South Africa 2009: Part 3
The view from atop Petit Hueco
Wednesday was a day of sending. We started off at the Sassies because Lyn and Peter were psyched to get on Petit Hueco. Lyn, Cam and I went early to try to get a full day in, and sneak some tries in on The Peach, another project that Lyn was eyeing.
After warming up I managed a sneak attack sends (the boulders were caught napping) of The Peach, v7 and Pinotage, v10. Sometimes I think the sneak attack method is the best - staying up at night thinking about the moves never seems to help. Lyn sent Petit Hueco, v8 right out of the gates and Peter followed her success after a few flubbed attempts early. Everyone was very excited for Peter to send his first v8 and he let out quite a victory exclamation at the top. To wrap things up at the Sassies, Lyn figured out a key piece of beta and sent The Peach.
The ever present "Ry/Go"
In the afternoon we headed out to another bouldering area called The Plateau - usually about a 15 minutes drive - but you never really know due to the road construction. The road from Clanwilliam to the Rocklands is being upgraded to a paved road and the subsequent construction means you might get stuck at what we call a "Ry/Go" for a while.
Once at The Plateau, we headed up to a project of Kevin's called Gliding Through Waves Like Dolphins, an awesome slopey, squeezy, v11 at the top of the Plateau. After an extended beta session, with more crazy falls than a Red Cross safety video, both Kevin and I managed to send! It was probably the windiest and coldest day so far and while the wind made the crash pads blow around, the extra friction was a key ingredient to our success.
Alan on the Hatchling, v11
On Thursday we headed out to Climb Fontaine to spot some of our comrades who wanted to hop on the Hatchling - probably the wildest looking boulder problem you will ever see. The boulder looks like a petrified hatched dinosaur egg! Both Mike Wickwire an Alan sent - most likely do to our encouragement... (of course)
Randy Puro on Soular Power [v10?]
On our next day we headed out to Fields of Joy. It should be noted that this area is located on a hillside and there are no fields. This will be my opportunity to rant about the grades because many of them are way off! For example, Soular Power is (was) graded v12 but most of us did it in a handful of tries. While it is hard, it isn't v12! The rest of this post will be mostly pictures because I am at the airport on the way to our Safari in Eastern South Africa!
The yummy outdoor seafood braai in Lambert's Bay
Pondering the choices at Manna Epicure in Cape Town
Our hostel room in Cape Town
The penguins at Boulder Beach
Lyn working her project, Caroline [v10]
South Africa 2009: Part 2
After a day of rest and interneting (I made that up) we headed out to an area near where we are staying called the Sassies. It is an area that is very exposed (read: warm) and a good place to go after a rain - not that it had recently rained. There is a good density of problems and we had fun bouncing around between them, the prize of the area being Pinotage. While neither Lyn nor I could send, Kevin managed to summit in the blazing sun after failing in the shade. I forgot the camera so no pictures.
The sand dunes of Elands Bay
For our next rest day we decided to take a trip out to Elands Bay to check out the coast. We hiked on the beach for a while exploring the sand dunes and gathering shells that were everywhere. The west coast of South Africa faces the Atlantic Ocean and the water is pretty cold, which precluded any swimming. Interestingly, there was a warm breeze blowing in from the ocean, which is so different from the Northern California beaches I am used to.
Becky and Justin walking down the beach in Elands Bay
The sand dunes
Tide pool
Heading a little farther south, we discovered an area with amazing tide pools and scared some baby seals that were sunning themselves on the rocks. Check out the sea anemones, also very different from the ones found in California.
Crazy multi-color sea anemones carpet
Eroded slab
Paul, Lyn and Cam on the Shosholoza
While exploring, we found a boat named Shosholoza, which is also the name of a famous boulder problem in the Rocklands.
Toll road?
Instead of heading directly back to Clan William, we decided to go back through Lambert's Bay. The fastest way to get there is to take the toll road. Once the security guard lifted the gate, we were quite surprised to find that the toll road was nothing more than a dirt road that followed the train tracks. We chuckled about this - that is until the toll road ended and found the the regular road had more potholes than flat parts!
