Anne Arran lecture 4th February 2003

Anne Arran was invited to the school to talk about her latest climbing adventure in Venezuela, where she and her husband John took part in an unsuccessful attenpt to climb Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall.

Later on, during the trip, they managed to make the first free ascent of maybe the hardest rock climb in South America - the huge wall of Cerro Autana - the fabled felled remains of the tree of life, according to the local Indians. Maya Broman of year 9 describes the lecture. All photos Arran collection

JOURNEY INTO THE LOST WORLD

On Tuesday 4th of February, the whole of Year 9 spent a period listening to one of Britain's best rock climbers, Anne Arran, who agreed to come in and talk about her adventures in South America. During her talk she showed us amazing pictures of her travels in South America and described all the events she went through. What we saw were brave and experienced climbers who had the guts to try and climb up the world's tallest waterfall, Angel Falls in Venezuela.

Anne showed us pictures of lizards and enormous spiders, which are the sort of animals living in those areas.

Lizards!

Anne also showed us pictures of the climbers high on the cliffs. A picture I will never forget was the one where we could see clouds over the mountains, because of how high up the picture was taken.

Apart from the landscapes and the climbs, she told us about the travelling by boat along the rivers and the local people and ther lifesyles.
What was particularly interesting was the way the team camped out and always had the right amount of food without it running out. I found it amazing that they were prepared to risk their lives every time they climbed.

Anne Arran

At one point the rope that was holding them began ripping apart. There was always the possibility that a rock could fall off and it was several days away from a hospital. In the end, they found the climb too risky, and they had to come down. Later on they manged to climb another mountain called Cerro Autanna. Near the top they found a cave leading right through the mountain.

Cave on Cerro Autana

Angel Falls

John Arran

Jumaring on Angel Falls

We would like to thank Anne for coming to talk to us, and wish her good luck for her next trip.

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