Routes in Uganda

Go straight up the slabs avoid using the seems on the left.

The lowest section of the crag and farthest left when facing the rock.

You must build and anchor above the cliff, rap over the side and swing in to access this chain to set the top rope for Friends Remain Friends.

This is the hardest route at the crag. Still no free ascent. Climbers have done this via TR or not at all.

Can use gear and bolts on the way up.

This route is also disconnected from the hand line at the top.

Must rap into this one, like most routes at this crat. Mostly blocky crack climbing. Well protected most of the way. Good trad gear placement practice. Only the anchor itself is bolted.

Take a 60m rope to abseil off this or take a crazy, dirty free climb to Moses campground above. Just continue from Mosc Swallow for the full route.

This is the farthest left route and does not connect to the hand line that connects the top out of most routes at this crag.

A good warm up route.

From the prayer crack, there are a variety of chimney routes to the top. The crack is quite wide, but narrow enough to chimney in a few places. Protection is either poor or non-existent, so set a top rope and enjoy! Nothing in the prayer crack has been bolted as of Feb 2018.

Move through the prayer crack pictured. On prayer days, be respectful and wait your turn. At the far end of the crack, squeeze out to the top or use the chimney to the exit on the ledge. From the ledge, you can access the Normal Route and a number of the top rope chains. Alternatively, you can access the top via the easier Northeast corner routes, however, as these are not yet bolted for lead climbing, the Normal Route is the only protected way to the top.

Rap down to the start as there is no trail to the base of this crag. This goes for all routes at Kilembe.

Oreochromis Niloticus is a few meters to the left. The two routes join part way up. Crux is near the bottom of this one.

Go straight up the slabs avoid using the seems on the left.

Crux near the bottom.

Have a local show you to the first pitch. In total, this climb is four pitches, though you could stretch it into three. There are plenty of bushes and trees along the way to protect your descent without needed to lose much tack.

Follow the broken pillars and cracks up the northeast butress. Careful to rap down exactly as you ascended or you might find yourself in a sticky position.

While you could do this in boots/shoes, climbing shoes make it much more enjoyable. We've left our boots waiting for us at the start of the first pitch on pasts climbs. Locals will look after them for you and haven't bothered our stuff in the past.

This is the harder, sit start variation of the V5 Termite Be Your Last Step. This climb is a project and has yet to be sent.

Very sharp slab with a slightly positive incline. Incredibly small holds and bad footholds. All side pulls to the right of the holds are out-of-bounds, see photo below.

Start sitting on the small rock beneath the boulder and pull up off the ground on the left-hand side pull and the right-hand three-finger sloper, as shown in the beta photo.

First move is a big, right hand throw to a small crimp (Crux move). Then left hand to the small, sharp crimp above your right hand, chalked intermediates can be seen in the photo. Then right hand to the wide sloper pinch directly above and bring your feet up. Right foot high, stand up, reach for the left hand side pull and lean back on it. Crank in with the left and find a good, wide sloper above and then top.

This is the easier, stand start variation of the V7 Termite Be Your Last Breath.

Very sharp slab with a slightly positive incline. Incredibly small holds and bad footholds. All side pulls to the right of the holds are out-of-bounds, see photo.

Start standing on the small rock beneath the boulder and pull up off the ground on the left-hand side pull and the right-hand crimp, as shown in the beta photo.

First move is left hand to the small, sharp crimp above your right hand, chalked intermediates can be seen in the photo. Then right hand to the wide sloper pinch directly above and bring your feet up. Right foot high, stand up, reach for the left hand side pull and lean back on it. Crank in with the left and find a good, wide sloper above and then top.

This is the easier, stand start variation of the V7 Termite Be Your Last Breath.

Very sharp slab with a slightly positive incline. Incredibly small holds and bad footholds. All side pulls to the right of the holds are out-of-bounds, see photo.

Start standing on the small rock beneath the boulder and pull up off the ground on the left-hand side pull and the right-hand crimp, as shown in the beta photo.

First move is left hand to the small, sharp crimp above your right hand, chalked intermediates can be seen in the photo. Then right hand to the wide sloper pinch directly above and bring your feet up. Right foot high, stand up, reach for the left hand side pull and lean back on it. Crank in with the left and find a good, wide sloper above and then top.

This is the easier, stand start variation of the V7 Termite Be Your Last Breath.

Very sharp slab with a slightly positive incline. Incredibly small holds and bad footholds. All side pulls to the right of the holds are out-of-bounds, see photo.

Start standing on the small rock beneath the boulder and pull up off the ground on the left-hand side pull and the right-hand crimp, as shown in the beta photo.

First move is left hand to the small, sharp crimp above your right hand, chalked intermediates can be seen in the photo. Then right hand to the wide sloper pinch directly above and bring your feet up. Right foot high, stand up, reach for the left hand side pull and lean back on it. Crank in with the left and find a good, wide sloper above and then top.

Easy, stand start, warm-up route on great pockets and abundant footholds, should be mandatory climbing for all who visit Luwazi.

Easy, stand start, warm-up route on great pockets and abundant footholds, should be mandatory climbing for all who visit Luwazi.

Easy, stand start, warm-up route on great pockets and abundant footholds, should be mandatory climbing for all who visit Luwazi.

Description by E Freudenthal 2015 Update by M Battani Sept ‘17

The route climbs the northeast face of Mt. Oret/Kalongo, starting in the largest gully, then mostly straight up following cracks systems and easier but run out slabs to the top. Overall, it has really good and fairly sustained climbing, the rock is solid and only a few passages require you to battle with vegetation. We took about 8h for the climb and 1h for the descent.

Be warned that the top slabs will be impassable if they are wet and backing off from them will be tricky/expensive. This rock can take days to dry out after heavy rains and this route follows a gulley which is one of the last places to dry. This is the description to the best of our recollection; there might some mistakes and better variations.

