A Weekend at Topside

So after sending Accountant's Project last weekend I was feeling pretty psyched to get onto the next thing. Next on the list was Mintberry Crunch (8A) up at Echo Valley. There are so many lines to be done there, its crazy. Just project after project. Anyway, Mintberry Crunch went rather quickly once Marijus got me to use his beta, although the topout almost had me. Check out Marijus's video below:

Woody at Echo Valley from Cutloose Bouldering on Vimeo.

So after having too many drinks at the Power and the Glory the night before, I wasn't feeling too amped for another session on Sunday, but at about 3PM I felt the urge.

We headed out for a night session at the Cinema in Topside. There were a few lines I wanted to get on here, but first in line was Cloverfield (8A). This line has some awesome moves, and although it doesn't take the line it originally intended to, its still great. The original line does a bigger move further out left, and was opened by Paul Robinson as Zodiac (8A+). I'd love to do that line too, but it really pushes the reach. Cloverfield went quickly, which was a nice surprise. I've had about three or four sessions on the line over the past few months. While I was there I did the right hand variation War of the Worlds (7C), which is also a cool line.

Marijus on the FA of Cloverfield (8A). Photo by Paul Robinson.

Next up was Paranormal Activity Stand Start (7C+). This is a cool line, short and quite crimpy. It felt fairly hard the last time I was on it, but not this time. I quickly got the wierd toe squeeze move, and started working out the top. The problem has a bit of an arb finish, but basically you just wedge yourself into this big gap and catch your breath for a few minutes.

Paul on the stand start part (7C+) of Paranormal Activity (8B+)

Went back to Echo Valley on Tuesday with Marijus and Julia as I was really keen to send Midnight Barber (8A), but alas, the two days on of climbing on the weekend had taken their toll and my arm started giving out. Marijus got the send though. Pity I don't have any pics, its a really cool line. EDIT: Check this sweet clip Marijus put together of him sending Midnight Barber (8A):

The Midnight Barber from Cutloose Bouldering on Vimeo.

Apparently my left shoulder is slightly imbalanced, and so after too much climbing everything tires out and starts transferring the load down to my elbow. Anyway, nothing a physio and a few days rest can't sort out. Unfortunately I was too hung over to attend my Physio appointment. Work dinner got way out of hand the night before.

Accountant's Project

8A in the bag.

NBL 2011 & Alicedale

The finals for National Boulder League were held in Grahamstown this year, and turned out to be a rather successful event. After weeks and weeks of hard sessions of Boulder League every Tuesday night, it was time to make the trip and meet up with strong climbers from all over the country.

Out of the top scoring Cape climbers, myself, Duncan, Robbie and Clara were heading to the finals in Grahamstown in my car. So in preparation for the trip, I decided to make sure that my car got a service, and was in good working order for the 800km odd drive out of Cape Town. So bright and early I drove to pick up the rest of the gang, and off we went to Grahamstown.

We made it to Grahamstown safe and sound, and set up camp at the local camp site. Early the next morning we headed to one of Rhodes University's sports halls where the comp was to be held. Paul Bruyere and Wesley Black had been hard at work setting the problems for the whole comp, and had done a rather sterling job. The wall was great; mostly overhanging, not too high and had been stripped specifically for the comp.

The Rhodes wall.

 

Paul Bruyere setting away.

The turnout for the younger age groups was amazing, which is likely a result of the strong schools leagues that have been in action for the past two years. The high turnout meant long waiting times between rounds, which is never fun, but inevitable nonetheless. Trying to keep fingers warm while waiting is always a schlep. The qualifying rounds were great, and resulted in a nice split in the fields in preparation for the finals.

Duncan, Benj, PW, James and myself made it into the mens open finals. After some fair and well set problems the field was split, except for some tie breakers. The method used to break the ties was unusual to say the least, and I'm not quite sure where the method was taken from. The tie breaker used was the amount of time one took to get to the bonus hold on each problem, and then the average of that over the final problems. In the end the results turned out fine, although personally I was rather annoyed with the end result, mostly due to the fact that after I had placed second, the judges and organisers failed to record my result, and I had to query the final result at the end. As it turned out my scorer failed to mark my flash of one of the final problems on my score card.

On my flash of the second Men's Finals problem.

At the same time as missing out on a prize, I was rushed through to the drug testing procedures as now I was required to submit a urine sample (having another man actively watch you pee is not cool, I can assure you). I would like to give my support to the organisers for a great job, but at the same time we are trying to meet international competition standards to be granted membership of the IFSC, and so we cant really let errors like this slip through the cracks...

