I have found a crag that I don't think anyone has climbed before but besides that it is not bolted and I would like to know who I can get to bolt the area.

The place is called Botshabelo and its a few km out of Middelburg. I can't seem to get hold of anyone to ask about permission to bolt the mountain. But I know you can go in freely and hike around there.

Anyone with some info and legal advice to how I would be able to bolt it. Also need someone to bolt it for me.

Kiddo, you got some work to do. Bolting is not something that is done in a jiffy; it is a process, best borne from motivation.

1. First find out who the landowner is and if he is happy for bolting and then the climbers on his property, all land has an owner.
2. Confirm there are no trad climbs there and that it is unsuitable for trad, i.e its hasnt got gear-hungry cracks. I am sure there is a trad venue there somewhere..
3. Be sure its really worth it; a climb costs about R1000 to bolt and takes about a day per climb. Take some pictures and post them on this forum. Theres nothing worse that lines that are bolted and are never done again, there are a couple of guys doing this in SA.
4. Bolt it yourself; unless its amazing which is unlikely no one else will do it for you. Buy a drill and some bolts (the right kind). Or you could join the MCSA and get some advise from them, are you a member?

So yes, its a major F-ing mission, there aint teams of bolters who will ab in from the sky and do it for you.

Enjoy, Andrew

Hi Branden,

About Botsabelo - You mean the biggish south facing face above the bend in the river? If we're talking about the same line of cliffs, there is a house below the right hand end of the cliffs. Maybe try that for the owner.

The whole process of developing climbing at a crag is hard work and very time consuming. Many hours of effort have been undone by people working/cleaning/bolting first and asking persmission later, so try and make this your first priority. Also, going to the owner with the support of something like the MCSA behind you (and the MCSA's track record and reputation etc) is better than rocking up independently.

Do you have any pics of the cliff? From what I can see it looks pretty big? Rock type? How easily accessible? Is it trad-able?

Well there is more than one crag at Botsabelo, the one is quite a far hike in. But I'm still trying to track the owners down, once I have gotten hold of the owners i'd like to take someone with me that is involved in the community that can ask them about permission on bolting routes.

I am not interested in gaining anything from this other than just having a place to climb on my door step. As for the money for buying bolts and so on, i'd be more than happy to pay and not want anything in return. I do understand this is going to be very costly and time consuming but I am willing to do what it takes to bolt that area.

The area is really amazing and definitely worth climbing. There is place to trad and sports climb, that's why I would like to get hold of someone that can assist me in the right direction because i'm really interested in getting this done right.

Is this one of the crags?

Hi Brandon

Which Middleburg is this? Guess GP. Crag looks sweet to bolt!

Don't get discouraged with all of the above. A new crag is awesome, especialy if it is close to home. Invest in some bolt kit & do it yourself....bolting is half the pleasure. Better if someone with a bit of experiance guides you. But it is not rocket science.

Get the co-ordinates and I shall ask a buddy of mine, a land surveyor, to get the details of the owner for you

Good luck Brandon! Keep me in the loop, I would love to help where possible.

Its good to see the positive feedback you're getting

Google map cords is -25.712229,29.439754

I really dont mind going the extra mile to get this up in running, my first concern is putting other people into consideration such a trad climbers. I dont want to mess up something potentially great.

And that image that was posted is one of the other crags in the area, there is a much bigger one on the exact gps cords that i provided.

The only reason i'm doing this is so Middelburg can have a climbing area on their door step.
But if all else fails and no one is interested in helping I would at least like to get in touch with some one that does bolting that has experience so they can assist me, and of course it will be at my own expense.

Dude, I'm keen as custard for new crags, finding trad lines, new routes, cleaning, bolting, all the hard work. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but it sucks to do the hard work just to get shut down by access issues, so SNORT's gracious offer of finding out who the landowner is, is the first step in this process.

I didn't even see the crag you pointed out but from the shadow it casts on satellite images, it looks pretty big. How would you get there? Do you just park on the N11 and go through the below gate and walk there? Crag looks to be about 2kms walk from the road which is good for sport climbers and easy access in general.

I'm not the world's most experienced bolter by any means but have done some developing and am keen for more and to teach what I've learnt. As Derek said, it's not rocket science. Keeping tradable lines trad will win you many friends (see what I did there?), I like your intention in this regard.

