Beaverlac

A few months ago myself, Luke and Megs went on a camping trip to Beaverlac, just off Picketberg (on the way to Rocklands). I never really had the intention of going bouldering, but thought I'll take my pad incase, plus it makes a sweet couch for chilling around the campfire. So we went to Beaverlac and I kept my eyes peeled for any amazing bouldering, but as usual nothing caught my attention. On the second day we decided to take a short hike up to some pools, and the one we ended up at was quite secluded, but had a rather large boulder. After a quick inspection I noticed some definite lines going up either side of the boulder, and despite the rock being smooth from the water flowing through, the friction actually seemed pretty good! So I ran back to camp to fetch my shoes and pad. In the end I opened a few lines, some easyish ones on the boulder next to the large one, and a 7B "Lumo Cougar" on the right side of the large boulder.

"Lumo Cougar" (7B) Photo by Luke Gregor

The line follows some two finger pockets up and right, and then you set up in a good left pocket and a right gaston, then its a fairly big slap around the arete to a slopey jug. The topout utilises a wedged rock on your left, as it looks too hard otherwise, but maybe that line can be opened at a later stage.

Project. Photo by Luke Gregor

So the main attraction was this line. It has a perfect start on the inside, in two good pockets, with a cross to a perfect pocket which lets you do a fairly reachy slap around the corner to some good holds. So then you set up heel hooks on both sides of the corner, and move up some slopey holds and up to a crimp. This is the tricky part, as you can either set up the left or right on the crimp, but either way, the next comprehendable hold is very far away, and its a small crimp. So unless I can find another "hold" I think its gonna be a very hard move.

So other that those lines, I think there may be an assortment of easy lines up the river, and maybe a few mid range difficulty ones. I'll have to see on the next trip. With the current spree of Rocklands trips I'm not sure when I'll be going back, but hopefully I can fit a trip in sometime soon. Then with time I think a nice topo can be put together, for what could be a nice little area. Anyway, its Rocklands later tonight, till Saturday night, got the HD camera from Arjan so hopefully some vids are gonna be coming soon.