So I have been wondering about the bouldering potential in and around KZN. I realise that it will never be as good as Rocklands, but that does not mean that you cannot have some good fun on a less popular rock.

I am dead curious to know what amazing rocks are sitting waiting to be climbed, just off the beaten path.

I know Umgeni has some boulders. Do you know of any other spots that can be climbed?

I also wanted to find out what the bouldering is like in the Drakensberg?

I'm not sure about other areas, but where I have been in the burg the rock has been very sorft and flaky

I found some boulders in the berg close to where I was staying, but it became a bit too dangerous accessing them so we decided to turn back. They looked decent, but I'm guessing they would have also been somewhat flakey.

What was the danger?

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Swinburne is worth the drive, you'll definitely find more of value there than in the Berg....
That said, the were some really nice huge (about 15m high) sandstone boulders with amazing looking lines on them somewhere in the Berg (can't think off-hand where they were), but there were bushman paintings on them so I guess you'd cheese someone off if you placed a row of shiny bolt on them! There is decent sandstone around in the Berg but not sure I'd hike in to do some bouldering...
Rather carry a trad rack in and do some "proper climbing"...
hehehe

Just be careful about the EKZN bolting policy if you head towards the berg. Rock art sites (and other protected caves which I won't mention ) are seriously important, don't even try climbing in these - as far as I know it is actually a criminal offense to do any damage to a cave that has rock art in it (including the parts of the cave that have no art).

From the Sleeping Beauty Cave area (Garden Castle) and south of there there are tons of low roof caves which may work, but you will have big drops in lots of them, so it may be quite dangerous.



Maybe try Pillar Cave Annex, its a really low roof and has featured rock - may work...

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If you are what you eat, rock climbers must be people who eat nuts...

Somewhere in the Berg? Anybody know where?

Marshall, those were the boulders I was talking about! There were some amazing looking lines on them!
They are somewhere in the Cobham area, about 10kms out as far as I remember.

Isn't that Menhir at Cobham?

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If you are what you eat, rock climbers must be people who eat nuts...

i was hiking around the drakensberg and found some pretty sick boulders in some random kloof so if you want to boulder in the drakensberg i think the kloofs are the way it seemed the water has made some pretty interesting stuff

I say it became a bit too dangerous, because what we assumed to be a tame steam turned out to be a wide river with very steep sides, and to add to it everything was overgrown. As soon as we made this discovery we were confronted by what sounded like angry Nigerians shouting to us from where our car was parked. They could have very well have just been the security for that area. We were after all on private property. I had on me my camera bag with a lot of expensive equipment in it. We decided to scrap the mission as there was no guarantee that the boulders were even climbable. The spot I am referring to is not far off from the Amphitheater Backpackers. I could give out coordinates, but I guess there's not much point if we are not wanted there. I will post of shots up of the boulders over the next few days.

Security in the Drakensberg is a minor issue if you take the right precautions. I hiked from the 1 end to the other earlier this year, and other than my gloves being stolen out the side of my pack (in the middle of the day), we had no security problems. Gun fights and armed robberies in the Berg are rare. The biggest issues are top of the Amphitheatre (mainly near Tugela Falls) and Giants Castle from Lotheni Pass to Durnford Ridge. Almost all issues are on the Lesotho side, not much at the bottom.

Berg basalt tends to be rotten and flaky, but the sandstone (below 2300m) tends to be pretty good. As per the first comments, south will be best for this kind of thing

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If you are what you eat, rock climbers must be people who eat nuts...

Went to Cannibal Cave in the Northern Berg recently:


At the entrance to the cave there are 2 huge boulders with great handholds and an inverse gradient. Looks great for bouldering.

I also noticed that there is a pretty cool possible climbing route up that weakness on the left side of the cave. The crack looks good for gear placement and holds to climb, after the top of it there isn't anywhere to place gear, but there is a good ledge to stand on and its not vertical, so you can always smear your way to the top...

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If you are what you eat, rock climbers must be people who eat nuts...

Wow! Thanks for sharing. Do you have the coordinates for that spot?

We did the walk from The Cavern resort off the RNNP (Royal Natal National Park) road, just past the turn off to Alpine Heath. The walk is 3.5km each way with 450m of altitude gain - its not hard at all, we had 60+ year olds in the group and they managed fine. You can do the walk from RNNP, but then you have a higher entrance fee and a longer walk.

There is a good path the entire way, and they can give you a map at the front offices at the Cavern. I don't have GPS co-ords or anything, but its really not hard to find - the cave is massive and is visible for almost all of the trail.

The 2 boulders I am referring to are right at the entrance of the cave - you can't miss them. I managed to find this photo from near the roof of the cave - the guy in the red shirt is trying to climb the one, the other is behind that rock. There are tons of possible bouldering rocks in the area, not to mention the back wall of the cave (although the cave wall is quite dusty), most are too smooth or not very steep, but these 2 look really good.

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If you are what you eat, rock climbers must be people who eat nuts...

What about around Golden Gate?

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Sandbagging is a dirty game

Check out the attached images.

Here's another one.

Another good spot I picked up recently - this is 1km from the car park at Giant's Castle. Follow Bannerman Path up the steep bank. There are another possible routes along the Bushman's River.

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If you are what you eat, rock climbers must be people who eat nuts...

Great big boulders on the steep road up to Highmoor. Played on them, and even for a non-boulderer I found them worthwhile. Also, a walk past the Cascades in Royal Natal National Park will yield lots of fun stuff. Take gear and set up some top ropes. A 8m finger crack awaits for an ascent. (Very very small fingers.)
Derek, that lovely menhir type boulder rising from the plains are called Pinnacle Rocks between Cobham and Sani Pass. Access by horseback or a very long hike, and don't bother to take your climbing shoes.