Energy Crisis

Route Description

"Energy Crisis" is one of the great classics of Wolfberg and is a mindbending testpiece for the aspirant hard-man or woman.

The route follows a wandering line up the wildly overhanging "Energy Crisis" prow, and its outstanding features are:

The 5m long layback crack on the first pitch. Difficult to protect if you don't have a really big cam (#5 camalot size), also exceptionally difficult to get established in the layback due to the undercut start of the crack (unless you know the cunning "trick"!).

The very airy traverse on pitch 4 across a good handrail, which is unfortunately completely undercut and offers very few footholds.

The awesome headwall on the last pitch, which climbs an exposed face on small crimpers with sparse but adequate protection.

This route featured in a BBC documentary series "The Face: Six Great Climbing Adventures", where local legend Ed February teamed up with Joe Simpson to pose for the cameras and show off their climbing skills.

See one of the guide-books for a detailed description of the route and the breakdown of the pitches.

Approach

Start from the Sanddrif campsite at the base of Wolfberg and walk up the mountain via the track through the "Valley of Red Gods". The walk in takes about 45min to 1hr.

Essential Gear

A standard trad rack.

A #5 camalot is required to protect the crux layback crack on the first pitch.

Images

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