Rock Masters 2011

The Rock Master's 2011 competition got underway on Saturday the 10th at CityRock in Cape Town, and was a largely successful event. The comp had some high quality boulder problems and routes set by a dedicated team of setters, and was a well run event thanks to the organisers. Climbers were invited from all over the country to come and compete against a pool of SA's top climbers, which resulted in a great show of climbing talent on the day.

Bouldering:

Men:
1st: Paul Brouard
2nd: Andrew Wood
3rd: Jamie Smith

Women:
1st: Faye Brouard
2nd: Rachelle de Charmoy
3rd: Illona Pelser

Sport:

Men:
1st: Paul Brouard
2nd: Jamie Smith
3rd: Benjamin de Charmoy

Women:
1st: Faye Brouard
2nd: Rachelle de Charmoy
3rd: Illona Pelser

Only by the Night

Here's an awesome little clip Micky Wiswedel quickly threw together of Marijus Šmigelskis on his first ascent of "Only by the Night" 8A.



Check out more of Micky's excellent work here.

More from Montagu

some more sends that went down at The Scoop in Montagu over the past week...

Phlip Olivier styled up "Catholic School Girls Rule" 30, and James Barnes sent "Cool Like That" 29, and most impressively, Benjamin de Charmoy made short work of "Not For Sale" 31/32.

The Cape weekend round-up

Montagu saw a fair amount of action over the past few days, with climbers from all over the country descending upon the Karoo town for their December holidays. At The Scoop, Alex Bester managed a send of "Cool Like That" 29, whilst Micky Wiswedel, James Barnes and Illona Pelser all sent "Monkey Pump" 29. This was Illona's first 29! At Supertubes, Benjamin De Charmoy climbed "Hypoxia" 29 and Marijus Šmigelskis made the second ascent of "Wipe Out" 32.

Back in Cape Town, Andrew Wood had a great weekend, with the 2nd ascent of "Only by the Night" 8A, a new line opened by Marijus Šmigelskis just a few days prior. Andrew then made the long overdue 3rd ascent of "Exam Stress" 8A the following day.

Moderate Mondays

Benjamin de Charmoy demonstrates a nice trio of 7A's at Topside's Bonnydoon. A soft one ("Two Stroke"), a hard one ("Full Throttle"), and one that's just about right ("Mighty Steel Leg").

The Five Ten Video Comp!

Cutloose Climbing and Five Ten South Africa are bringing you a new monthly video competition. Submit a video of you or your friends sending projects or just generally busting mad sickness and stand a chance to win your pick of any Five Ten shoe you fancy!

The procedure is pretty simple:
STEP 1: go do something cool.
STEP 2: film it!
STEP 3: edit your footage with some classy beats.
STEP 4: contact us for info how to submit/upload your movie.

The best movies will be shortlisted and uploaded to the Cutloose videos page, where you and your friends will have a chance to vote for your favourite one. The community vote and the vote of a panel of judges will decide on the winning video each month.

Moderate Mondays

Check out Cutloose Climbing's new feature: Moderate Mondays!

Every two weeks we'll be bringing out a short clip of some moderate climbs for you to go and try. Our first clip features Andrew Wood and Marijus Šmigelskis on a few problems at Beaverlac, a popular campsite in the Southern most reaches of the Cederberg Mountains.

Weekly Fix

Montagu is starting to see some action as various climbers from around the country descend upon the small Karoo town. Illona Pelser got the ball rolling with a fast send of "Whoa She Poopie", a route with much speculation about it's grade (which ranges from 28 to 30 depending on whether you use the rest ledge and which holds you use or don't use for the upper crux). Illona took the conservative approach and took 28 for it.

On the bouldering front back in Cape Town, Benjamin de Charmoy is making a strong recovery from his shoulder injury with a one ascent of the classic "Mintberry Crunch" 8A, and the second ascent of the 7C stand start to the "Sangoma" project, opened a few days prior by Marijus Šmigelskis.

Arjan de Kock hiked up to The Hole in 30 degree heat and managed to make a 2nd try, 2nd ascent of "Life Enhancement Program" 31, a route which features some of the most bizzare and unique moves on the peninsula.

Cederberg Winter in November

Joe Mohle spent a successful week up at Tafelberg in the Cederberg, despite being snowed on twice. We all thought it was summer!