Wow. Just checked it out on google earth. It's less than 5km from Middelburg. Great that you're taking ownership of this initiative! When you've established access, let us know. I'm very keen to come help bolt and open some lines.
Maybe you can organise a meet or something where anyone can bring a trad rack to scope out some lines and check out the rock quality.

Contact the Magalies (http://mag.mcsa.org.za/) and Joburg sections of the MCSA. They have a bolt fund. They would be more than willing to help with access and hardware.

I'm not much of a financial benefit, but I'll bring a drill and gear and do the work. Keep us posted

I'll pee in the soup too

It's late, I'm lazy and had plenty wine, so I'm not going to check out your GPS thingies now.

Please do check out Ryk's spot though
http://www.climbing.co.za/wiki/index.ph ... falo_Gorge

The rock looks similar and he's keen to get it developed. Drop my name, I've had a few chats with him and he's a really nice guy. I would not be surprised if your crag is close by or perhaps even the same place. PM me or whatever if you want more info.

In my opinion doing the work equates to the same as putting money in. Bolting is hard work, I particularly liked Andrew p's comment below

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Seeing as this topic is raised I want to take advantage of it and ask a few bolting questions of my own. Where can I buy expansion bolts? I've got the drill, hangers, chains, torque wrench, even a bicycle pumps and 10mm round nylon brush. By trade I'm a qualified artisan and have drilled many high spec, low tolerated holes. I know that the hangers get places at different orientations depending on whether its left handed- or right handed-threaded bolts. I've got the permission of land owner (private farm of friends uncles brother in-laws sisters.....) to do what ever I like at this small little crag. I've climbed it lots using a shunt and anchoring of trees and boulders. Crag can take maybe 10 or so routes. So I was told that any old expansion bolt would do as long as its stainless steel. Is this correct? Then I was told that the bolt must be of the same stainless steel grade as the hanger. Is this true?

The property is Farm Toevlugt No.320, Steve Thwete Municipality, Administrative District JS, Mpumalanga and is owned by the Botshabelo Community Trust

Happy hunting

Mark 0828940686

@ Branden

Great attitude! Some of our more fêted climbers could learn a bit from you!

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"I climb as hard as anyone on earth - I just do it on [much] easier routes!" Mad Dog

Wow, thats roughly 27 square km, and bought for the sweet price of just over R50000! Someone struck a sweet deal...

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...Chalk is cheap...

Well I've gotten hold a trad climber that is also willing to help me bolt the place.

Till I get permission to blot the crags I'm gonna be learning how to trad climb and discovering new routes and planning what to bolt. Any one is welcome to come and climb the crags, its open to the public, we are just unaware if we may bolt it just of yet, but now that I know where to track the owner down i'll be talking to them very soon and I will keep you guys updated.

For those of you that want to come check it out you are more than welcome because it is open to the public. You can set up top anchors or trad climb the crags till we get permission to bolt it.

Just to stir a bit: why bolt it at all?
At the least, play long and hard on gear and toprope before deciding to bolt. Once the first bolt has gone in the place will never be the same again, for better or worse.
Respect for taking the trouble and having the psyche to persue this. New routes are just about the most fun you can have.
Enjoy.

Well there is enough place to trad and sports climb. I don't want to exclude any climbers and for Middelburg this is our closet place to climb so we need a variety. Only letting people trad climb will limit a lot of people that want to start new and I don't want that to happen. I would like everyone in Middelurg to climb, sports or trad.

If everyone in Middelburg climbs, you are going to have some pretty crowded crags!

Looks like it has potential to be a great spot, whatever you choose to do to it.

Hey Pierre

I recognise the cliff in the photo you posted first. I've been to Botshabelo every Friday for about 3 months now in search of routes. The cliff in your photo is not on the property of Botshabelo though. Its just outside its boundaries. Ive been through the fence to go and climb it on natural anchors and top rope it with a shunt. There is no belay spot as the river flows right at the foot of it, I suspect the same of the cliff in the second photo. But maybe a hanging belay stance and abseil in will do.

How often do you get to go to Botshabelo? Im very keen to hear from someone that has spent some time in there with a climbers eye. The place is big and if you leave the footpaths the flora gets thick and progress slow, so if there was someone else to share info with it would half the effort of searching for something to climb.

Frank no not my photo at all, found it on a random blog site - I Just wanted to know if that is what they look like. We were supposed to stop there on the way past on the weekend but 'twas a bit late. I'm still keen to get out there though for sure. I'll contact you when I have a weekend free.