Hi

Does anyone know what the free grade is of the route opened by Roger Fuggle and Colin Shuttleworth in 1970 known as the Sentinel North Face? According to the RD it goes at old school G - A2 but has been freed at an unknown grade.
The route follows the obvious break in the centre of the north face. It is located just left of the Angus-Leppan gendarme and is clearly visible from the car park.

http://kzn.mcsa.org.za/climbing/route-guides/drakensberg-rds/sentinel-rds#TOC-SENTINEL:-North-Face-G-A2-

Any other info on this route would be appreciated

Marley

Still wanting info on that route? email me at basecamp@telkomsa.net

Camp is the right person to talk to on this one: he can give great beta on the "big fall" move

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

Would love to hear about the this particular 'move'?

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Climb ZA - Administrator

I think Warren is getting 2 routes mixed up. I assume he is thinking of the South-East Arete on which I was inspired by the freedom vultures have in the air, and unsuccessfully emulated them!

The route asked about is the North-East Face route. Now that is not a route I would would want to fall off. There is not a lot of sky to fall into on that route.

It has been done free, and I assume a number of times. The 2 pitches which have been aided are no harder than 21 tops. It is a fun mountaineering endevour with a short walk in, short walk out and some satisfactorily unsound rock.
Reliable beta is available on request.

I just can't understand how people get such a stiffy about the kak rock in the Berg. Like it's somehow cool to climb choss? In my book, bullet rock with good friction is cool. Clean cracks with awesome grip is cool. Gritty sandtone with bomber gear is cool. Rock that falls apart as you pull on it, might be cool, but only in a sadistic way. Like hitting yourself with a hammer is cool, if you're into BDSM or something

I pulled off a weetbix! ahahahahahah that's so cool! This is soooo fun!!!! WTF???

Next things to be cool: (???)
1. Sport routes that are 9m long! Yeah! Strubens is making a comeback!
2. Rusted-to-shit pro! Yeah for that too!
3. Grease smeared on the inside of splitter cracks! YAY, Q20 can make my dihedral a CLASSIC!
4. Half sawn through slings! How cool is that?? Sommer gooi some battery acid on your rope. RADNESS!!

Am I the only climber who is of the opinion that shit rock is, well, SHIT?

Gerald you are correct, that was the particular move i was thinking of.

To say all berg rock is bad is an over-simplification (not that I would know, having not sampled all of it), but it is a shame more of it isn't as good as we would like **but to dream**

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

I never said it's all bad - I said I can't understand how people get excited specifically BECAUSE a route has rotten rock on it.

Pierre, some might argue that the pain and discomfort of doing really hard moves on good rock is also sadistic. Whether they're right or wrong it's still fun.

The berg is a big and wild place. It's fun to climb in a big and wild place. On a hard, safe route the challenge is to push through the discomfort of doing hard moves. On a scary, loose route the challenge is to push through the discomfort of feeling scared, and to make good decisions in that state. Climbing choss safely is an art and can be, perversely, a real jol. And you usually get to stand on a very pointy bit of the planet as a reward.

How many boven trips blend one into the other? Each berg trip is highly memorable, even on easy routes. When you get spanked you say to yourself "never again". Then two weeks later you have sleepless nights thinking what you could have done differently to succeed. Eventually you've forgotten enough of the fear to go try again. It's a fun process. I wouldn't compare it to boven, and if you look for the same things in the berg that you look for in boven then you'll have a kak time. I'm really psyched not to climb in the berg every weekend - two or three trips a year feels about right for me. The rest of the time it's awesome to go pull solid sandstone jugs.

Pierre, some people like curry, others like McDonalds. Curry is an adventure (at least here in Durban), McDonalds is the same all over.
But I doubt you will get my esoteric analogy.

Don't take the adventure out of climbing.

Camp - I get your analogy, I like curry too. And adventure - without it, without the fun, life would be meaningless would it not?

I just don't like shitty loose rock. It sucks when they come off the mountain towards you. That's all.

Hector, I get what you say. Spice on top, not the main meal.

Have you seen those guys who climb aid on mud in Utah? I think the Fisher Towers, but could be somewhere else