Local climbing scene in SA - Whats happening??

[ant]

Gosia sent Double Jeopardy on the ledge on Sunday.

[Warren G]

Fantastic! well played ma'am

[myself]

Awesome!!!!! Good work Gosia, very inspiring!

[Justin]

Clinton Martinengo sends Mazawattee!! (35/8c+) He is the third South African to climb the 35/8c+ grade.

(and Douw gives the Golden Belay

[Justin]

- Paige Claassen SA trip report

- About the non profit side of her trip - we recently visited a medical clinic in a rural township to film a piece for one of our non profit partners.

The WOW Prow!
Photo Jon Glassberg

[Julia Wakeling]

Hector onsighted Twist and Shout (27) on saturday - an awesome roof crack in Cederberg Kloof. Well done oke! VERY inspiring :-)

[Justin]

Nice one Hector!


Meanwhile the visiting American girls have been ticking off Andrew Pedley's open projects.

- On Saturday Paige Claassen has made the first ascent of the open project, “Digital Warfare”, weighing in at a solid 33/8b+/5.14-
Paige was taken to the WOW Prow by her host Andrew Pedley.

- Then yesterday in Waterval Boven Sasha DiGiulian opened Bovens 'new' hardest line with the first ascent of the Overlord project at 34/8c/5.14b.
The route which was also bolted by Andrew Pedley in 2011 is a traverse across a beautiful blank face with a single seam of crimps and then joins up with Big Butterfly (28) for the last 2 - 3 bolts.

The guidebook description reads:
THE OVERLORD (OPEN PROJECT). Probably 33 - ish.
Yes, it really does cross the big blank face! Gallop up the wall left of Butterfly, to a niche, then all hell breaks loose, bring your strongest fingers
. Joins Butterfly for the last 2-3 bolts.

Below: Sasha on The Overlord Project. Photo by Andy Mann

[Justin]

This weekend:

In the Cape
Phlip Olivier sends Double Jeopardy (30/8a on Trad) the day before the cable car closes form maintenance.

Sasha DiGiulian sent the open project at The Pipeline in Bad Kloof, Montagu (the route right of Aura).
She named the route 'Miss Behavin' and proposed a grade of 8b+ (awaiting confirmation)
- The project was bolted by Sean Maasch +-1996, there are now 2 projects left at the Pipeline (which look desperately hard

In Boven:
Jon Glassberg sent Godzilla (32/8b) and Psyche Ward (31/8a+).

[Justin]

Oh! And Jimbo Smith sent Street Fighter (34/8c) last Friday.
Gosia Lipinska sent Firestarter (29/7c+) without much effort.

[Justin]

Alex Honnold and Hazel Findlay have been in SA for a film on climbing in South Africa - whats refreshing is that Rocklands does not feature

Below are a few pics that got posted on their social media over the past couple of weeks...


"Everyone loves soloing shots, even if it's an ass shot Alex Honnold looks down at Cape Town on our first day at Table Mountain."


"Fun scrambling on Table Mountain, Cape Town!! The circling drone is part of a film project about South African trad climbing. Good times! Thanks to Clinton for soloing an adjacent route for a quick pic."


"Hazel Findlay's first day big walling at Blouberg, South Africa - 37'c the next day 6'c with mist and wind. Here I am climbing with a local South African 'squeak' on the crux pitch of a ten pitch 25 (E5). What fun!"


"One last pic of South African climbing since I'm flying out today. Cool new route at the Mine involving a crazy swing on a mono finger lock. It's been a real pleasure sampling all the great climbing South Africa has to offer and meeting all the local climbers. Thanks to Jonathan Joseph for the photo. I'm looking forward to seeing all the film clips."


"Alex Honnold and I on 'New Born' Yellowwood's hardest route, 7c+. I was one foot pop away from an onsight, but we both ticked even with a broken heel and a pulled finger. Happy days! Thanks to Clinton for the photo."


Hazel Findlay on Chocolate Mouse (30/8a) at the Mine, Cape Town

[Justin]

Not quite on the local climbing scene, but it does involve a local.

