Yellowwood Update

[GClamp]

Peers Cave also has some "interesting" names.

Try having a conversation, when a 10 year old at the crag asks you if you have climbed "Fu@k me Amadeus". Can be awkward.

[Warren G]

Or Endless Blowjob in Boven. Mr Margets thought himself so cleaver with that one.

[mokganjetsi]

ja i think we can stray into the grey spaces now & i'd be careful to not embark on a witchhunt for any offensive route names. my take on this:
1. stuff that is out-of-bounds: misogyny, hate speech, racism, anything that adds some gloss to any crime against humanity. oh, and lameness (the worst!)
2. oh the rudeness (or a lack of creativity for that matter): vulgar & obscene language; sexually explicit themes
3. hey everybody i'm from parow (or pretending to be): foul language

in my view the climbing community should simply refuse to accept anything in 1. change the wiki; change the guidebooks; whatever.

2 & 3 is people's own business (and is sometimes worth a chuckle or a raised eyebrow). but then you should be happy to take the heat of public opinion.

i still look at guidebooks and get a feel for the route & the setting; and a peculiar joy when some thought & creativity was in the mix when naming the climb. celestial journey, oceans of fear, endless summer, madiba, alone in space, private universe, automatic for the people, sands of time, splinter in the mind's eye, jacob's ladder, stairway to heaven, dogs of thunder, australopithecus and the last of the great explorers etc. etc.

[XMod]

Sod being all PC. PCism is a undercover plot by would be world leaders to stifle freedom of speech and quash criticism, thus easing their path to total control. Play into their hands if you will with all this PC nonsense - but count me out.

There is absolutely no reason for a route name to be 'dignified', although I may add that it reflects on the state of mind of the FA at the time of naming.

Snort name your routes whatever you want just NOTHING MORE with the word 'time' in it OK?

[proze]

Mok's last post.

[SNORT]

The Yellowwood route book is coming along pretty well and although it will require refinement it cannot be edited by readers. So please post comments, corrections and criticisms as needed. Compliments are nice but not necessary. You can always buy me a drink.

This guide book is for free and will not be printed. However, there is a move afoot to secure access ad infinatum to Yellowwood so do the right thing and make an equivalent donation to the MCSA and call it Yellowwood fund. A decent route book costs around R200 these days.

Finally, many climbers have over the years put in a lot of time and effort into making YW user friendly and a lot of effort has also gone into maintaining the very adventurous character of the place. A perennial supply of water has been secured which completely changes the paradigm of climbing there.

Please do not abuse the place or the routes.

Do not bolt! Period.

Be careful with cookers

Get rid of you shit very carefully. Leave no toilet paper please! Do not burn it.

Most importantly enjoy.

https://sites.google.com/site/theworlda ... oute-guide

[SNORT]

On Thursday (seeing as I am meant to be training for the Dolomites and joining a couple of really strong lads that happen to have climbed the North Face of the Eiger a few days ago (Rob Powell and Paul Maine), I donned my clunky mountain boots and carried some kit up to water spot at Yellowwood. I then took a rack and ropes and climbed Yellowwood crack solo in about an hour or so. It was done many years ago and graded good "D" but that is if you really stick to the easy but grotty gully on the right at the start. If you stay left of the gulley it is really a very pleasant climb on mostly excellent rock at grade 10 to 15 depending on where you go. I found some tat and one peg along the way.

I highly recommend this as a very pleasant outing for beginners or those that prefer to climb the likes of Frazers, Arrow Final and Right Face on TM. I managed the walk in 70 minutes and the descent in 50 minutes.

[SNORT]

The Timerity Abseil has a been improved and beefed up. There is now an extra point between no 2 and 3 points. The extra point is safer as there is a ledge to stand on and the take-off is easier. 60m ropes do get you down but the 4th point is still there if required for shorter ropes.

[GeorgeHorn]

Descended this again yesterday. God bless you Snort! (Somehow there is not an atheist way of saying that...)

[SNORT]

I have at last (after spending most of my Sunday doing so) posted a hopefully, reasonablyaccurate Photo Topo of the trad routes on the main Yellowwood amphitheatre on the WIKI as well as some improvements and updates of some other route topos and descriptions.

A higher resolution version as a power-point can be requested from me via a PM.

This labour of love is done gratis so please do your bit and care for the place and add some value by donating to the ARF or helping to maintain trails and access.

Yellowwood main wall routes low res.jpg (161.24 KiB) Viewed 3681 times

[SNORT]

Willem Le Roux and me started on "fixing" Armageddon Time Direct at Yellowwood yesterday and our mission is to fashion another straight 5 star route at Yellowwood. We have achieved this so far by climbing 2 new pitches to the 3rd (23 pitch) of Second Coming. We then freed this pitch which might be the FFA as it was graded 23 A0. (FIne lead by Willem with difficult moves and less than ideal gear placements.) Then from there climbing to the Halfway ledge by combining with the Armageddon 16 pitch but this can also be improved.

At the Halfway Ledge the route continues on Armageddon Direct. This is a very difficult and scary first pitch that included me taking a fall after pulling off a substantial flake that I had weighted that almost took out Willem and whacked by arm. (Again a damn good reason to have a locking belay device like the Edelrid Jul as your belayer is holding your fall and trying to dance out of the way of falling rock).

The old 1/4 inch bolts were completely rusted and 2 new bolts were placed. One to the right of the first old one and then another a few metres higher.

There is a good sling point and nut just below the 2nd old bolt so this was not replaced.

The direct pitch is now safe to climb, certainly better protected by by better placed bolts still only 2, hard (26) and still requires full trad ability as the moves off the ground are very difficult and require placement of nuts off small holds and strenuous awkard positions. Higher up the 2 new bolts prevent a ground fall on very difficult terrain and then easier-to-place gear becomes available.


So we can work out the repoint 2 nuts are also in situ.

Armageddon Time Direct new pitches.JPG (96.46 KiB) Viewed 2322 times

[SNORT]

Garrreth and I returned to Yellowwood and after a wet start retreated to shelter and drank a lot of tea while it rained. We then added 2 more pitches to complete an independant "route" to the Halfway ledge that has 3 tricky 21 pitches and one staunch 23 pitch which is really excellent. The 21 3rd pitch starts in the corner and after some scary moves on dodgy rock I had another ledge strike when a peice popped that I had weighted to check and clean off loose rock.

After some soul searching I went back up and just climbed the dang thing. But the run-out was massive and dangerous.

Garrreth then did a very fine FA on-sight of a corner crack that require very hard finger tip locks to crank high to holds. I fell of once on TR and then got it. This is then followed by very tricky and a little run-out problem solving climbing requiring good foot work, lay backs and pinches.

After that we rapped the route and I placed a very necessary bolt about 3m above the start of the 3rd pitch to avoid a deck fall. I was lucky but the next person might not be - hence the bolt.

[legendarry]

Sounds like you’re becoming a sport climber snort

Jokes. Sounds insane. Wish I was in the country to even have a look at it.