I was there initially with an experienced 'route developer' Andy. He kindly gave me instruction on how to prepare and equip a route ready for climbing. This is a time consuming and expensive activity (top quality bolts don't come cheap). In the process, we cleaned and bolted a brand new rock climb which I later named 'So long Alan' in memory of my uncle.
A couple of days later I returned to Ambolo with Kate and our friend Miguel. By now we had a bag of marine grade bolts & hangers and all the tools needed to equip more routes.
There were 2 short routes I had in mind for starters. These would be straightforward, so a good place for us to 'cut our teeth' with bolting.
I installed the lower off (this bit is tricky) and from this was easily able to equip the rest of the route. I named this one 'Gwen' who had been with us on our previous visit and spotted the route.
Now for Miguel to have a go! He had spotted a nice looking rising traverse and very efficiently had this equipped in no time at all. His route is named 'Angel'.
All 3 routes are on the Sector Voodoo left hand crag and graded about f5 - but please let us know what you think if you go and climb any of them.
Today me & Kate returned to Ambolo to climb these new routes and a few others too.
We managed 8 routes in total and enjoyed all of them. The rock is super sharp, positive Limestone and excellent quality. The climbs are up to about 20m high and most have good / excellent protection.
In case this isn't enough, the approach walk is all of about 2 minutes and views out over the sea are spectacular. There is a small cove below the crags, so climbing can easily be combined with swimming or sunbathing.
There is at least one more line we'd like to develop at Ambolo, possibly more. But what's on offer at the moment makes a visit well worthwhile.
If you'd like more information about this great crag or would like rock climbing guidance / instruction, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us anytime. We're more than happy to help.
Thanks for reading.
Happy New Year everyone!
Mark
