Matt Bush sends at The Pipeline in Badkloof, Montagu!!

"Just crushed 'Aura' at the Pipeline! Amped!
Ill send pics through later today or tomorrow with a route description and possible grade "

Below: Marijus Šmigelskis working an open project at The Pipeline during 2004.
Photo J.Lawson

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Climb ZA - Administrator

That looks fairly hectic. Surely a 30 or more?

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"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein

Matt opened Aura, 8b, yesterday morning at the Pipeline.

It took Matt only a few attempts on the long standing project to establish what he called, 'one of Montagu's finest.'

Solid sending!

Ricky

Matt mentioned that Aura, 8b, is the leftmost route and the easiest line at Pipeline.

The route in the pic below is route 2 from the left.

Route 2 no longer exists in its original form as Matt smashed all the glued on jugs off the route suggesting a possible 8b+/c.

8b would be 32 according to the conversion table. That's pretty tough!

SA doesn't have anything above a 34 yet, right?

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"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein

Mazawattee (35) in Montagu is currently SA's most difficult sport route: http://www.climbing.co.za/2012/09/matt- ... mazawattee

There was a video of Adam Ondra sending it 2nd go (!), but I can't seem to find that link anymore...

what boggles the mind is that Change & La Dura Dura are graded 39. That's 7 grades harder than Aura (and Mazawattee +4). Which, to translate it into normal speak, is the difference between a 21 and a 28

great work Matt - congrats on an awesome send!

It was quite a thing watching Adam send Mazawattee - the route was in terrible condition, he went up and checked out the moves (cleaned the holds). Took an hour break and then sent it (with a few demonic grunts towards the top)!
We were all pushing for Adam to go up to the Pipeline, but time did not allow.
All this after climbing (hard) in the Eastern Cape - I wish I had taken a picture of his hands, they were in terrible condition... and then we went on to pull down very hard in Rocklands!!

Well done to Matt on his send - looking forward to seeing more routes at the Pipeline fall

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Climb ZA - Administrator

Thanks for the info/link.

That looks fairly hectic! I wonder how many times the route has been repeated.

I was watching that video of Sharma and Ondra trying La Dura Dura again yesterday - ridiculous stuff. The Change also looks insane.

Ja - that 7 grades up thing is an interesting point, my level of climbing is only 7 grades above pretty easy stuff that I probably wouldn't rope. But then again, I climb to go to cool places in the Drakensberg, not because of the difficulty of the routes. I'll leave heavy difficult stuff to guys who actually can climb properly

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"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein