On Saturday, Rik De Dekker, Ant Hall, Roy White and Andy Wood opened a new line on Postern, called 'Jongosi' - the young bulls.

It takes an entirely independant line between the classic Champs Elysees and Boulevard East/Ripcord.
It is of sustained quality and grade, and stunningly exposed. Think 3 or 4 pitches very similar to the Africa Crag nose pitch.

Grades 19, 19, 18, 15, 16.

Well done to Rik for scoping the line.



Today is the reckoning
Today we hold the line
Today is the quickening
Of the blood and the soul and the mind.
Johnny Clegg

On 2 Feb, Riaan Forster and myself did 'Protea Butress'

This is the left hand of the pair of butresses immediately to the right of Fernwood precipice.
It's a 14 pitch country route right on our doorstep.

There is a fair bit of bush, but the rock quality is pretty good and sustained for a country route.
Fairly sustained betwee grade 13 and 17, with a few bold moves.

The cairns were well mossed-over. I'd be interested to know how much traffic this route has had in the last decade.
Anyone? PM me or start a new post - let's keep this thread strictly for 'whats happening'

ant

antventure@yahoo.com
082 290 2937

Two new lines on Gordon's Rock, Paarl Rocks:

Big Yellow Flower - 25? [4B] 10-15m Scott Noy 2009
Follows a crack / seam, 50m to the right of Sands of Time.

The Outlaw Josey Wales - 25?R [10B] 40-45m Scott Noy 2009
Climbs the flake filled wall between The Scorched Earth and Lichen or Not.

Young Dylan Vogt (16) is still ticking some nice hard grades. He redpointed Panty Slapped at Boven's Halucinogen Wall (grade 28) on his 3rd go.

This weekend Micky Wiswedel sent Firestarter at Waterworld (29), after milking the knee bar below the roof he cruised the top crux and clipped the chains.
The knee bar might even bring the route's grade down by a fraction

Stuart Brown, bolted a new line at Waterworld (starts up Simply Irresistible and then heads up and out at the 3rd bolt) The line is still a project and looks pretty tough so expect another grade 30 something to be added to the crag.

Andrew Pedley recently spent 2 weeks in Montagu and ticked off a whole bunch of routes, below are some of the highlights:

Strange Days (8a+), The Palace
The Activist (8a), The Palace
7c+ Bendover, Scoop
Shouting Stage (7c+), The Steeple
Firestarter (7c+), Waterworld

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At the Chosspile this past weekend Dylan Vogt (16 yrs old) red pointed Bully for Brontosaurus (grade 28) and T-Pex (grade 27)

On Monday 26 April Hector Pringle, Carlien de Bruyn and I opened a new trad area at Wilgepoort, just past Bronkies. A raging river made easy access to the main area impossible and we had to take the long hike over the ridge and scramble into the valley. Just as you scramble into the valley you see a beautiful face (about 15 meters high) on the opposite side from where you scramble down. It has four or five distinct lines, of which we opened three. The crag is called Ararat and here's the write-up (photo's and a full route descriptions will be available soon on the routes wiki):

Deliverence 19 *** - beautiful crack line with various and funky moves to the top. [FA: Hector Pringle, 2nd Carlien de Bruyn, 3rd Heinrich Kahl]

Caramel moer 24 **** - "Good" gear is dubiously difficult to find on onsight (and not easy to place either), which is responsible for the grade. Technically, it's 23. Line of the day! [FA Heinrich Kahl, 2nd Hector Pringle]

What about Fred? 21 *** - Funky, starts in a cave to pull through a roof either with wingspan or fist jams... [FA: Heinrich Kahl, 2nd Hector Pringle]

Lucy Edelstein: Age 5, height 1.12m weight 17kg. Did her third ascent and first redpoint unaided free ascent of India Venster. The crux was doing a mantle onto the Jug after the 4th staple to reach and then grovel and slither onto the very smooth and very polished ledge above. Solid grade 26 given her somatotype and size.

he SNORT, heard a birdie whistle that you sent a long standing nemesis...... care to tell?

Tony Dick and I had a great day on the Ledge yesterday.

I first failed on Captain Hook in Dec 1986 with Clive Curson when I dislocated my thumb and suffered reversing the rail. I have tried the route many times since then and yesterday, despite a very hot and sweaty walk up IV with my family, did the tea thing and then at last put to rest one of my last great vendettas. The move round the roof is well protected by two bomber small cams - effectively a top rope - but the move itself is probably one of the hardest single moves I have ever done. The Ape index is quite critical for this move - even and especially if one does the knee bar. So the ostensible grade of 23 is rather irrelevant to me considering that I recently climbed 5 or 6 pitches at Milner graded 25 or 26, Africa Arette 25 and Prime Time Direct E56a (25).

