Hey all, me and a couple of friends are coming to SA at the end of May for two months, and had a couple of questions.

First, just wanted to know what areas people would recommend that have lots of hard problems, mostly in the 7b+ to 8b range? Or places with any cool looking open projects that are as of yet undone.

Second, does anybody know of a respectable car rental company in Cape Town that we won't get raped on for a two month rental?

Third, we've seen some pictures of Namibia, just wondering what it's like there for bouldering, how far it is from Clanwilliam, and if it's worth taking a visit too?

Finally, would people be interested in attending a training clinic run by two of Canada's strongest climbers? We were considering contacting a gym in Cape Town to get something organized there. For more info on us, Stacey Weldon is a top female competitive climber and currently boulders around 7b+ or 7c, and I am Dan Archambault and I have a scorecard on 8a.nu and am a personal trainer and hold a degree in Physical Education.

Anyways, any responses would be much appreciated, and we are looking forward to this trip immensely, SA looks amazing!!!

Thanks ahead of time for any info,
Dan

Danny boy! You want us to hand over all our proj's and then pay you to teach us to climb, bit cheeky lad!!

Namibia is reportedly not so good on the bouldering front, and is f-ing far from the Western Cape. About a day and a half's drive, South Africa is also quite a big and very spread out place. Best place for hard sport climbing is in Oudtshoorn, our only limestone crag, which is about five hours from Cape Town roughly in the center of the country. Routes up to 8c but only one undone project which is probably about 7c+. Also hard sport in Montagu 2 hours outside Cape Town (en route to Oudtshoorn). Several proj's there but as they are somewhat coveted you may have to beg to be shown them, kidding - buy 'Western Cape Rock' the local sport gudebook, for bouldering topos you'll have to trawl through the websites and look for dl's - check links on this site.

Dont know about car hire, but there are numerous smaller companies in CT which may not rip you as much as the bigboys, check it once here. Contact City Rock Gym (gyms are always a good port of call in a new city - cityrock.co.za) re the training thing, might be some interest. SA climbers are super friendly, provided you leave the attitude at home! Have a great trip!

What sort of projects? Boulder, sport or trad?

Sorry if that came across as a bit cheeky, didn't mean it that way.

Just looking to find out if there are any OPEN projects around, by no means would I step up and try to steal somebody's baby, and who knows the 8a's there may be loads harder than ones I've done elsewhere in the world. I'm a big fan of doing new lines, which is why I asked about projects. As for what we are looking for, is mostly bouldering, routes are good, but we are coming to climb all of those fantastic looking boulders everywhere!!!

Thanks for the beta on the gym, will definetly contact them to see if there is any interest. Oh, and as far as attitude, we just want to come down there and climb some good hard boulders!!! Looking forward to meeting people down there I've heard very good things. We'll definetly have to have some beers and talk tall tales about fabled boulders that have been sent!

Anymore info is always appreciated.

Thanks much,
Dan

Hi Danimal, just ruffling your feathers a bit - no offense I hope?? There are plenty of Open Projects around, Im sure some of the locals would be happy to show you around if you buy them a beer! (probably lots of beers being bought by everybody!) PM me through this site just before you come, we can hook up if you like and/or I can put you in touch with some of the Rocklandz locals.

Try Carisma Car Hire: www.carisma.co.za. You can book a car by email, they are honest, and reasonably priced - you also get 200km per day, whilst the norm for cheap car hire is 150. (I get no kickback - have just used this company, and many friends have, without problems)

And talking about honesty - don´t disconnect the speedo like one of your countrymen, Scott Milton, admitted to doing in order to save on the mileage costs. You guys come from a wealthy first world country, and something like that is really not on.

Dan, also check out - http://www.climb.co.za/traveltips.asp
Enjoy

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Climb ZA - Administrator