Ennedi Desert climbing

The Ennedi Desert is located in North Eastern Chad. Up until early 2010 it was not known if there was even climbable rock there, but then Mark Synnott lead a North Face expedition with James Pearson and Alex Honnald (a group similar to the one that went to the Musandam peninsula). National Geographic photographer Jimmy Chin came along with them and captured some stunning photos and videos of the climbing. Mark had been wanting to climb towers ever since he was a child so for him this was a trip that had to happen.

The Geology

Due to its location the rock formations are all sandstone, which can be quite crumbly and hard to climb but in their chase they came across hard durable sandstone which is perfect for climbing.

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock which is made up of little sand sized particles of other bits of weathered rock such as granite. Over long periods of time as the sandstone dries, it cracks and this is one of the reasons climbers like it so much. Crack climbing is another form of rock climbing and it thrives in regions with lots of sandstone.

The Climbing

There is only really one type of climbing to be found  in the Ennedi and that is trad climbing since nobody has been there before to climb, nothing is bolted and you have to place your own gear as you go. Unless you are Alex Honnald who is renowned for doing lots of free solo climbs, on the trip in the amount of time it took Mark and James to climb one tower Alex had already climbed 5 free soloed.

This is the video that was put together of the trip, check it out its really good! 

Photo
http://media.outsideonline.com/images/WCMDEV_154862_climbing-ennedi-desert.jpg