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]