Joe managed to make the first free ascent of "Nambarrie", which was formerly 23 A1. The crux first pitch went all free at 30 via hard cutloose moves off marginal fingertip locks and the rest of the route was a fairly comfortable onsight for Joe. He also went on to make the 2nd known ascent of the stunning "Before the Flood" 28, on his second attempt.

Cutloose Climbing

Due to popular demand, South Africa's longest running climbing website, Cutloose Bouldering, is proud to now bring you all the news, photos and videos from all spheres of our sport. Sport, Trad, Bouldering, and more...

The Cape Town

The finale of shorts featuring Paul Robinson and Marijus Šmigelskis bouldering around Cape Town this past winter. Enjoy!

Check out a nice short interview with Paul about his trip here.

All quiet on the home front.

In the meantime, check out this decent video some Brits made in Rocklands this past season:

New Address For Cutloose Bouldering

We have registered www.cutloose.co.za as the new main domain name for this website. The old addresses of www.cutloose.ca.tf and cutloosebouldering.blogspot.com will work as well, so just take your pick!

Paul in the Cape (Part 2)

The second of Paul Robinson's clips from his recent trip to Cape Town...

Harry's No Soft Egg

Harry Crews made short work of "Weichei" 7C+, the mini crimp-fest at the Plateau boulders in Rocklands. Harry spent one session figuring out all the moves, then returned the following weekend with a brand new pair of better shoes for the tricky heel hook and sent the line on his warm-up try.

Harry Crews on "Weichei"

The Search Ends

Paul Robinson's micro-crimpy arete line at Topside's Echo Valley, "In Search of the New Sound" 8B, got it's first South African repeats by Arjan de Kock and Marijus Šmigelskis this past weekend. Another local, Andrew Wood, is getting really close to sending the line as well so watch this space. Prior to his success of the "New Sound", Marijus also managed a send of the pumpy highball "Cthulhu" 8A+ as well as several new moderate first ascents.

Marijus on "In Search of the New Sound"

Expedition Fundraiser Tonight - BE THERE!

AdK sends Ray of Light

Arjan de Kock claimed the first South African ascent of "Ray of Light" 8B this past weekend in Rocklands. Arjan began trying the problem last season, but only unlocked the crux sequence earlier this year. Success was close several weeks ago when he climbed the whole line but was unable to claim it officially after dabbing his spotter on the dyno midway (with a solid kick to the chest!). The send was delayed even further as the thin cracks broke the skin on the tops of Arjan's fingers after just two or so attempts, thus only allowing him one brief session every two weeks.

The Visionary

It took Joe Möhle to scope out the line and Marijus Šmigelskis to work out a sequence, but the Roysten Vasey boulder at the CBD now has a new line. Well, more accurately, the new line is an extension to the ever popular "Papa Lazarou". The tricky new addition, "The Visionary" 7C starts exactly the same as "Herr Lipp" and moves left straight away to join the start of "Papa Lazarou".

Paul in the Cape (part 1)

The first of several short clips of Paul Robinson's visit to Cape Town.

Team Pretoria in Rocklands

A small group of climbers made the long drive from Pretoria to the mecca that is Rocklands. Some stayed for just a week, but two of them, James Barnes and Brian Weaver, spent over a month sampling some of the world class lines. Both climbers did the classic "Cedar Spine", "Throw Yourself Away", "The Bushoning", and "Last Day in Paradise", all in the 7C range. In addition, James sent "Macho King" 7C+, "Feel the Flow" 7C and "Technicolour Dreamcoat" 7C and Brian added "Stretched and Pressed" 7C to his ticklist.

Arjan & Marijus in Topside

Echo Valley is quickly becoming the epicentre of the Cape Town bouldering scene with many new lines and projects popping up. Marijus Šmigelskis made the second ascent of "The Midnight Barber" 8A (a line he had originally opened from a slightly higher start) and Arjan de Kock flashed "Mintberry Crunch" 8A and climbed the "Cthulhu" stand start at 7C+. Marijus also established "Cheekbone" 7C after the original problem lost most of it's crux crimp resulting in a much harder line.

Moving to The Cinema, the duo also claimed the 2nd and 3rd ascents of "The Life Aquatic" 7C+.

A good weekend for Wood!

