We all know the problem, simply one of the coolest and most photographed boulder problems in rocklands. Ulan Batar. Recently a small boulder about 3 steps back from the start of Ulan has been removed and rolled into the ditch on the right (can be seen in picture). This little rock had no imposing danger to those who aim to do Ulan Batar itself, in fact it always served as a nice place to put your shoes, food and take photo’s from. Why and who removed it then? As I understand some strong international guys were looking to do the direct version, which would result in an utterly massive dyno from the rail to the lip, if possible…My concern is: realisticly, how many guys are capable of doing so? As far as I know it was tried by some who easily crank above 8a, but no success, not even close. Even though the small boulder was an obstacle when trying this, surely it could’ve been covered by pads and accompanied by a dedicated spotter? Was it worth removing it? To me it creates such an eye sore seeing this! What comes next? Rocklands gets more and more traffic every year. Every year you see more and more litter, cigarette butts ect. And now this…I know how much work gets put into opening areas and boulder problems. I am highly against removing big rocks, chopping down trees ect just so that some wanker can try a problem, send or no send. I would value your input in this matter.

I couldn't agree more! There was no need to move that boulder and the base now looks like a mess as there was no cleaning up done afterwards.
The boulder was moved by a combination of some foreigners and some locals and they even filmed the "trundling".
Surely there are enough boulders in Rocklands that we do not need to do this kind of thing.

yup i agree too. If you gonna start trundling boulders why not chip some routes into other ones and chop down a few trees while you're at it.

I thought the aim was to keep our impact in Rocklands minimal so that we may keep climbing there in future

What ever organization currently responsible for the management of Rocklands, needs to stamp down some authortiy.

It looks like there are a couple of people out there in good need of a hiding...

they moved a little boulder -big whoop! is this a joke?

From what I have been hearing there have been a few incidents going on in Rocklands.
As usual the organisation that will end up dealing with the aftermath (which will come from Cape Nature) will be the MCSA.

For the future I think it is up to us local climbers to educate our foreign peers about 'The Rocklands' as best we can. At some point CN will be pushed over the edge and they are going to say "no more climbing/bouldering". (note the full stop

I am quite sure that CN do not have the man power to police Rocklands. A sign is in the process of being made (by the MCSA). But the bottom line is that its going to be up to us climbers who are out there. If you see someone doing bad let them know about it!

JRock - If CN find out about this incident they will most likely make a very big whoop about it - bear in mind that they will take into account all the wrong doings of climbers (they get very sensitive about such things).

See also Rocklands Toilet

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News This Week:

Heavy rains and rising floodwaters forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in north-eastern India.

Dozens of deadly fires swept across six provinces on the weekend.

A small boulder about 3 steps back from the start of Ulan has been removed and rolled into the ditch.

stOne- The difference between the 3 events that you listed, irrespective of their relative impacat on the greater scheme of things, is that only 1 is preventable by banning climbers from Rocklands. You can be sure that there is someone out there just waiting for an excuse - why give it to them?!

Maybe they roled it to cover a turd they had parked. See also Rocklands Toilet. All that effort to please was wasted.

hahahahahaha

I'm ALL for keeping rocklands prestine I just think this is a pretty random thing to focus on -how about rather getting all the smokers to pick up their fricken stompies? Moving a rock doesn't involve littering or killing anything. I mean its on a similar level to leaving footprints behind you -you've moved thousands of grains of sand with each one!!

So then that tree at Question of Balance kinda gets in the way, lets cut that down too, who's gonna notice if a little tree gets chopped. The idea is to keep rocklands as pristine as possible, so sure we do have an impact but its not necessary to move boulders around. Now where the boulder has been moved the rock at the base is all messed like someone has gone around smashing the ground up. Personally i think its taken something away. Rocklands does not belong to climbers we have been given permission to climb there, lets not stuff it up for everyone.

So, if the boulder was moved but no-one noticed it, would it still be a problem?

