Crack climbing

[smityb]

This sounds odd but where can one practice crack climbing in South Africa?

[Justin]

Crack of Dawn (17) at Lakeside and Peers Cave there is a (short) beautiful crack line (I forget the name).
There are a few crack lines at Paarl Rock too.

What you training for?

[Thermophage]

I also know a good plumber

[smityb]

Training for a trip to America next year.

[Funguye]

Well this thread turned out to be much less exciting than expected.

[henkg]

Unfortunately mostly horizontal breaks in our sandstone. But you can still jamb many of them.

Some inspiration below.

[shorti]

Blyde

[robertbreyer]

RevealoMango @ Silvermine Main Crag has a decent vertical wide hand crack on it.
And Pistolero has a good move or two on it as well. Have seen one or two people falling out of it as it's a narrow hand jam.
Both grade 20.
And at CityROCK in the corner newish section you will find two pretty staunch hand jam sections as well.
Free coffee for you if you onsight one (only on TR, sorry).

[Ray]

Try Bastille crack on Lion's Head granite. its a 20 offwidth that is quite memorable...

[Julia Wakeling]

Stem Gem and That Thing at Paarl are great practice. Take lots of #4 cams for That Thing. As AdK apparently said: "It's like trench warfare".
Mischief and Thuggery at Oorlogskloof.
Aquaballs at Blyde.
Pretenders at Boven.

[Julia Wakeling]

Mischief and Thuggery....on trad

[niq]

Highway man (16) on Lions head is also cool if you stay in the crack

[Chris F]

Stem Gem and That Thing at Paarl are great practice.

Isn't Illearth Stone a nasty roofcrack too?

[Warren G]

Julia that is a mad challenge! Well done, but I won't be trying any time soon. Boven also has some great crack, but I remember a prominent South African Climber once saying "Cracks are for South African climbers to bury their heads in and cry". South Africa is not the home of crack, but head for granite, and keep your chin up!

[Andy Davies]

Best way to practice is to look for every oppurtunity to snuggle your hand into an accomodating crack. Don't be fussy about only fisting vertical cracks, horizontal ones provide good entertainment too. Some people even manage to jam in shallow pockets, but if you are off to Yosemite I suggest you get your whole body involved in chimneys and off widths. Don't forget to cover up appropriately, else you may contract Some Terrible Dings

[Nic Le Maitre]

Climb Africa Cracks on the Ledge, it's a 15 I think

Crack Baby at Legoland is climbable all in the crack

[BruceT]

Morgans Bay

[Deon]

Harrismith, Eagle Mountain...
Above the campsite is dolerite clifs with amazing crags at places up to 70m high and hard aswell! Its basically unexplored, so you can do a bunch of FA's too
The walkin is tough though..

PS. If you find our nr3 BD cam, please leave it, we will return for it sometime

[SNORT]

Wilgepoort has probably got the best crack climbing in South Africa

[NatureBoi]

Pride, grade 20 (on Lion's Head)
Pitch 2 is very good short finger layback crack with minimal feet, I highly recommend it.

[danglingdingle]

"Prelude to waste lands", First pitch is a beautiful, wide (#4 freind) laybabck crack.

Been up on it a couple of times, It is a bar fight from start to finish.

A few fist jams, one hand jam, layback and stem, bit of everything.

And has top rope chains.

[Ghaznavid]

Ok - I see this is an old thread, but let me throw in my 2c worth...

World's View in Pietermaritzburg has Widow Maker (15), Killer 1 (15) and Killer 2 (14). Zig-Zag (18) is also one on that crag. There is a really easy offwidth somewhere on there, but I haven't managed to find it before.

Zig zag.jpg (102.06 KiB) Viewed 7284 times

Zig Zag is the crack near the tree on the left

Kill.jpg (206.25 KiB) Viewed 7284 times

The left hand 2 cracks are Killers and The one in the corner is Widow Maker

[NatureBoi]

Some great crack (hand jam) pitches on No More Bells (19), Chess Pieces, Du Toits Kloof

[karlbase]

3rd pitch ( I think) of Satisfaction Guaranteed, Wolfberg.
Great line!

[Brussel]

Agree with No More Bells - brilliant cracks!

Also Satisfaction guaranteed - great 3rd pitch!

The crack variation to the 3rd pitch on Omega at Wolfberg is great, thin technical crack climbing for 40m

[Justin]

On Heaven Can Wait (23) at the Rose Bowl, the last 3 meters of the 2nd pitch has an awesome (slightly overhanging) crack.
Great route!

[Marshall1]

.

[Chris F]

Looks like it would be a bigger number than that!

[NatureBoi]

Great hand jams, finger locks and laybacking on Jam Puff, Lion's Head granite, Highly recommend this under rated route!

[Chris F]

I was telling one of the wide boyz about Cuckoo's Nest on TM, and tried, but failed, to find any pics of it online. Are there any about? I recall a sequence of Jeremy W-S in an old MCSA journal, and an article by jeremy Colenso in an old Southern Rock(?), but nothing online.