All in all, the comp was great, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. A huge thank you needs to go out to Neil Margetts for his dedication to the SANCF and the organisation of this comp and also to the route setters Paul and Wesley, and another huge thank you to Tristan who (i think single-handedly) provided all prizes for the competition. Hopefully all of Tristan's generosity will soon return to him.

 

Rachelle de Charmoy cruising the ladies problems.

 

Benj on the second Men's Finals problem.

Benj sealing the deal with his flash of the third Men's Finals problem.

After the comp we all headed out to the sports bar/hall for a couple drinks, which then turned into a good night out in Grahamstown.


Final Results:
U15 Boys
TRISTAN SWART
DAVID MUIR
BYRON CROFFORD
BRANDON VAN HURTEN

U15 Girls
ERAN WALDECK
TSAI-NI KU
RACHEL SEALY-FISHER

U17 Boys
EVAN MARGETTS
DEVIN MURRAY
TRAVIS GILLESPIE
DILLON VAN STADEN
JORGE GONCALVES

U17 Girls
SAMANTHA STAINTON
GILLIAN BESTER

U19 Boys
JASON  SALT
CALRIN CURTIS
DYLAN VOGT
STEFAN LUTGE
ROBIN SHERWOOD
GREGORY OUDHOF
KERN LEASK

U19 Girls
EMMA PINNOCK
CLARA GRANT
LORNA BORN

Senior Men
BENJAMIN DE CHARMOY
ANDREW WOOD
JAMES BARNES
PIETER WILLIAM
DUNCAN FRASER
ROBBIE FRASER
MATTHEW SCHNEUWLY
DAVE SCOTT
GREG  CARTER
CARL BURTON-DURHAM
NKOSINATH NAMA
MITCHEL PINDUEAS
JOHN WESSELS
GARETH BERRY
JONATHON HATTING

Senior Women
ILLONA PELSER
RACHELLE DE  CHARMOY
CANDICE BAGLEY
LESLEE SALZMANN
JESSIE PEARSON
EMMA JACKSON
LINDI FRYER
DEZ BENOIT

Alicedale was on the cards for the next day. I had heard good things about this area, and had seen topo's while drunk the night before. The topos looked really good, and had a surprisingly large amount of problems listed. So after a short drive out to Alicedale, as well as a fairly short walkin, we were there. The area has very nice rock, a fairly rough sandstone that varies from sandy and flaky to super rough to glossy smooth.

 

Unfortunately the day after a comp isn't the best day for some hard bouldering. I had multiple tweaks in my fingers and was taping them a lot. We still managed to get on some great problems, only to be rained out before we got a try an awesome looking 7B slab...

Cape Nature & Rocklands

I was lucky enough to be present at a meeting with Cape Nature with the intention of communicating the management plan for Rocklands and Truitjieskraal. The focus of the meeting was on Rocklands, as there are currently little to no structures for managing almost anything in the area.

(c) climb.co.za

First of all, CN are committed to getting the Kliphius campsite back on track, and they envisage it costing up to R1m in terms of infrastructure etc, and the funding required isn't an issue. The main issue at the moment it that they need to create a new post for the area, i.e. a new job role that requires new funding. As the meeting was getting under way they found out that the funding for the position has been frozen temporarily, but they did commit to resolving the issue internally so that they could move forward on the management plan. So the primary issue at the moment seems to be that CN need to get someone working out there to supervise and manage everything going forward. The costs around that are tricky, as funds obtained from managing permits effectively in the area do not translate to extra funds to be used in the management of the area at all. Hopefully CN can resolve the issue.

(c) climb.co.za

The next item that was brought up was the zoning of Rocklands [when I say Rocklands I'm only referring to the CN land], and this is something that is still being decided upon. The land will be zoned as "Wilderness" or "Nature", where wilderness is more sensitive, and nature is less sensitive. Nature allows more visitors and classifies the area as a more casual experience, as one would expect to see many visitors there. In any case CN stated that the zoning would not ultimately affect anything, as if the area is classified as wilderness it will be given a special zoning to allow the use that it currently sees. The issue that most of us were very concerned about was the impact assessment that CN made of some of the bouldering areas. Some of the areas in Rocklands have been worn down and cleared to quite an extent, but as CN believe that the impact is very localised to the favoured boulders it is not likely to spread and is not an immediate problem that requires anything to be changed. If problems do arise, the first step will be to limit numbers in the areas via permits, which will be monitored much more if CN have an active person in the area.

