Climbing like Spiderman in Ethiopia

Beverly somewhat conquers her fear of heights.
We chose to go to Abuna Yemata Guh which the guide described as most interesting because you climb like spiderman to get there. I should have taken him seriously. After about 20 minutes of pretty strenuous hiking I came face to face with a 30 sandstone cliff with handholds and footholds cut into the rock. I quickly came to understand why 4 village boys had followed us up their job was to haul by sorry butt up that face. One above me to pull when necessary and one below to guide my feet into the footholds and to catch me if I slipped (ha ha a slip would have been serious injury, but the guide swears that no one has died on the climb). After that pitch, there was an even nastier climb up a crack. Surprisingly I made it up. We crested the top and then had to remove our shoes for one last pitch and a shimmy across a narrow ledge to the church entrance. Fortunately the church was spectacular with a large room cut into the cliff wall completely decorated with paintings. Coming down I made it down the 2 nasty pitches even faster than Steve by simply deciding to let the 2 boys work their magic and leave my fate in their hands.

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Travel & Events

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• Tigray