From the path in the village behind the hospital fence, spot the large gully with a very tall, straight tree with white bark sticking out of it. Simply thrash your way through the high grass and boulders until you reach the bottom of the gully. The start of the route is about 30m left of the right hand wall of the gully, where a narrow black slab widens out into some bushes.

1. (10m 13): Climb the delicate slab to the undercut block slightly left, with a short crack splitting it, into a bushy belay stance below a blank wall.

2. (30m 14): Follow the base of the wall to the right through the brambles until you reach a leaning pillar connecting to the right edge of the gully. Climb the pillar delicately until it joins the right hand wall and follow the crack to some awkward blocks, made more awkward by trees. Round the final boulder onto a small ledge with a slingable boulder for a solid belay and a large tree coming out of the rock behind.

3. (20m 10): Climb up the tree behind the belay directly upwards and follow the ramp up to the left under some light vegetation. Traverse some small boulders until you reach a large clearing at the bottom of a blank black wall and the base of the white bark, tall, straight tree you can see from the town. Look out for snakes! (Variation pitch: climb to the left of the ledge then up the pillar to the next ledge)

4. (30m 14): Take the mossy chimney at the very back of the ledge and on the left side of the wall. Round the chockstone, then further up the gully climb the easy slab to a tree belay.

5. (40m 15): Climb the groove to the right of the tree until you reach the precariously broken top of the pillar. Take a committing step left and traverse across the slab and into the gully. Follow the gully until the wall steepens and the route breaks to the right into a narrow passage enclosed by a flake. Traverse to the moss filled flake and climb up and over the bush to your left into a comfortable ledge with two trees for a belay.

6. (25m 17): Follow the undercut cracks up to the large tree above, then traverse to the right under the overhang to a sloping ledge with a large groove cut into it. Down-climb 1-2 meters until your feet reach the small edges below and shuffle rightwards until the edges disappear. Then reach a good crack on the right of the slab. Move easily straight up into a small groove with a belay about 6 metres below the dark, vegetated gully above.

7. (40m 14): Climb the grassy black rocks to the bottom of the gully, and bridge boldly upwards to the first tree. Thrutch and squirm your way between the trees until the gulley splits with a tree and an overhanging block ending the natural passage to the left. From above the tree, rock over to the right onto an exposed grey slab with a deep crack to the right. Either thrutch up the crack or enjoy the face climbing. The large tree at the top makes for a stunning hanging belay. Enjoy the view! Note: this tree was pretty dead when we summited this in June 2017. You will probably need to clean the crack under this tree and set some cams to build and anchor.

8. (45m 18): Climb above the tree into a large groove with an undercut crack following the left wall. Follow this crack, then climb straight up and right into a crux section with poor holds and worse gear. Grasp for the grass in the groove to your right and breath a sigh of relief. A few metres above, follow the seam to your right (not the crack on your left) and continue up until you reach a fridge-size stuck block on your left that can be slung for a belay.

9. (35m 14): Follow the crack straight above the belay upwards until it disappears. Then, pad up with no gear for a further 25 metres until you find a large grass tuft with a solid flake above it with space for a couple of cams and a disheartening belay.

10. (45m 13): Further unprotected climbing on rounded black rock and grass tufts ends with a secure belay point in a deep crack above grass tufts.

11. (20m 17): Continue up from the crack with good gear until you are faced with a steep black wall with a shallow crack and a small tree above it. There is gear at the bottom right under the flake. Boldly climb the crack and face edges (no gear) before slinging the tree for a welcome belay.

12. (50m 13): Further easy but poorly protected climbing continues zigzagging and trending leftwards up the slabs with some shallow cracks and grass tufts, to a big block on the left side of a steepening. You should belay here to make the pitch under 50m (there are no good belays above so learn from our experience!).

13. (100m 9): Climb over the large block to a gentle slope where you can belay on one of the trees or boulders. Then, scramble up through the steep grass and trees until you reach the radio tower. Congrats. You’ve made it!

Descent: Head northwest across the summit to find the road down. You’ll probably meet Bosco, the military man stationed at the summit. Say hi from us and sign his book. He might give you citrus fruit. The descent takes ~1hr.

Description by L. Hodgkinson

Pitch 1 45m (15) Start at the centre of the buttress beneath a tree growing ~4m up the rock. Move easily up a broken wall to the tree and then trend left up runnels and shallow cracks to the large break under an overhanging boulder. Watch out for bees whilst traversing the ledge to the right, then thrutch up the flared chimney onto a large landing followed by a short scramble up a vegetated gulley to a large tree belay.

Pitch 2 50m (10) Move left out onto the edge of the ridge and take a direct, airy scramble up and over the knife-edge until it flattens out just before the summit. Take a seated or standing belay some point back from the ridge, unless your rope is longer than 50m in which case you might make it to the boulders. You can un-rope and scramble to the very top from here.

Descent is a 15-minute walk down along the foot of the west face of the buttress.

In the northwest corner there is a severe trad climb called “Thanks to Amanda”. You’ll start by scrambling up 2m to a small ledge. Then put in your first pro, shortly followed by two more pieces. Careful of the boulder on your left. It could be loose. After the boulder, the climb is straightforward and you’ll get a couple more pieces of pro in. The last 12m of the climb follows a positive incline with many excellent footholds, but scant chances to put in pro, so falls near the end could be very dangerous. You can abseil down off boulders at the top. This climb is about 22m.

A unique combination of slab, open book, off width and crack climbing that requires a variety of skills and techniques.

Pitch 1: the hidden tnt hole 18m 4 bolt 5b Pitch 2: the balcony 30m (traverse most) 5 bolt 4a then 5b at the end. Perfect to learn multy pitch