Some slacklining at the Kliphuis campsite...

There was some concern over how the expansion of the bouldering areas would be managed, and it seems that CN will basically designate areas that allow bouldering, and if expansion passes that then CN would be consulted and they would give their judgement. This was still very much up in the air. The last thing brought up was the education of all visitors to Rocklands; hopefully through more signage and a better CN presence in Rocklands there will be greater communication on how to look after the areas and respect the more sensitive ones.

So there was a lot of good feedback from the meeting, and it definitely seems like CN are keen to get back into the picture in Rocklands, and hopefully we'll be able to camp at Kliphuis in the near future... Right at the end I did ask about fee's etc, and the fee structure for Kliphuis will likely be R180 per site per night, with 6 people permitted per site, so it definitely seems like it'll be good value. Now we just have to wait and see if CN get going with all this...

Easter Island...

Went to the easter island sector of redhill a few weeks ago with Micky and Calvin. Still feeling rusty outdoors, but hopefully that is soon to change. Opened a nice new line that goes up a slightly overhanging and quite tall boulder... it felt around 7A+, called "the hand that feeds"...

Redhill

Some cool pics taken by Calvin of Duncan and I bouldering at old redhill.

Feeling the Psyche

Went up to Echo Valley on Saturday to join the Rock n Road bouldering day. I managed to work some awesome lines, and basically only touched problems that I hadn't ever tried before. I tried Marijus's Heart Feels No Bass (7C) with not much luck, but a sweet line with some fun climbing. Then I was in my element as we had some go's on a two move project with a horrifically small crimp. It was close to going, but the last move is a bit of a dyno to a finishing sloper, off the micro crimp, but hopefully it'll go next time. After chilling for a while as the RnR climbers started heading down, we went to a rather large boulder just off the path to find an amazing, possibly 8Aish line with some ridiculously awesome climbing. I counted a total of 4 heel toe locks; I was loving it. On a fresh day perhaps we'll be able to put in some solid effort on it.

Last Sunday we headed up to the Cinema in an effort to open some new lines for the RnR bouldering day, which didn't end up happening there. Nevertheless it was a rad day of climbing. We opened various cool lines, and managed to get some time in on the awesome Cloverfield project. It's big and burly all the way, and gonna take quite some effort, but wow, its gonna be so awesome. So for now its back to work and training during the week, until next weekend...

Some rad photo's of the day at the Cinema...

All photo's by Calvin Kemp.

Sharp Crimps

Hitting the gaston crimp on "Gripped" sit start (7B+). Photo by Calvin Kemp

It's been ages since my last post, as my climbing has been suffering somewhat. I have rather poorly adapted my post student lifestyle to my desire to climb hard. Working till late doesn't help my cause, and even though I only go to work at 12, I cannot bring myself to climb in the mornings. I have however managed to get into a routine of training regularly at CityRock, which I have found immensely helpful in my quest to keep in good climbing form. Now its also a matter of committing those oh so valuable weekends to climbing, which I am slowly feeling a greater desire to do so.

So the other weekend we headed out to try the razor crimp showdown project, an epic line that has been a project for quite some time. Paul Robinson had been in CT for the past week or so and Marijus was keen to show him the line to see what he thought. He was rather psyched on the line when he saw it, and quickly pieced all but one of the moves together. Marijus and I were also picking up on Paul's beta and trying some of the moves, but boy did they still feel so hard. I felt an inkling of progress on the previous session on the line, but my finger joints simply couldn't take the epicness that was those holds for too long. The holds are so small and sharp. I have tried to focus on crimping hard lately, as my fingers are feeling great and just need to get stronger.

Paul cruised the crimps, only to fall at the dreaded underling move, although he was rather close to sticking it. It's inspiring to see how possible the line is, and it has renewed some psych for me to train hard, and hopefully climb hard in the coming months.

So we had been hearing about the bouldering at Paarl for quite some time now, and so Calvin and I decided to head out there for a good day of climbing. I brought plenty skin, yet still ran out. My skin has never been so wrecked in a single day of climbing. The climbing was good though! Surprisingly different, and although painful at times, there are some rather good lines. I did quite a few problems, a cool 7B+ sit start called "Gripped" and another 7B called "King Joker".