Steve Bradshaw (Jnr) sent his second 8c - 'Aitzol' in Margalef.
Steve commented on 8a.nu "Una pasada! Last day redpoint of a very cold trip! Woohhooo! Crux tricky for me as I could only get two loose fingers in the crux pocket, but other moves a bit easier with my height. In the end it felt 8c for me."

Related articles:
- All I want for Valentine’s day is an 8c belay!
- Steve Bradshaw Jnr sends Aitzol (34/8c)

Below: Steve Bradshaw on Aitzol

[myself]

Awesome! Nice one Steve!

[Hilton]

Yesterday Guy Paterson-Jones pulled off a rare headpoint of the AdK test piece Scaredy Cat. The previous day we onsighted the neighbouring, similarly run-out, Eternity Road (also AdK and my brother John).

[jimbo]

Awesome Guy! well done!

[jimbo]

Douw Steyn sent Triple Jeopardy (31) on Table Mountain last week. Douw is really climbing well at the moment having sent Jeopardy (29) and Double Jeopardy (30) recently. Just goes to show what being fun employed does for your climbing. After about a month or two of working Triple Jeopardy where he took loads of big falls, he started developing a bit of a mental block. Finally it all came together and he made it look really easy. He reckons it may be his hardest route to date, harder than all the sport routes he has climbed.

[Justin]

Awesome Douw!!! Not bad for someone who reckons that they stopped making music after the 80's
I have to ask... what shoe's was he wearing for the send?

[lelikegogga]

Ossem Douw! Who got the golden belay?
I bet if you could belay yourself you'd have sent it ages ago

[andrew p]

well done Douw! Wow that is some send. 31 on trad!
I look forward to giving it a go in couple weeks, if I don't shit my pants and chicken out which I have been known to do.
Andrew

[douw]

Thanks guys.
Justin - flip flops for the approach and Evolv Defys for the harder bit.
Phlip - Jimbo did belay duty. I'm training him up and he's already learning to push with the rope.

[jimbo]

Andrew I don't think you'll have too much trouble with the moves on triple jeopardy and it is pretty safe. just a little airy. It will be good to get another opinion on grade. Its a good grade harder than Double Jeopardy (which was given 30 but may actually be 29) so I just graded TJ 31. Anyway.

[SNORT]

Willem Le Roux and I blitzed up and did the first free ascent of Extra Time 24 at Yellowwood. The route goes at 19 19 20 22 23/4 19 We left Cape Town at 05h30 and were back at home by 15h00. The really hard part was bombing down to the car in just 45 minutes. Need new knees

[SNORT]

"Lekker Time" at Yellowwood is now on the WIKI. 200m of excellent climbing with an overall grade of 16. Maybe one or 3 moves of 16.

The approach, route finding, descent and pro are all good 'n easy....

Probably the best intro to the climbing at Yellowwood. If you can climb Jacobs Ladder then you can consider doing this route

[Q20]

Gosia Lipinska sent Triple Jeopardy (31 trad) on Youth day. Respect.

What did you do with your public holiday?

[Warren G]

Well done Gosia! Now that you are back I look forward to seeing you all help finishing the rebolt of Kalk Bay next weekend.

[mokganjetsi]

so i've heard Dragon Rider at Hellfire was finally opened this weekend..... anybody have the detail?

[XMod]

If Dragon Rider was opened please send me details of grade etc, maybe I will (finally many years too late) send out an update newsletter, it would be the last of the hard projects to fall there if its been climbed.

[mokganjetsi]

phlip olivier got the FA; the grade is 30/31ish - grade to be confirmed

[Q20]

Wow - good effort!
For those who have not seen Dragon Rider, the lower crux looks pretty darn improbable, nigh utterly impossible from the top of the Pit.
Respect dude

[Chris F]

Never heard of this, any photos? Sounds brilliant.

[XMod]

Some pics of the dragon

climbing recent 034 - Copy.jpg (112.39 KiB) Viewed 3851 times

The lower roof and crux