Feeling quite stoked and confident Tony and I then went off to do Mellow Steady Flow 23. Tony led the first grade 21 pitch which I screwed up doing the move off the ground using the wrong hand. But I redeemed myself by on-sighting the next two "heady" pitches 20 and 23. The 23 pitch is rarely done and is extremely thin and intimidating. 2 very very old pegs mark the route and inspire no confidence. But they can be backed up by tiny but very good nut and cam placements. (Aliens or Metolius mastercams). Tony tried to give me the beta but it really does not help. Everyone will climb that pitch a little differently as it is size and reach dependent. So if anyone gets to do it, just work it out for yourself and take a selection of tiny cams with you and small nuts and RP's. The pitch is quite safe if you have the where-with-all and forearms to place the extra gear which requires some clinging on. And one then needs some reserve to finish the move to the ledge above which is off very small and not-so-positive crimps and foot holds. I rate this pitch at least as hard as Africa Arette first pitch and is comparable to Eternity Road 23 w.r.t. gear placements and difficulty.

Although it is scary it is actually quite safe but your belayer must be alert and watchful. This route is really worth doing and a brilliant test piece at the grade and it simply must get more ascents...

Last tue stan and i climbed hangklip in the cape, a great 5 pitches and scramble to the top, goes bout f2 trad. The line goes straight up the middle of what i would call the big south face and sneeks in btw the big roof's to left and right. First did the route with my mate andrew evans ( now in UK, anyone got his contact details?), bout 10 years ago. Thought maybe we opened it??? called it Johnny Walker for obvious reasons. (I'm sure someone may hav done the line before? Any takers?) At the time we left a 2 liter coke bottle on a ledge at the 2nd belay (now waterbotle ledge), now ten years later was amazed to find the full water bottle still there with anouther one also full of water??!!?? Anyone know about the history of this route? (or can andrew and I claim it) will try to post a photo of route soon if i can figure out how

Jacques you can claim a FA of the route if you like. It was first opened by Shipley in 1943 but has probably been opened many times over the years, including a few times by my buddies and I.
There are routes all over Hangklip that can be opened again. Routes by Grindley, my brother John, Johnathan Gordon etc. You can look them up in the MCSA index books if you want.

wow that was long time ago, must have been good styley back then. I happen to own the stone house directly below the south face, and would love to know more about the lines. i have looked it up in MCSA journals but couldnt find anything very specific except that people have been climbing there for a while. Andrew and i were pretty chuffed as we had no idea there was a line at all, but i would never dream of claiming anything. Thanks

I've just finished constructing an indoor climbing wall in Pietermaritzburg. It is open to climbers on a membership basis. Its 12m high and has some routes to challenge just about everyone. I'll be adding a bouldering cave and some very steep routes (wave cave style) in the not too distant future. Anyone interested can give me a call.

Josh Pickering
084 2505 694

Yesterday, the coldest day of the year, Heinrich and I opened a new multi-pitch sport route near Fight the Feeling at Eagle Mountain Reserve (Everest). When we drove in the gate at 7am it was -9oC. The highlight of the route was having to visually confirm every grip because our fingers felt like blocks of wood. To the photographers, you'll get some brilliant shots of a climber on the 4th pitch if you're half-way up the Rhino slab.

I bolted the route in April/May. Thanks to the MCSA for sponsoring the bolts.

RD:
Indecent Exposure 24 16D ****
The route ascends the overhanging arête to the left of the slab where Rhino on the City Hall Steps is found. From the base of that route, walk another 30m left. The first pitch starts up the grey slab, just left of the corner.
1. 16, 20m (8D) Climb the slab to a hanging stance just below the looming arête.
2. 24, 30m (11D) Make a move up and left to gain a handrail, then rail diagonally up and right into the void. Crank through the bulges to big jugs. Stick on the arête to get to the final headwall. Stagger onto the good ledge.
3. 14, 5m (4D) Step up on the right to a foot ledge. Traverse right to a semi-hanging stance.
4. 24, 35m (16D) Make hard moves up the arête then head diagonally right to the base of a corner crack. Jam up the overhanging crack in 3 dimensions and rail right at the top. Continue diagonally right on the endless arête to the top. Use the anchors with normal hangers to belay off (the bolts with lower-offs are for abseiling).
Notes:
1. From the top of pitch 4, a 27m abseil gets you to the top of the 2nd pitch of Rhino on the City Hall Steps. TIE KNOTS IN THE END OF THE ROPE! Two more abseils from here gets you to the ground.
2. It is tricky to back off the top of pitches 2 or 3 with a single rope. It is approximately 40m to the ground from here. You can abseil onto the Rhino slab in 30m, but be prepared for some soloing/scrambling to get to the next set of chains.
3. About 10m left and slightly down from the top of the route are two access anchors. From these a 30m abseil gets you to the top of pitches 2 and 3.
FA: Hector Pringle and Heinrich Kahl, 2010-06-16, with thanks to Joffrey Hyman for earlier attempts.