"King Joker" (7B). Photo by Calvin Kemp

 Later on I opened up a project on the same boulder as "Gripped", which was really rad. It has a really crimpy one handed stand start, and has some balancy moves up an arete, with a scary topout.

"Dry Ice" (7B+). Photo by Calvin Kemp.

"Dry Ice" (7B+). Photo by Calvin Kemp.

"Dry Ice" (7B+). Photo by Calvin Kemp.

It felt fairly hard, so maybe 7C, but possibly 7B+. I'll have to see what everyone else thinks. I opened another cool line which involves a big jump to a large slopey jug, and an awkward mantle using a crimp and a heel to stand up on the jug. A fun move, but a scary top out due to a below average landing. It was probably around 6C+ or 7A. Called it "Self Trepanation".

Marinus working "Eva Green" (6C), a fun crimpy line. Photo by Calvin Kemp.

There are many lines there that have epic topouts and death defying downclimbs, that definitely bump things up a notch. So next time a rope might be in order. But for now, a week of indoor training to let the split tips close. Definitely going to be heading back to Paarl soon.

Climbing is awesome...

3 Weeks ago...

Went to Rocklands for the weekend, ended up being a good call. The temperature was down, a vast improvement on previous trips. So I spent the first day at the fortress with Marijus and Arjan, who were both working "The Vice" (8B). I spent the first while warming up on some easy problems, one right hand finish to "The Vice" and then "Colin The Librarian" (7A+) to the left. Both pretty cool problems, but I had to do a few laps in order to warm up, cause it was sooo damn cold. But when the fingers warm up the friction is great. So I moved on to try "Desperado" (8A), a slightly eliminate problem, and very short. It's pretty much one hard move, with a hard left hand crimp lockoff and a reach up right to a small crimp and then a quick slap into a juggy hold up top. I managed to send the problem quickly, on my 4th go to be exact. The problem was somehow opened at 8B, but I guess based on your own personal strengths grading a single move problem, just like a dyno, can be really tricky, and I think these moves suited me quite well. I had doubts about whether I would be able to have enough power, but I guess I did, and in the end I think it helped that it was crimpy. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any pics of the line, but it's not very aesthetic in any case. After that day we made a quick stop at campground so that I could try "Tea With Elmarie", but I definitely wasn't feeling up to it, so it looks like its gonna be a few more weeks of getting climbing fit before I stand any chance at that line.

On Sunday I was planning on having a relatively chilled day, and pretty much everyone had decided to go to Roadside, which was actually rather cool. There ended up being quite a few strong climbers there, all locals too, and so everyone was feeling quite psyched in general. We started off with "Sunset Arete" (7C), a line which I had tried a few times, only to find the moves really hard. This time around Benj showed me a smaller, but sharper crimp which he had used for the line, and so on my first go I almost made it through the crux moves. The new crimp made the line feel so much easier than before, and on the next go I sent, although it was a bit messy with a few cutlooses, but I held on for the send.

A silhouette of me on "Sunset Arete" (7C). Photo by Luke Gregor.

Feeling psyched, I decided to get back on "Pendragon" (8A), a line which I think I can send, but just need to be feeling fresh. I'm having trouble with my foot sliding out on the second move, but other than that I'm close to doing all the other moves. So after a bit of work on that line, it was time to move on.

Working "Pendragon" (8A). Photo by Duncan Fraser

We went on to work "Caroline" (7C), which is pretty solid for the grade, I found getting all the moves done was fairly straight forward, it was just the effort of linking them all. Its an amazing line, with some very cool moves, and in line with my style I guess, with smaller moves on smaller holds, although the holds aren't too small. So lacking the energy to send, I had to leave the problem for next time. The starting move had completely numbed my index finger, as the start I was doing relied on a two finger lock which squeezed the gap in between the knuckles. Arjan and Flex sent the line in rad style. So my tweaky finger was beginning to complain about the punishment I was putting it through, and so I decided to lay off any harder lines for the day. I joined Robbie and Duncan who were trying "The Secret To Olives Preserve Cupboard" (7B), and I managed to flash that. A nice short, fun line. Other than that I jumped on "A Laise Blaise" (7B), which other that being sharp, had some cool movements, and went second go. I also checked out a dyno variation which skips the tricky crux moves, but is pretty tricky itself. That seemed to be the method of choice for Duncan and Robbie. All in all it was a good weekend out, but now its back to work....

Last weekend...

