{"id":4985,"date":"2019-05-07T14:48:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T12:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.exploreclimbing.it\/?p=4985"},"modified":"2020-01-22T19:20:05","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T17:20:05","slug":"saudi-bolting-project-round-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.exploreclimbing.it\/it\/saudi-bolting-project-round-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"NEOM Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Read here. In this blog we are heading back to Saudi Arabia where I got to bring the XC bolting team back, this time for a commercial related project.<\/p>\n

The project, NEOM, is located in the far north-west corner of Saudi Arabia and means \u201cnew future.\u201d According to the website NEOM \u201cis a bold and audacious dream\u2026a vision of what a New Future might look like\u201d. The official launch party was just as bold as their dream and I am very proud to have been able to involve the XC Bolting Team!<\/p>\n

The Request: Bring a team to the wilderness in NEOM to prepare a sport climb on which two \u201cwell known international climbers\u201d would climb LIVE. The route should be objectively aesthetic, challenging and climbable all within twenty minutes – for both – on a live stream in front of dozens of VVIPs. But that is not all! Simultaneously two local Saudi climbers would climb easier routes nearby AND wing-suit and base jumpers would arrive from above.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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from WWW.NEOM.COM<\/a><\/p>\n

NEOM is being built on the Red Sea in northwest Saudi Arabia as a living laboratory \u2013 a place where entrepreneurship and innovation will chart the course for this New Future. NEOM will be a destination, a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for sustainable living, working and prospering.<\/p>\n

NEOM will include towns and cities, ports and enterprise zones, research centres, sports and entertainment venues, and tourist destinations. It will be the home and workplace for more than a million citizens from around the world.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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Climbers, base-jumpers and wingsuit flyers ALL AT ONCE and LIVE!<\/h5>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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The project took two trips in April: one to develop the climbing aspects of the event site and the second to help run the event itself.<\/p>\n

On our first visit to prepare the site we spent one week in the area, which is approximately 80km from Wadi Rum. Without the benefit of a site-visit to scout and understand the stone, we were of course thoroughly excited for what must be an untouched climbing potential. WOW! On day one, just as excited as it\u2019s possible to be, Alex and I set off to one pinnacle, Pier and Carlo to another, all of us re-united within two hours having discovered the unfortunate truth. The stone was much too soft for bolts or climbing in general!<\/p>\n

To our fortune, it just so happened that set back atop the event site, which is also perfect for BASE jumping, there was a perfect single line that met our criteria AND was solid enough to bolt.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

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Thankfully, in the centre of the main cliff there was a single 40m patch of hard stone. Literally the only boltable rock we found. Pier and Carlo equipped it for a cracking 40m 8a corner on slippery red sandstone with intermittent cracks and fused corner stemming. Truly a magnificent pitch – aesthetic, technical, relentless, hard; a real dream line!<\/p>\n

Between preparing the event site, equipping and cleaning three more easy lines and building trails to the base, Carlo and Read freed the 8a demo pitch, and Alex and Pier came so so close! We spent our free time wandering through the towers into very unexplored terrain looking for more potential climbs, yet came up only loose rock, despite the immense beauty of the place.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

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On the return trip at the end of April the air was energized around the hotel basecamp that NEOM was using for the event. For an event of this scope with so many moving parts – film teams, PR teams, journalist liaisons, base jumpers, wingsuit flyers, helicopters, climbers, climbing development team, MC, NEOM team, VVIPs – you can imagine the stress and buzz at the hotel and on-site just prior to the event itself.<\/p>\n

On the big day the weather, the wind and the talented teams from all sides all came together to create a once in a lifetime event that went off without a hitch! I am very proud of what our little team has accomplished and to be part of such an audacious plan alongside so many talented groups. Congratulations to all involved.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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NEOM TRAILER<\/h2>\n\t\t\t