Once back at our cottage we met up with our climbing comrades and partook in the most South African of activities, the braii (barbeque). On the menu was some local fish (Keel Hoek), bacon wrapped lamb, and the local favorite: Springbok, which is like a deer with crazy horns. The eight of us barely fit around the table of our tiny kitchen, which doesn't have an oven and has the unfortunate propensity to lose all electricity if more than one appliance is used at the same time. It has been a challenge to figure out how to make dinner using the one working hot plate.
Lyn on Creaking Heights [v4]
Yesterday we went out to climb at the Roadside boulders. It should be noted that the 'road' is a actually a donkey cart trail to a town called Whupertal and not one that a car could drive down, making the 'roadside' boulders a half hour hike.
We started off the day on the classic highballs Creaking Heights, v4 and Schwupp, v6. We then went on to work the moves on Caroline, v10 which Justin dispatched with his usual efficiency. After other climbing shenanigans, we capped off the day at the mega-classic Rhino which is an amazing prow of rock that is suspended in the air and (not surprisingly) looks like a rhino!
-Raza
Lyn's two cents: Strangely, I'm finding the Rocklands to remind me a lot of both Colorado and Utah with very similar rock formations, canyons and peaks. The wildflowers are blooming, which gives color to an otherwise very desert landscape. The sunsets are truly spectacular and the night sky has more stars than I've seen anywhere else.
We have yet to eat out and the food we've made at our VERY rustic cottage (named the Sassie Cottage) have been simple, one pot meals. I'm hoping to eat at some local places soon and have heard good things about a couple restaurants in Clanwilliam - I'll report back after we go.
As for wildlife, no personal snake encounters, though I heard that another US climber, Walker, came face to face with a spitting cobra while looking for his lost chalkbag and escaped by running away. No baboon sightings our first day at the Sassie Boulders.
When asked how he likes South Africa, Cameron says, "it's nice." He seems most excited while practicing driving the rental car between our cottage and the house where our friends are staying, about three hundred meters on a private dirt road. No major accidents yet, even with a manual transmission and with everything being on the wrong side.
And climbing: it's pretty fun. There are definitely not as many problems as I expected and not a lot of intermediate grade problems. The climbing areas are spread out and generally do not have a high concentration of problems, which makes for some challenges in determining where to climb. We've still only been to three areas, so this assessment might change. The style tends to be a lot more dynamic than climbing at home.
South Africa 2009: Part 1
After 33 hours of butt-numbing travel, we have finally arrived in South Africa. We arrived in Cape Town a 5pm local time and then had the 3 hour drive north to our lodging for the night. Already a little delirious from our hours in the plane, the switch to left hand drive was pretty interesting. The freeways were fine, because the is a big divider in the middle of the road - but the one lane highways in the countryside were pretty interesting. The oncoming headlight coming at us on the right side prompted panic a number of times!
We are staying on a small cottage on a farm north of Clan William in the Cedarburg Range. The accommodations are spartan, to say the least. I looks like electricity was added as an afterthought in the 1980's and you can't run two electrical appliances at the same time without tripping the main breaker! Yikes.
The next morning we met up with our climbing comrades Justin, Becky, Kevin, Peter, and Mike Wickwire who are staying on the same farm. Our first day climbing was a good introduction to the area - we went to The Plateau and tagged along with Peter. Still a little delirious from out travels and jet lag it was nice to have someone else leading the charge.
In the afternoon we headed in to town to get supplies at the Superspar, the local supermarket, and a few household items at the Pep. One thing I noticed when walking around, is that almost every sign or label is in English but most people I ran into don't speak but a few words of English. There are 11 official languages in South Africa and while English might be the de facto language, it is not their mother tongue.
For our second day of climbing, we headed out to the Amphitheater area because a few were psyched to try this test piece. Only a few of us tried it and my goes were pretty pathetic. Here was the formula: old dude + v11 + no warmup = priceless.
We headed to nearby Roadside area for the second part of the day and on the hike over had quite a scare. Once we arrived one of the guys who was hiking at the front said, "I wonder where Cameron is." Panicked adults went running in all possible directions and Lyn tracked our son down as he was hiking back to the first area. (He had thought we were hiking the car and when no one arrived decided to hike back to the first area.)
A cooking adventure followed (remember: only one appliance at a time) and a game of bannangrams afterward... It's starting to feel like vacation!
-Raza