Andrew Wood spent his weekend sending some classic lines in Cape Town. First to fall was the superb "Mintberry Crunch" 8A at Echo Valley which took him several sessions. On Sunday he visited the Cinema and claimed the third ascent of the prize line "Cloverfield" 8A and the 7C+ stand start to Paul's new 8B+, "Paranormal Activity", which climbs the second half of the traverse on small crimps.

Accountant's Project

The classic Topside testpiece, "Accountant's Project" 8A at Her Majesty's Boulder, received it's 5th ascent by Andrew Wood. The problem took Andrew around 3 sessions to complete, but the task was certainly harder due to the unseasonal South-East winds that blow straight off the sea and directly onto the face the line ascends.

Paranormal Activity

The last of Paul Robinson's big Topside projects for this trip fell this afternoon when he completed the first ascent of "Paranormal Activity" 8B+ at The Cinema. The rising left to right traverse took 4 visits to complete, but Paul's previous efforts were stunted by poor skin and strong winds blowing moist air off the nearby ocean.

A Simple Knowing

Paul Robinson has set yet another new benchmark in Cape Town with the completion of the city's first 8C boulder problem in Topside. "A Simple Knowing" climbs 12 moves out the belly of a massive boulder at The Magik Bloks. The single crux move took Paul over 4 sessions to stick and success of the full line came after darkness fell on his 7th day on the climb.

Rachelle in Rocklands

Rachelle de Charmoy had a brilliant month in Rocklands, becoming the first South African lady to boulder 7C+ with her ascent of "Weichei" at the Plateau boulders. Rachelle also managed an ascent of the ultra classic "Kingdom in the Sky" 7C, "Maniac" 7B, and the Fortress's "Much Ado About Nothing" 7B.

On the same trip, Rachelle's brother Benjamin also sent "The Amphitheatre" 8A+ at The Otherside. 

The Steady Plums

The list of new hard problems continues to grow as Paul Robinson's visit to Cape Town enters its final week. The long standing project at St James Park in Topside was his latest contribution after two days of efforts. The six move problem, "The Steady Plums" 8B, concentrates the majority of it's difficulty on moving to and from a really poor crimp to round a bulging lip to the slopers above.

The New Sound

Another hard line has fallen to Paul Robinson with the completion of "In Search of the New Sound" 8B at Echo Valley in Topside. The 8 move problem on tiny crimps up a steep arete took Paul three sessions to send and is located at a fairly new cluster of lines higher up in the valley, which still has a few projects waiting to be sent.

Earlier that week, Paul also established the highball "Cthulhu" 8A+ lower down in the valley, with Marijus Šmigelskis making a fast repeat of the 7C+ stand start of the same climb.

Latest Releases at The Cinema

Marijus Šmigelskis and Paul Robinson have been busy adding more classic testpieces to The Cinema at Topside. Marijus broke a hold on the "Cloverfield" project, the scar left a nicer crimp and allowed him to send the climb with a less reachy alternate sequence to the originally intended line which was rather morpho. Paul then used his height and strength to open the harder variation of the same climb, which he dubbed "Zodiac" 8A+. Lastly, to complete the lines on the boulder, Marijus opened "War of the Worlds" 7C. which climbs the first crux of "Cloverfield/Zodiac", but then heads rightwads to escape through a gap between the boulders.

Paul then made good progress on the "Paranormal Activity" project, sticking all of the crux moves and establishing a stand start at 7C+. The full line is expected to weigh in around the 8B+ mark and Paul hopes to complete it fairly soon.

8B+ comes to Cape Town!

Cape Town received its hardest climb to date with the completion of the well known "razor crimper showdown" project at the Aerial Boulders in Topside by Paul Robinson. Paul tried the line last year, working out all but one of the moves, and returned this season to complete the problem in just a single session. The problem, now called "Mirta", fitted Paul's style to perfection, and features 12 or so moves on tiny incut edges up a 45 degree wall.

The Dropout

As Paul Robinson continues his tear through the boulders of Cape Town, a visit to The Classroom resulted in the completion of the sit start to "Blood and Thunder". Dominic Riordan opened "Blood and Thunder" a few years back, starting in a standing position, but an obvious sit start remained, adding a few moderate moves, but essentially completing the full line. Paul came close to sending the problem from the sit start on his first session, but fell on the delicate foot smears on the last hard move. Returning a week later, Paul managed to send the full line creating "The Dropout" 8B, as well as making the second ascent of "Exam Stress" 8A.

Echo Valley sendage

Topside's Echo Valley has seen a good amount of attention recently with a bunch of new lines being opened and some standing testpieces being repeated. American Paul Robinson has been tearing through the valley, quickly repeating many of the hard lines and is now working on some of the many projects the area has to offer. In between burns on some harder lines, he managed a quick first ascent of "Ladder to Suckcess" 7C+, a heinous jump off a micro crimp. Local legend, Clinton Martinengo has also been trying to keep up, with repeats of "Mintberry Crunch" 8A, and the much awaited second ascent of "The Buoyancy of Citrus". The latter problem getting the upgrade treatment to 8A, after no successes after many attempts by most of the local heroes.

Rocklands season kicks off

Benjamin de Charmoy has started off his season with a repeat of "Tea with Elmarie" 8A+ at the campground boulders in Rocklands. He tried the problem a bit last year, but ran out of time to complete it with so many other projects diverting his attention. Benj is in Rocklands for a few more weeks so we can surely expect more good sends.

8A at Magik Bloks

Visiting American Paul Robinson has opened the "Marlboro Man" project at the Magik Bloks, an area in Topside developed by Maciej Fijalkowski. The main boulder still has 3 projects to be sent as well as a possible extension to the start of "Marlboro Man" through the roof of the underbelly of the boulder. Paul also extended "Kill the Batman" into a delicate highball finish to create "The Classy Pirates" 7C.

UPDATE: Arjan sends Amandla

Arjan de Kock has made the first South African ascent of "Amandla" 8B+ in Rocklands! Arjan began working on the Fred Nicole testpiece last season but had to abandon his efforts as the weather got too hot. Success on the line came fairly quickly this season with the cold winter temps. Check out the clip:

Prize Roof at Turtle Sent!

Joe Mohle has opened the harder extension to his own "Eyes on the Prize", bumping the grade up to 8A at The Turtle Boulders in Topside. The extension carries on through the length of the roof after reaching the second to last hold of "Eyes on the Prize", adding a further six moves, to specifically gain a triangular pocket with the right hand before topping out. This latest addition to the Turtle cave (which now boasts 3 problems from 7B to 8A) has been named "GI Joe Kung Fu Grip" after a humorous lyrics in a Sublime song.

New Additions to Cape Boulders

Marijus Šmigelskis added two new problems over the past few days. At the "Through the Core" boulder in Echo Valley in Topside, he climbed "Fat Sally" 7C, which basically does the first move of "Pudgy Bitch" to the gaston, then you jump to the flat jug instead of matching and heading rightwards.

Then, moving to the CBD, he scoped out a new boulder above the road directly above the Roysten Vasey parking area, opening several new lines, then hardest of which is "The Bro Code", offering five moves up the steepest side of the boulder, at around 7B+ or 7C.

Clinton on the return

Clinton Martinengo is recovering well from a severe shoulder injury. Lately, he's been focusing on the vertical and slab lines at Llandudno to minimise the impact on his healing shoulder. He managed to claim the second ascent of "In The Making", opened by Joe Mohle several years ago. Although the line lacked an official grade, it was widely accepted to be in the 7C or 7C+ region. Clinton managed to do the stand start in one evening session after 3 months of barely any climbing, and returned at dawn to get optimal conditions a few days later to succeed on the sit start.

EDIT: Seam Project on Crute's Boulder Sent!

CORRECTION: New information has come to light, that the project on Crute's Boulder was in fact opened a few years ago by none other than one of SA's climbing legends, Steve Bradshaw Snr. Steve generally stays out of the limelight and had named the problem "Florence of Arabia" and graded it 7B.

The long-standing central seam project at Crute's Boulder at Topside has been opened by Benjamin de Charmoy in one brief session. Although the line turned out to not be incredibly difficult, it's a good example of how far local bouldering standards have rising since the "golden era" of Topside. Benj named the line "Eurotrip" 7A+, after the mono and slopers featured on the problem, sticking to The Cinema's general naming and sand-bag grading theme.

Redhill CLOSED!