Shaun, Marijus and myself headed back to Rocklands for the weekend. I hadn't been training and keeping fit as I had hoped over the past few weeks and so I was mostly keen to get in lots of climbing to get everything working again. So on Saturday we headed to the Fortress, as Marijus was keen to get on "The Vice" (8B), as he had been making some progress lately. Once again it was pretty cold in Rocklands, but really good temps. It was still sunny, so working problems in the shade was perfect. We decided to warm up on "The Rack" (7B), and it only served as a reminded that I was super unfit... So after that Shaun and I went off to try "Stargate" (7C+) which seemed like quite a nice line. We had a good sequence going, thanks to Shaun, and I managed to link the moves quite quickly. I worked the final crimpy face, and just had to link the two parts through a tricky hop to a crimp in a really awkward position with a powerful lockoff. The move spat me out a couple times and my energy began to fade, so hopefully next time. On Sunday we headed off to Roadside, and I got back on "Caroline" (7C) hoping to send, but not having any expectations. The moves felt fine, and Shaun helped me tweak my sequence with the sickest drop knee's ever. In isolation I could do the moves so statically with the drop knees, but as usual by the time I got there my shocking endurance had kicked in. So looks like its another one for next time.

So in an effort to feel strong again I've committed myself to do some solid training during the week, Marijus and I are gonna be training at CityRock twice a week hopefully, and judging by what we did today, I think we'll be getting pretty strong over the next few weeks.

So I woke up the next day feeling so wrecked... my elbow tendons have been aching, not in a bad way, just in a really stiff needs some recovery kinda way. It think it was all the campusing we did, it seems to work the arms hard. So as part of our new weekly routine we were planning on heading out for a night session on Wednesday night. I was quite keen to check out an area in Cecilia forest that was still quite undeveloped. Its a boulder called The Den, with quite a few hardish lines, set on a slope in a forest of tall Pine trees, with a view of the horizon on the side. Pretty rad location for a boulder, although the landings are a little sketchy, but nothing we can't handle. So we started out by trying to warm up on a 6Cish line on the front of the boulder. It ended up feeling more 7Aish with a cramped crimpy start, and although we chickened out by topping out slightly left, there is a sketchy direct topout using some very shallow slopey pockets, it'll definitely be interesting. So we moved onto one of the harder lines, which is feeling about 7C if not harder. We sent the start stand fairly quickly after chalking up holds and stuff, that line was opened as "Sonic" (7B), but the sit start moves seem pretty hard. After no success on that line we worked on a cool line that travels up and right along the boulder using big crimps and some large underclings. Was quite an effort, and although we were pretty trashed from training it felt about 7B.

Marijus on "Night Vision" (7B). Photo by Calvin Kemp

Me on "Sonic" (7B). Photo by Calvin Kemp

So I'm not gonna survive training on Thursday, really need a rest, plus I'm back in Rocklands this weekend, so a 2 day rest should have me feeling fresh by the weekend....

Anyway, I had to opt out of going to Rocklands for the weekend, it seems that training gave my elbows such a shock, and I've just had to rest them, but I managed to get a light training session done at CityRock on Sunday, get the blood flowing again and I'm starting to feel ready to climb this week.

Night Sessioning at The Classroom

Managed to get off work relatively early yesterday, well early enough to head up to the classroom for a night session with Marijus and Calvin. I've been working "Exam Stress" (8A) there, and although I was rather close to the send last year, it didnt quite work out. The problem has a hard slopey match move which is probably the crux, and is basically the last move before the top out. So I warmed up and re-acquainted myself with the moves. Managed to get the crux match from a standing start, as well as do Marijus's version of the topout, which seems to be better. The trick for me seems to be the pain threshold at the moment. After some crimpy starting moves, you move into a slot, which is directly above you. So at first you get pretty much nothing out of it, and only after you adjust the feet you actually get something out of it, and then move through two left hand crimps, and a biggish move into the sloper match. So the problem seems to be that your pinky gets twisted and crushed in the slot, while you're trying to pull as hard as possible, so it really seems to mess with the moves. Anyway, my fingers haven't hardened up yet after being sick for three weeks, but they're getting there. Nothing a Rocklands weekend shouldn't fix. So I'll be back at the classroom when I'm feeling nice and fresh and hopefully it'll go down. I really should just send it, its not the nicest line to work. My fingers are feeling tweaky, and the tendons are aching here and there, so a few rest days before the weekend are in order.

Getting ready to move past the crux and into the topout via the sloper in the top left corner. Photo by Calvin Kemp.