I believe the answer is that it should not be allowed or condoned. Once it becomes ok to move (small) boulders around, then the next question is "how big is still ok?" Who's going to walk around with size gauge? How about if I pull in with my 4x4 and topple one that I think would make a better problem on it's side, I mean, it's just a rock? Is it OK to drop the tobacco and paper part of the cigarettes just because is degrades quicker? How about my King Pie paper-wrapper then, I'll carry out the foil bit and recycle it, promise.

Next thing you might as well start using the rock for building materials as in the news article posted, at least that benefits a larger portion of the population, you can always take up buildering.

Hear hear emile!

Fact of the matter is, only two types of people would do this, the people who did this are obviously both.
One who doesn’t have respect for nature. Rocklands is a nature reserve; would you walk into Kirstenbosch and chop down a tree because it’s in your way? Change always starts with you. If you see litter lying around a boulder or a cigarette butt somewhere, don’t swear at it and the people who left it. Pick it up and throw it in a bin, or even better, if you know the person who did it, take it to them and shove it in their mouth.
The other is obviously someone with small balls. There is always an element of danger in any type of climbing. A very big part of climbing is working with this danger, that’s half the reason why so many people climb. It separates you from being a scared little gym rat. Grow some hair on your small little balls and take your wipeouts like a man.

wooooo hoooooo! spoken like a REAL man eh

What about the kids?

what 1d, sybaard, micky, danny, justin, jelhers and flex said...

if you don't catch the drift yet, you might add a 3rd(turd) option to sybaard's theory: stupidity...

how many crags/areas have we lost so far: let see, lost world, truitjies kraal... c'mon, help me out...

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you have one mouth, two ears. listen more...

Ok, so who is doing what to prevent this kind of behaviour from becoming a regular occurance? It's bloody unacceptable. Who is meant to be in charge of Rocklands conservation?

In order to control rock movement we need to be able to see where every thing was before it was moved. Maybe mark the origional position, possibly with yellow road marking paint.

Let's temper Derek's enthusiasm with a little Cape Nature style "lojik".

Truitjieskraal: Baboon climbs pylon. Baboon electrocuted. Burning baboon falls and starts fire. Cape Nature outcome = climbing ban at Truitjieskraal (now 3 years).

Rocklands: Climber/s trundle rocks. Trundled rocks (can) cause sparks. Sparks (can) cause fire. Cape Nature outcome = climbing ban at Rocklands.

Maybe once you've sampled the superb bouldering at the Krom River Dome at the MCSA meet in November, you'll have no further interest in Rocklands - so you wouldn't mind Rocklands getting closed down.

After all, with Rocklands closed, we'll have fewer foreign climbers making us look stupid on Rock and inspiring us to push the envelope. That way we can go back to our old stagnancy...

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Inspiration exists, but it must find you working. – Pablo Picasso

Bleh?

Anywho, do you struggle with litter in the Cape? Every bloody crag in Gauteng & surrounds is covered in stompies, in particular, and trash.

Quite simple really.

Take a page out of the surfers' book:

Next time you see someone moving a boulder, dropping a cigarette butt or breaking a tree, beat the living crap out of them, preferably with a big stick.

Leave bits of tooth, hair and blood around as an example to other would-be idiots. This is acceptable because all of the above are biodegradable.

If you are built like a sport climber, or averse to violence, just let down tires, break windows and key their cars.

If at all possible, take photos (of both crime and culprit) and post them on this forum.

Oh Marshall your funnies just keep on getting funnier. Where do you come up with them?

We will see how funny it is when they ban climbing in Rocklands. Maybe you can start working on some funny material for when that happens. I'm sure everybody will be pissing themselves...

I must say both Mickey and Slimjim have spoken some of the wisest words ever published on this forum...

Ek stem.

"...bloody unacceptable..."

My buddy ted was there, some foeigners rolled it. The foreigers consider rocklands theirs, or at least a chunk of land they can do what they want in, its only africa after all. I suggest the cape climbers stamp some authority, its your place to preserve so get active preverving it. Is there even a sign anywhere that gives the rules, would probably cost about R500 to make one and would be a start.

Yup Andrew, that would probably go a long way and the MCSA has been talking about putting up signs in Rocklands and other sensitive areas for... ah must be 3 years now. But unfortunately so far its just talk. Sigh.

Looks like we're supposed to live in a vacuum these days!