“I was about to pull myself onto the ledge, when suddenly two very shocked vultures made me think otherwise. As they leaped towards me I shot down the chimney that I had been struggling up. Having just escaped their beaks and talons I sat panting trying to calm down. I shouted down to the lad following me, that the climb had finished and we needed to get down, and explained why. At that point the vultures made their second attack. One flew off the higher ledge circled around and faced his enemy. We began to hand-drill in the two bolts needed to abseil off. While one hammered and twisted the other sat ready with the only available weapon, a twig, ready to fend off irate birds. 1:0 win to the vultures.”

Adventures and making dreams happen, is what Hot Rock is about. Stuart Marlow first had the idea whilst leading a non-climbing expedition through South America; he was tired of passing by all the unclimbed rock that lined his route.

So why not develop an overland expedition to search out the 5* routes still left untouched in some of the most far flung corners of the world? To do this we would need an expedition vehicle. After buying the Cab of a Scania 113 arctic and stretching the wheel base, it was only a matter of months, a barn, and a few bottles of port before the truck was born.

The truck double layered (seats upstairs, luggage downstairs) can carry 32 people. Complete with a convertible roof, outdoor safari seat and secluded ‘sin bin’, all that was needed to finish the package was a bouldering wall (thought up when gin was brought into the fluid design). The 2 wheel drive made the Sahara desert crossings slow but rewarding and across frozen streams on the Tibetan plateaux exciting; our drivers are fantastic at off road driving. We carry food, including 24kg of custard powder, and water to last us for a week. With ice and cold beer we are up for anywhere however remote.

The team can vary in size from 10 to 32 at any one time. They are made up of people from all round the globe and of every different level of ability. From those who have never climbed out doors to the bush bashing choss loving folk of the mountains, from the happy on V-diffs and scrambles to the sick in the head E9 punks.

After 4½ years Hot Rock is already on its third expedition. In that time the following has been achieved:
• 125,000km of overland travel.
• Through 38 different countries.
• 146 people have experienced its adventures.
• A couple of hundred new routes completed.
• Copious number of new climbing areas developed, especially in India, Turkey, Africa and Peru

The first expedition left Cape Town, in February 1999 and finished 6 months later in Nairobi. Many new routes were completed and many early classics repeated. The team completed the third and fourth ascents of the east face of Poi, a 600m granite loaf in the Challibi desert of Northern Kenya.

I could just hear Max screaming above the howl of the wind and the roar of the soaring vultures. “Don’t fall off!” Whatever he meant by that it couldn’t be good. I tied the rucksack off and let it swing into the void 400m above the desert floor. I managed to climb the pitch well although the flakes of granite appeared only to be held to the rock with cobwebs, I did not fall off. I got to the belay to find it was a peg pushed into a tussock with a bottom ‘firmly’ planted on top.

When Stuart and I returned from the Africa trip, we were ill adjusted to slotting back into ‘normal’ living. We could only arrange another expedition; Many Ex-Hot Rockers depended on it. The Hot Rock Silk Route Expedition was born. From London to Hong Kong, through +48°C to -30°C, including bouldering in Font, snowy peaks in the Himalayas, being shot at on massive walls in Iran, and the bizarre colour bonanza of sandstone climbing in India.

I approached the gentleman that had arranged the beer. He seemed to be a Del Boy character, one who could arrange for us to try out an AK47 out in the desert. He could, it would cost £5 to shoot off a magazine of 30 rounds. I asked him if he could throw in some watermelons to aim at. The man looked confused. I explained further. The man’s eyes lit up and he seemed to be relieved, he said “Practice not people, that’s only £2!” I thought it best to leave the arrangement and walk away.

Before the Silk Route expedition had even started the plans had already been laid for the next expedition; The Hot Rock Global Challenge. Involving travelling the length of all the continents (excluding Antarctica) in three years, to developing new climbing areas. At the time of writing the expedition is in the States. With Africa and Central/South America behind us much has been achieved. One of the best adventures was in Ethiopia. A basalt tower called Mt Wehni was used 300 years ago when the Emperor of Ethiopia built a prison on the summit to hold 200 princes to reduce the risk of being overthrown. The cut stone and wooden steps have long since gone and no one has climbed it since. Thomas Packenham wrote in the 50’s:

“From the crest of the ridge the last half of the plateau was finally revealed. The vast natural forces that had thrown up these regular downs had suddenly run wild. In the docile plain there opened a gorge perhaps half a mile wide, leading to a bowl shaped valley. It was the valley of Wehni. From the centre rose the scoriated black thumb that was the mountain. It was in fact twice the height that it first appeared and its sides perfectly sheer to the ground. Once again my stomach contracted in fear."

We were able to reach the summit, only after promising not to steal the lost arc of the covenant that legend believes to be hidden on the summit.