Venezuela: Climbing Ilu Tepuy

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We went to Venezuela in 1981 after an expedition we had been invited to join fell through. So we turned our attention to Ilu Tepuy, an unclimbed sandstone butte in the Gran Sabana north west of Roraima. At first, we didn’t think of the mountain in a proprietary way. We were looking for a mountain, any mountain really, that had not been climbed and Ilu Tepuy seemed to offer the best chance since there was a ‘path’ to its base. This didn’t mean there was a path in our sense of the word necessarily, but that someone has been there and, knowing this, people would be prepared to go there again without too much difficulty. It ought not to be necessary to justify why we went to climb in Venezuela but for the fact that so many people asked us. Two reasons spring to mind. The first is to confront a challenge, which explains why one endures hardship and danger. The second is to experience those rare magical days that leave an insatiable thirst and a desire for more.