastic climbing we finished by crossing the border into Bolivia at Kasani, on the shores of lake Titicaca.

Climber in blue fleece tackling a steep, yellow and grey limestone cliff, in the background are tall, grey limestone cliffs set upon the hillside.
Awesome steep tufa pulling on ‘Coco-Drilo’, 7a+, at Pitumarca
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Climbing in Ecuador: A Journey through South America

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Ecuador is one of the smaller countries in South America, however it massively punches above its weight when it comes to quality climbing and stunning environments. Ecuador is often dubbed the country of four worlds due to its diversity, which is very impressive. Climbing wise Ecuador has loads to go at and the standard is very high. Ecuadorians are very friendly and local climbers will go out of their way to help you, surprisingly there are very few foreign rock climbers visiting Ecuador – we only met one in a month! We started our journey in Ecuador by crossing the border with Colombia at Rumichaca and snaked our way down the Andes crossing from one side to the other as we went, eventually crossing into Peru at Macara.

Climber chalking up on a steep section of volcanic rock wall.
Chalking up before the awesome crux section of ‘La Bella’, 7a
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Climbing in Colombia: A Journey through South America

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Colombia is a big country with a vast amount of variety, with everything from mountains over 5,000 meters to Amazon jungle and Caribbean coast. The climbing opportunities are just as varied and there are many excellent crags throughout Colombia to tempt you, with beautiful sandstone, amazing limestone tufas and high quality granite all in abundance. With that in mind, Colombia seemed like the perfect place to start our journey through South America, which after arriving in Bogotá, would mean travelling entirely overland, primarily by bus. Needless to say, Colombia delivered exactly what we had hoped for and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there, both for the country and the climbing.

Climber on delicate hand move on steep grey granite wall above the forest.
Superb granite climbing at La Peña Abejorral
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Climbing in Zimbabwe: An Uncelebrated Land of Rock

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Zimbabwe is not as well known to climbers as other African countries, so it may come as a surprise to some that Zimbabwe has loads of excellent climbing. The amount of rock in Zimbabwe is really impressive, the potential for first ascents is huge and in some areas of the country there are beautiful large granite domes & kopjes extending as far as the eye can see. In general, the rock quality was very high and there are some superb walls to enjoy. Aside from climbing, we thought Zimbabwe was a wonderful country, the people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. We spent three and a half weeks in Zimbabwe, but we could easily have spent much longer, there is so much to do we would love to return one day and experience more of what the country has to offer.

Climber on a smooth blaze orange boulder, pulling on small granite crimps.
Excellent rock in the East Matopos
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Useful Tips for Climbing and Travelling in the Caucasus

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The Caucasus region is an amazingly diverse area, sandwiched between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It is truly transcontinental, with an enormous amount of culture packed into a relatively small area of land. The ‘heart’ of the Caucasus consists of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. To the north is Russia, with Turkey in the west and Iran in the south, just adding to the areas impressive cultural diversity. The region is famous for mountains, climbers can find almost anything in the Caucasus, from peaks over 5000m to stunning canyons and abundant cliffs. We spent 10 weeks in the Caucasus and we genuinely loved it, it is one of our all time highlights – for the people, the culture and the climbing.

Silhouette of a climber on a pinnacle protruding from the left hand side of the tall sided canyon which is made from dark volcanic rock with long crack feautres.
Exposed climbing in Noravank, Armenia

In this article we will discuss hints and tips for travelling in the region to help you get the most out of your trip. Below is a map of the all the different crags we visited during our trip to the Caucasus region, as well as our favourite rest day activities. If you would like to read more about specific areas, please visit our individual posts about Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

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Useful Tips for Climbing and Travelling in South East Asia

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South East Asia is a fantastic region to visit as a travelling climber. The rock is amazing quality, there are areas to suit everyones taste, there is a never-ending amount of culture to learn about & experience and the food is delicious! We decided to write this article to help give climbers an idea of what to expect and how to make the most of their trip. The planning stage of a trip to South East Asia can be quite time consuming. Hopefully the many hours we spent planning before our trip, as well as our experiences on the trip, will yield some useful information and tips for other climbers.

