Hi all,

A while back we at Fearless in George went on a trip to climb the Main Wall at Oudtshoorn.
When we got there we saw the crag topo was missing, which sucks because the Western Cape Climbing book doesn't have as many in it as the topo had.

So I downloaded a new one, printed it nicely in A3 and had it laminated. Just before new years we went there again and I lwft a copy there in the big hole just below Goonie Goo Goo with a rock on it.

We were there today and the damn thing is missing again!
I am not saying it was taken, but people, please, if you climb there and use the topo, make sure you put it back where you found it and secure it so the wind won't just blow it away.

If anyone knows where it is, or perhaps put it somewhere else at the crag, let us know.

Cheers,
Cuan

Been at Main crag today. Found the Topo's in the bush next to the access road. Must have been the wind. Placed it in hole under rock at the start of Goonie.

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Sakkie Jansen van Rensburg

Dude, thanks very much for this

Sorry chaps, it wasn't the wind but rather curious (and somewhat pesky) baboons. I have actually watched this happen and have had to retrieve the topo from the path - complete with scratches and bite marks. They took it from under a rock, in the hole below Goonie goo-goo.

Its their crag and they advocate a puritanical traditional style that abhors bolting, glueing, chipping and working routes. Its no surprise they tried to eat the guidebook

Roger (said topo artist)

splash some lion pee on the topo and no babboon will touch it again. getting lion pee may be an epic though....... (bakkies botha's will do the job i'm sure haha)

Mok I believe their a few banks that could get that pee right now too! Pound of flesh...

This might sound a mad suggestion but how much would a more perminant topo cost, like a plaque? The best of course would be a cast concrete topo, as bronz will get knicked. If it is just a mould that is needed surely we could raise the cash? There a few crags in the country that would be well served with this sort of feature and would save lost topos or writing the names at the base of the routes.

Just a thought

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If you aren't willing to solve your own problems, how can you expect others to?

Yeah, that'd be a cool idea.
Although making the template would be a massive pain

Anyway, heading back there this weekend...Any of you Cape Town ppl's interested in coming through?

A plaque? Seriously? What happened to taking the route guide or using a photocopy or printout? I personally would not dig it if I went to a crag and there was a concrete block with a plaque pasted into to.

At the risk of sounding like a tree hugging hippy, I second Kyle on this one... That's what sites like Climb.co.za provide online topos for... Edit the wiki, save the page to the browser in your phone (I know there is no internet connection there, I've spent many weeks there) and then you have it with you! It takes all of five minutes to learn the lay of the land there. There can't be more than 30 routes (I speak from memory, I'm too lazy to look it up right now) from left to right, excluding extensions and linkups and cross overs and downclimbs to other lines. It's an amazing place, it's actually pretty wild there and seriously beautiful. Too much drilling and chipping has been done there already, look at Seven, first line there, completely manufactured.

NO CONCRETE PLAQUE! Warren, I hope you were joking! I can never tell...

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I hate this real world place... I'd be more than happy to live out there rather...

Hmmm, so if you open a route, would you have to remanufacture the concrete topo? Not very maintainable.

You can chain a masonry chisel and 5-pound hammer to the concrete block so new first ascentionists can chisel out their new route info on the block. Easy nuff.

Exactly what I was thinking Proze.
<chink><chink><chink><chink><chink><chink><chink><chink><chink> "Oh shit. Did that linkup go left from the 4th bolt? Or the 5th bolt? Eish. Whatever" <chink><chink><chink><chink><chink><chink><chink><chink><chink>

Oh, I don't know Brian- it would be a great way of telling people to stop bolting new lines- you'd never have to carry a guide to the crag (weight saving) and it would allow more foreigners to randomly arrive at our crags.

I think the clean peice of rock under Freak On is both large enough and central enough to offer an ideal surface for such a monument to Mans' ownership of that stretch of rock- however I suspect there are still more routes there to be opened, so it will have to wait. Come to think of it we could have it etched onto the wall itself, therefore never needing to worry about any form of enviromental damage, least of all from baboons. For Superbowl and Oudtshoorn Main it would also complement the other rock art found on those walls. Bet you this is what Egyptian climbers do in the Wadi's.

Or yes, we would be boring and simply buy the book or print out the relavent info, but that is SO DONE already!

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If you aren't willing to solve your own problems, how can you expect others to?