Queer Action is New 10-Pitch Rock Climb in North Africa
Spanish couple Jaume Peiró and Álex González have established a 400-metre 5.11 on Mount Oujdad in Morocco
Photo by: Lewis Beards
Jaume Peiró and Álex González have made the first ascent of a 10-pitch rock climb on Mount Oujdad near Taghia of the Moroccan High Altas in North Africa. They called their new 400-metre route Queer Action.
“We really wanted to try to open a new route, to live a real adventure, where it’s just you and the wall,” the couple said. Last summer, they made the first ascent of Big Fighter, a 15-pitch 5.12 A1 in Peru.
“Between April 22 and 23, 2022, we managed to open Queer Action, a route of 400 metres distributed in 10 pitches that culminates with 100 metres of third-class to reach the summit. With a maximum difficulty of 7a [5.11d] and a mandatory grade of 6b+ [5.10d], it runs along the impressive southeast face of Oujdad. A semi-equipped route with commitment, it opens from below along the weaknesses of the wall and follows up one of the most logical areas of the wall, passing through spectacular dihedrals.”
Advocates for equality, Peiró and González said about the name: “Queer is an Anglo-Saxon term that refers to the whole set of terms that make up the LGBTIQ+ collective. Every time we travel to countries where the rights of people are reduced, we realize how lucky we are and how much work remains to be done so that someday all those boys, girls and children who fill the classrooms today will be free tomorrow to love who they want and feel as they really feel, leaving aside the prejudices and limitations with which they live today.”
In a blog post titled Equality, a Summit Unreached, they said, “During all this time we have used our activities in the mountains, presence in social media to transmit a message of equality, in order to normalize and make homosexuality visible in sport.”
Oujdad has several big-wall style free and aid routes, including the nine-pitch Honey Moon 5.12 and the 16-pitch Baracuda 5.12. “It is a pleasure to be able to contribute our grain of sand to the Moroccan climbing community with this new line that awaits a first repetition,” said Peiró and González.
“We would like to thank our team, Gonzalo Saldaña and Lewis Beards, for their great help with the logistics and audiovisual documentation of the route.”
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