Americans Climb New Hard Route in Northern Kenya

Cedar Wright and Maury Birdwell have climbed a new route in Northern Kenya they are calling The Samburu Direct. The remote rock feature the route climbs is known as the Cat. “The route is continuous, steep, gymnastic, improbable, exciting and just generally memorable.” said Wright on Instagram.

“In this photo I managed to free this 5.12 roof ground up, but not without ripping off some horrific loose rock pulling the lip, which you can see spraying down the route in the bottom frame. Slex Honnold repeated the route and declared it worthy, and pretty hard. I’m quite proud of it.” There are other established routes in the area, including Story About Dancing Dogs 5.13a 600m on Mount Poi.

A photo posted by Cedar Wright (@cedarwright) on Dec 27, 2016 at 3:34am PST