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Leo Houlding Solos Pillar of Wisdom in Wadi Rum

Leo Houlding has made the first solo of Jordan’s iconic 350-metre Pillar of Wisdom. He climbed the giant sandstone tower in Wadi Rum – also known as the Valley of the Moon – in the south of the country not too long ago. The 35-year-old Brit is one of the world’s most accomplished remote big-wall climbers. The Pillar of Wisdom climb was part of Conquer the Uncharted, a new series launched by PlayStation to mark the release of critically acclaimed action adventure game Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

“To celebrate the launch of Uncharted 4, PlayStation asked me to come up with my own epic Uncharted Adventure,” said Houlding. “”I came here a few years ago with my dad and did this amazing route, and I thought whilst I was doing it, it would be amazing to do solo. One of the really unique things about Wadi Rum is just how complex it is. Inside these big rocks is just these networks of canyons. There are still summits here that very few people have ever been to and vast areas of it are still uncharted.”

The Wadi Rum has a number of established routes, including one by Canadian Ben Firth a decade ago. He sent the new Dar al Salam, a 400-metre 5.13a, with Chris Kalous, Heidi Wirtz and Aaron Black.

After his solo, Houlding said, “Pulling over the top, bearing in mind the last section is the very hardest section, was extremely scary and then there’s a perfectly flat top and the view from the top is epic – it’s up there with the top 10 views I’ve ever seen anywhere in the world. I free soloed most of the route, but I used a rope on a few sections where the rock was really loose or really hard.” For a list of routes in the Wadi Rum visit here.

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