Location: North 11.70625, East 038.23699 (GPS at the summit)
Difficulty: YDS class 2
Climbed February 22. 2019.
Information:
How to get there:
The town of Debre Tabor is a good point of reference.
Drive east on the main Hwy. a bit more than 17 kilometer, then locate
a road that forks right (south) near location N11.7948, E38.1416.
Take this road and go left at the fork after about 1.2 kilometer.
Continue about 15 more kilometer until you are near
location N11.6848, E38.2110, this is on a broad ridge that comes
down from the peak near 3700 meter of elevation. Park here, this
is a good trailhead.
Route description:
From the trailhead, ascend slightly left of the highest ground ahead, contour
around (right) towards the broad, flat saddle. Continue directly up towards
the highest top ahead. There will be two false summits before you spot the
distinct, rocky summit across a flat area.
One may do a traverse from the summit to the main Hwy.
This is also a perfectly
acceptable route for climbing the peak, since starting from the main Hwy. may be
easier without your own vehicle.
Continue to the grassy ridge,
easily seen between the summit and the summit one observe
more distant. This ridge is at N11.71193, E038.23840, elevation about 4110 meter.
From there, descend to the next saddle at elevation about 4050 meter, then ascend to
the final summit, elevation close to 4100 meter. From here descend towards the
rightmost of two lower peaks ahead, ascend slightly to its top at location
N11.73497, E038.24361, elevation about 3920 meter. From here, contine down the grassy, broad ridge
to a small saddle, cross directly over and continue your descent down a wide grassy slope.
You will see a section of forest below, aim for its right side. There will be a couple
of native huts
on your right as you descend to a flat area. From here, pick up local trails that
will lead downslope and get you to the main Hwy. at location N11.75035, E038.27289, elevation
about 3220 meter. This point may also serve as a traihead for this climb, in case you need to
read this last section backwards.
Comments:
We stayed in Debre Tabor and left around 0730. Arrival at the trailhead around
0820. We headed uphill at 0825, nice grassy, gentle slope. After a couple of false summits, I arrived
at the summit at 1025, so 2 hours up. Meles came across the flat area a bit later.
The other joined me about 30 minutes later. We stayed around
for a while, looking at the views as well as the distant hump visible
behind a middle ridge. Our route would take us there, but there was general agreement
that it was lower.
We left at 1110 and arrived after a nice walk, at the second summit at
1150, so 40 minutes. After a good break, we continued to do a traverse of
the mountain, passing one smaller hump along the way. We ended up in
the bend on the main Hwy. that seems to be the closest point with respect to
hiking.