Climbing Mount Roraima
Editorial
Mount Roraima, the sandstone fortress marking the trijunction point between Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana, has been climbed many times, and has played host to a number of scientific expeditions. With one exception, all visitors to the plateau on the mountain's summit have ascended by the gentle slope from the Venezuelan side. The Guyana side until this century was deemed impossible of ascent, because of the sheer rock face known as the 'Prow of Roraima.' In more recent times the Bailey expedition of 1959 explored a part of the valley between Roraima and its sister mountain of Kukenaam, cutting a trail 26 miles long from the Kako river up to an altitude of almost 5,000 feet. The 1963 Bangor expedition, which included Guyanese Adrian Thompson on the team, climbed Kukenaam, but did not take on Roraima. Another British scientific group led by Adrian Warren, which wanted to investigate the flora and fauna (among other things) on Roraima in 1971, was refused permission by the Venezuelan Government to approach the summit from their side. Since the team was not interested in mountain-climbing as such, they had to confine themselves to studying specimens as far as they could reach. Unless some unknown Amerindian climbed the rock face in times gone by, the only people on record to have ascended Roraima from the Guyana side have been four professional mountaineers - Hamish McInnes, Mo Anthoine, Joe Brown and Don Whillans - in 1973. The year before, John Streetly, Adrian Thompson, and Bev Clark had made the attempt, but had soon recognized the difficulties a small expedition such as theirs faced, and had abandoned the effort. Given their experience in the area, it was Thompson and Streetly who did the reconnaissance for the 1973 climb, and who, according to McInnes, established that the bottom of the prow could not be accessed from the Paikwa river, and that Bailey's trail from the 1959 expedition was the preferred option. Thompson, Guyana's leading mountaineer, was one of the local men on the McInnes expedition, which had support from the GDF, among others, led by then Captain Michael Atherly. The ascent of Roraima up the prow was filmed by BBC Glasgow, and later, McInnes wrote a book entitled Climb to the Lost World. Leaving aside the arrogance of the author which is reflected in his writing and which would hardly endear him to a Guyanese audience, the work nevertheless has value in terms of enumerating the difficulties which were encountered. McInnes wrote that prior to flying to Guyana he studied the photographs of the rock face. "[The Prow] seemed to bristle with overhangs," he said, "and I felt sure the climb would take at least three weeks. In the event every fear was justified. We were faced by highly technical climbing." Having actually achieved what they had set out to do, McInnes could write: "The climbing was as hard as anything we had experienced before; the conditions only comparable to those at high altitude - sheer misery." Everyone who has ever written about Roraima - and McInnes is no exception - has recorded the wetness of the conditions, and the fact that for much of the time the mountain's face is swathed in mist. In addition to the unrelieved dampness, there are the strong winds, not to mention the prickly vegetation and the scorpions in the crevices. And now we have news of a group of Guyanese who want to scale the mountain in May. While that is to be commended, they appear at first glance to have limited mountaineering experience. The members of the 1973 expedition had climbed all over the world before coming to Guyana, and they brought with them sophisticated mountaineering equipment, including special bolts to shoot into the rock face. This is not to say that only professionals should attempt such an undertaking; far from it. But one does hope that the local expedition does its homework thoroughly, and makes realistic assessments of what is within their capabilities. It is important that Guyanese at some stage do reach the summit from our side, but one wants them to do it safely.
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