ROCK CLIMBING — The Central Management of the Indonesian Rock Climbing Federation found a number of bolts and hangers on 4 Rock Climbing routes in Siung Cliff, Tepus, Gunung Kidul Regency. Therefore, in order to facilitate rock climbing activities, a number of bolts and hangers were replaced.
Coordinator of the Java-Madura Climbing Route Data Collection Team, Dody Liswardi, said that there were 3 routes that were rebolted in Block D, and 1 more route in Block F. Rebolting was carried out after the Natural Cliffs division found corrosion on a number of bolts and hangers on the four routes.
Until now, Siung Cliff is still the main choice for Rock Climbing enthusiasts, because this location has a beautiful sea view. Therefore, Siung Cliff requires extra route maintenance compared to other cliffs in Indonesia. Moreover, this cliff is located adjacent to the beach, causing the salt water vapor carried by the wind to accelerate the rate of corrosion.
“We found many bolts and hangers that were corroded. Because we happened to be conducting a route survey, we replaced the damaged bolts and hangers at the same time to be safe,” said Dody in a media release received by the editors on Sunday (7/14/2024).
Dody explained that the rebolting took place for Friday-Saturday (7/12-13/2024). He and 9 climbers who were members of his team conducted the survey, they noted that there were 49 climbing routes on the Siung cliff. Spread across 11 blocks (blocks A-K), the climbing routes on the Siung cliff are at grade 5.9-5.12 where all of them are ‘single pitch sport’ routes.
This number does not include traditional climbing routes or more popularly known as ‘trad’ routes. With a wide cliff, the ‘trad’ routes on the Siung cliff can reach hundreds.
In addition to conducting ‘rebolting’ and data collection on the Siung cliff, the Indonesia Rock Climbing Federation also conducted data collection on climbing routes on the Nglanggeran Ancient Volcano cliff, Pathuk District, Gunungkidul Regency. In this place, the team recorded 35 ‘single pitch sport’ climbing routes and two ‘multi pitch sport’ climbing routes. All routes are in the ‘grade’ category 5.8-5.11.
Dody emphasized that the data collection on climbing routes was not only carried out in the Special Region of Yogyakarta . Two days earlier, the team also conducted data collection in Kebumen Regency and Purworejo Regency, Central Java Province.
“In Kebumen, the climbing route data collection was conducted on the Putih cliff in the Petruk Cave area. A total of 10 ‘single pitch sport’ climbing routes with a ‘grade’ of 5.9-5.11 were successfully recorded. In Purworejo, the data collection was conducted on the Condong cliff in the Siklothok Water Fall area. The team found three ‘single pitch sport’ climbing routes and two ‘multi pitch sport’ routes with a ‘grade’ of 5.9-5.10.” said Dody
Meanwhile, the Head of the Natural Cliff Division of Indonesia Rock Climbing Federation Robertus Robert who was met in Yogyakarta said that the data collection of climbing routes in Central Java and DIY was the initial step in collecting data on climbing routes throughout Indonesia. After conducting data collection in Siung , the team then moved to cliffs in the province of East Java.
“We started from the island of Java first which is easy to access. After that, we will go to Sumatra, Sulawesi and other islands,” explained Robert. (*/Sulist Ds )
