Region: America - South and Antarctica

Ms Anne Arran with John Arran (September 2008)

For this year’s exploration of the tepuis of Venezuela, this pair chose the more remote steep rock walls of Chimanta (2700m), which is formed from a very hard form of sandstone - some of the oldest in the world. Previous exploration of the peak by cavers and ecologists has been limited, due to it having the most overhanging wall in the world (100m+). Although the main wall remains unclimbed, they made the first ascent of a hard (E7 6b) route on Amurita, where the overhang sheltered them from the heavy rain that fell on several days: however the resultant rise in river levels added to the hazards of the jungle, delaying their return to civilisation at the end of the trip.