Climber deep water soloing, hanging from only their arms on a steep overhanging roof section of limestone high above the turquoise blue sea.
Fantastic deep water soloing at Koh Poda, Thailand

Below is a map of all the different crags we visited during our 6 months in South East Asia. If you would like to read more about specific areas, please visit our individual posts on Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and The Philippines.

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Climbing in Romania: Europe’s Best Kept Secret?

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Romania is a country we have wanted to visit for a long time and we knew there were a lot of amazing places to visit. We waited for the right time and it was definitely worth it, we had 6 weeks of fantastic climbing and almost perfect weather, it was everything we had hoped for and more. Romania is home to a vast swathe of the Carpathian Mountains and seems to have an almost limitless supply of rock. There are crags, canyons and mountains at almost every turn as well as some of the largest old growth forests in Europe. Climbing aside, we found Romanian people to be very friendly and kind, it was a real pleasure to be able to spend time there.

Climber chalking up on a tall vertical cliff on the left hand side of a narrow canyon. Between the two walls the view looks over a forested valley and another rocky limestone massif
Great climbing in an amazing position on ‘Pleasure Dome’, 6c+, Cheile Mănăstirii
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Climbing in Hungary: Europe’s Cultural Crossroads

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With 84% of Hungary lying less than 200 metres above sea level, the country isn’t known for being mountainous or craggy. However, you might be surprised at how much rock there actually is in Hungary, theCrag.com lists over 2,500 routes and several hundred boulder problems. When you combine this with Hungary’s excellent location, it makes total sense to spend some time here if you’re on a European climbing road trip. Hungary borders 7 countries: Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria – all of which have climbing and mountains of their own.

Climber making their way up vertical and horizontal crack systems with traces of chalk highlight the holds along the way. There is both darker rock and lighter rock
The brilliant pumpy crack of ‘Moha & Páfrány’, 6a

The options of where you could be going to or coming from are vast, but despite many climbers passing this area, very few actually stop and enjoy some climbing in Hungary. By not stopping, they miss out on lots of interesting things to see and do, as well as some good days climbing along the way. Travelling slower will allow you to enjoy Hungary and you won’t have to worry about losing your climbing fitness either, win win.

Looking out over rolling forested hills, with the sun making the sky a hazy pink colour
A beautiful sunset view from Kis-Gerecsei

This article is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to Hungarian climbing. Rather, it is aiming to give an idea of what to expect if you decide to include Hungary on your climbing road trip.

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Climbing in The Polish Jura

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Poland is not a place that most people think of when planning a climbing trip in Europe, and those that do are probably headed to the Tatra mountains for long multipitch routes. It isn’t well known that Poland has a fantastic sport climbing area of its own, the Jura. The climbing is great, with thousands of routes across the grades and many beautiful & unique crags. The area sees a lot of activity from Polish climbers, who are known for being very strong, but sadly gets very little attention from international climbers. We have spent 2 weeks climbing in the Jura and throughly enjoyed it, the quality is very high and we never felt like we would run out of cool crags to visit.

Overhanging limestone pinnacle with black marking on. In the background there is a larger crag with a castle fortress built into it with a large drawbridge across.
The stunning Kaczor sector at Góra Zamkowa
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Climbing in Vietnam: A Journey through South East Asia

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Vietnam was a major stop on our trip in South East Asia and somewhere we had looked forward to visiting for a long time. It certainly didn’t disappoint, we loved the country and Hữu Lũng is a very strong contender for our favourite climbing area of the entire trip. We began our time in Vietnam by crossing the border from Cambodia at Mộc Bài and made the long and interesting journey all the way up to the north with the excellent train line, enjoying a few stops along the way. Whilst we didn’t climb in the south, we really enjoyed experiencing the different culture and landscape on our way north, Vietnam is a country of great contrast. During our month in Vietnam we had a genuinely great time, not only was the climbing superb, the places, people and history were equally good and it was a definite highlight in every sense.

Large limestone mogotes, covered in white limestone cliffs and green vegetation rising up steeply from the flat flooded rice fields. There are many of them rising up in the distance. They are also in the reflection of the rectangular flooded rice fields.
Surreal beauty in Hữu Lũng
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