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.