To anyone out there, go climb Indecent exposure - it's really good. Just don't try it in -9 deg C....

Awesome, 11D and 16D 24! Looking forward to trying it! Thanks very much!

Oudtshoorn last week (& early this week)

Jason Temple-Forbes repeated El Nino (30) again and a bunch of other stuff

Monique Bermeister got Fing Fun Fly 24 & Rapscallions (24)
Maggie got Rapscallions (24) & Phallic Mechanic (24)
Nadine Methner almost got her route falling at last move of Hard Play (29)
Sean maasch opened his project Going, Going, Gone (29)

Monday it snowed at the De Hoek campsite in Oudtshoorn and again during the night. The mountains were covered and it was beautiful.
Tuesday was cold and everyone climbed until dark.

Matt Bush went nuts - he flashed The Vice (29), flashed Mama Africa (32) and pointed Seven (32). Seven went down at last light and he spent about 15 minutes doing the last easy moves because he couldn't see anything (and it was wet on top).

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Here's a not-so-good pic of Joff on an attempt of the second pitch of Indecent Exposure the day after I bolted it:


This pic shows the line of the final pitch:

Rad that you bolted something up there! The pics don't do justice to how steep it is. How about directly up the middle of the face: you think it's do-able?

Paul, we checked it out - it's doable, but will be very sustained. There's very few (if any) rests on the whole line and it will be an absolute classic. We figured around 30/31(?)

Also, It seems like the climb will start at the two loose blocks, on the ledge just below the climber on the second photo. One will have to traverse in from either Rhino, or Indecent exposure. It seems access from Rhino's side makes more sense.

Arjan de Kock has flashed Green Mamba in Rocklands and confirms the down grading to 8A+. "One of my best moments ever, I didn't believe it!"

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Good grief! That's some incredible climbing! Scary to think of Arjan combining boulder strength with his usual high route fitness.. Eish.... Look out world...

Check out Arjan's 8a.nu profile, he's been bouldering hard

Stewart averred that a really early morning start was needed to avoid the heat but little did we know that we would be freezing climbing the shady route. We managed to rouse ourselves misty with wino heads and Wendy took us to Greg’s who trucked us to the start. We all huffed and puffed (except for Kevie of course) up the hill but idle chatter about inane things made the walk seem quick.

I was offered the lead on the first pitch as I was the only one that had not done the route. I declined as it appeared to be a brutal “hands” crack and mine were small. I also knew from experience that crack climbing require some recent practise to do at all at this grade and Kevin got the sharp end.

He did fairly well but did not exactly race up to a point where his progress slowed and the halted. I saw him jammed into a contortionistic knee bar and chicken wing position and then the dreaded “take” wafted down to us. Uh oh, this was gonna be hard for me as my climbing partners were seasoned Moab tower climbers and I had merely done the standard 5.8 route some 5 years ago. I followed and the large hand jambs pumped by thenar eminences and I had to once (or 3 times) hang on a silver juglet to revascularize them.
But I did all the moves and got through the top crux which was more like the climbing I was used to doing on Yellowwood and The Ledge.


Stewart and Greg followed free but not without some serious gnashing of teeth and lamentations.


Stewart on the Top Crux: (The rope looks tight but isn’t really!)


I led the next pitch with the move off the ledge stymieing me for a while but I then found the rest easy enough. The others followed and Stewart finished up the last pitch – not with aplomb. I also found one or two moves trying and we topped out to gorgeous sunlight and views.

I saw Josh Bedford in Oddshouters outing TM Africa Ledge today with mates Willem and another fellow. It's his first visit to the ledge....

New crag in Montagu, its called 'The Bold and the Beautiful'. About 9 routes have been bolted so far.
Grades spread between 16 - 23.
The crag is behind the alley - the big leaning grey wall (not a slab
Awesome climbing and lots of potential for new routes.

More details and RD to follow soon.

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Northern lasses have been cranking! Tessa Little redpointed Tomahawk (29) at Wigwam and Claire Pinkus got Snapdragon (29) at Boven! Seems like loads of SA girls/ladies are cranking 29-30 these days..the race is on for 31!

Wow, Montagu just keeps on producing new quality crags.
Nice going guys

This is seemingly going unnoticed:
Arjan sent Madiba (8B+) and Leopard Cave (8A+) this past weekend. Both on the same day.

Hardest send by South African to date.
This dude is ripping Rocklands apart.
World class man, nice!