I haven’t had much opportunity to write for fun lately, but I’ve now freed up a bit of time. When I signed the contract to teach at Surabaya International School four years ago, I never imagined how much my life would change.
In four years, I’ve been very fortunate to find a variety of great cliff in East Java. Surowiti being the closest has developed into a nice sport climbing destination. Other cliffs in East Java offer plenty of first ascent potential too. Kidiri’s Mt Kelut has Basalt cracks up to 800 feet, most unclimbed. Spikul, located above the beautiful Prigi Beach has two existing routes up to 16 pitches long with room for another 50.
A few years ago, when I arrived in Surabaya, I was telling my wife, then girlfriend, that Surabaya could use a full-service climbing gym. Over the last few years, I toyed with the idea here and there, but last fall, a friend of mine decided he wanted to invest in my idea, so the gym is now becoming a reality. While I still manage to get some real climbing done almost every weekend, and I’ve been fortunate enough to squeeze in a couple of climbing trip here and there, I’ve spent much on my free time getting this new gym going.
In this case, I had the vision, my wife supported my idea, and my friend, who is not a climber, was looking for an investment. After a few conversations, some research, and lots of excellent meal to discuss how to proceed, we committed ourselves to the project. I informed my school that I would not be returning next school year, and for the last seven months, have been working on the gym whenever I have time. Now, the building is nearing completion, the climbing wall company is starting to build the frame, and I’ve somehow become the distributor of several climbing companies for Indonesia. Looks like the gym will open early July, my teaching job end June 10th.
With a combination of my blog, and rockclimbing.com the word is out that the climbing in Indonesia is quite good and easy to access. Over the last couple months, I hosted a few climbers in my guestroom that came from overseas to check out the wonderful climbing near Surabaya. The response to the routes and climbing has been quite positive. Because of time constants, I have not been able to show them best cliff East Java has to offer, but I’ll share them with you here over the next couple of post.
The nearest area to Surabaya, the capital of East Java, is Surowiti. Home to over sixty routes, a visiting climber can clip bolts or place gear. Most routes are 25 to 30 meters long and offer a full range of grades. Three weeks ago, I took a dozen middle school students to climb and play on the areas great easy routes. School Wall, offers routes from 5.6 to 5.10, most below vertical or vertical.
Near “School Wall” is Surowiti’s newest wall. Named Dragon Wall because the wall was first cleaned and climb on Chinese New Year, the wall currently only has two routes, but because of its convenient location near the School Wall, a climber can play all day without moving too far. Between School Wall and Dragon Wall, climbers can climb every grade from 5.6 to 5.11+ with just a dozen Quick-draws and a rope.
Last weekend, we had a couple of experienced climbers staying with us. My wife and I opted to show our Canadian and Swiss guests “Top Ten” wall, by far the most popular wall here. Top Ten wall has about 20 routes, from 5.9 to 5.13 with more coming soon. A couple of weeks ago, I started cleaning what will be some excellent second pitches on vertical to slightly overhanging limestone. If you prefer to place gear, bring the rack to climb two of this formation’s excellent cracks.
Hester Buttress offers another dozen excellent 30 meter long sport routes.(more coming soon) Routes on this wall are either overhanging, or offer what many visiting climbers have called, “vertical slab routes.” Twinkle Toes is a nice moderate route to warm up on before tackling the longer routes that require excellent foot work to succeed.
If you can handle the humidity, Indonesia offers year-round climbing. In the case of Surowity, the cliff heads into the shade around 11:00 and the nearby Java Sea provides a pleasant breeze to keep climbers comfortable on the warmest of days. If you climb here, keep in mind, the cliff is home to several owls, a few very large iguana, and a variety of small tropical birds.
Surowiti is half way between Grisick and Tuban on the map near Surabaya. Public transportation to the area is difficult, so most people get there by car or motor bike. Unlike climbing in Thailand, the cliff is never crowded; climbing is just being discovered in east Java. With the new gym opening in July, it should be easy to find partners.
The approach to most walls is 10 to 20 minutes from the car on very well used trails. The local village likes climbers, but be respectful of where they live. To help the local economy, my partners and I normally buy our water from the vendor in the parking area. Her prices are very reasonable, and the owner loves climbers. A couple of villagers work for climbers part-time keeping the trails and base the cliff clear.
0 comments:
Post a Comment