With things getting quite tense with the rangers in the past few months, some local climbers have gotten together with the MCSA and the SAN Parks in an effort to resolve access issues once and for all. We are awaiting an EMP assessment so please respect the ban on climbing at all the main hill sectors as well as Coppermine until this issue is resolved.

We'll keep you updated with any developments.

Gauteng Update

The Gauteng bouldering scene has seems to be gaining momentum, with the Pretoria boys leading the way. Development has begun at a new area called Bobbejaansberg, where Adam Ludford established "Blindside Arete" 7C+ and Brian Weaver put up "Acrophobia" 7C+. Brian then moved his attention to eZemvelo where he made the 3rd ascent of "Healing Power" 7C+ and opened the area's first 8A, "Total Reflection" after 4 sessions on the line. The difficulties of the problem focus around the first few moves, including a very technical and difficult heel hook move, before joining an extisting 7B+ called "Third Reflection".

Falco Filotto and PW Nel made the 2nd and 3rd ascents of "Total Reflection" after Brian on the same day, hopefully confirming the grade.

Ard Ay gets 9th ascent!

Today, Joe Möhle made the 9th repeat of the super-classic "Ard Ay" 8A+ at The Seaside boulders of Topside. This problem marks Joe's first of the grade, impressive considering in was originally given 8B, and Joe's hardest previous boulder was 7C+...

Joe is more known amongst the climbing circles for his trad climbing prowess, but this season he's set on making a mark on the bouldering front as well. Joe first tried the problem in 2006 figuring out all the beta, and had tried it on and off over the years with varied degrees of seriousness. About a month ago, however, he decided to  tie up this loose end and dedicated his next five or six sessions to the line, with success finally coming on this cool autumn evening.

Clinton vs The Cape Summer

Before shipping off to Argentina to build soccer stadiums, Clinton Martinengo had several good sessions at various venues around the Cape this past December. He managed to walk away with the much awaited second ascent of "Standard Grade", a 7C (or perhaps harder considering the lack of repeats) at The Classroom. Also in the line-up were the 3rd ascents of "Black Demon" 8A at Redhill and "The Butterfly Effect", a sand-bagged 7C at The Maze in Topside. "Chaos" 8A, and "Flaming Pig" 7C got the treatment as well...

The tale of Chaos (8A?)

One of Redhill's oldest proposed 8A's, "Chaos", has seen a lot of attention in the past few months, with several climbers bagging the line for their 1st of the grade. Most recent was Alan Hills, who has agreed with common opinion that the problem should perhaps be downgraded? As reported before "the original concept of the problem involved a long move off a sloper rail to poor sloping crimps, before slapping up to slopers on the lip and topping out. "Chaos" remained a project for several years, repelling attempts from a number of capable climbers, until Emile Esterhuizen thought of a slightly easier sequence by moving further to the right to a poor sidepull, and then moving back left into bad underclings above the sloper rail and skipping the crimps altogether. Although the line was complete, many Redhill locals felt that the true line was yet to be climbed. In 2007, Marijus Šmigelskis finally made the first ascent of the originally intended line bumping the grade up from 7C to 8A".

Now however, it seems that the problem may be suffering (or benefiting?) from a strange phenomenon that is common for sloper climbs at Redhill. Fresh rock in the area seems to have a strange form of micro lichen that grows between the texture of the holds. As people start climbing on the holds, adding chalk and brushing them, the lichen dies off and over the years, the friction improves dramatically. We've seen classic examples of this on "Rolling Stones", which went from 7B+ to 7A+ and "Four Singers".

Check out Clinton Martinengo making light work of "Chaos" this past summer, climbing it on his first redpoint go after flashing the crux section in isolation:

New 7C Roof at The Turtle Boulders

Joe Möhle has opened a new line, "Eyes on the Prize" 7C, on the much spied but seldom tried roof just off the trail at the Turtle Boulders in Topside. Joe nabbed the central and most obvious line out the large cave from a stand start at the lowest of the good holds, but notes several harder versions exist, awaiting an ascent.

Benj sends Black Hawk Down

Benjamin de Charmoy has had a strong start to the 2011 season with two fast 8A+ repeats in Topside. He managed to make the 8th ascent of "Ard Ay" after 3 sessions of work. The last repeat of this excellent roof problem was by Emile Esterhuizen back in 2007 so it's good to see it getting more action.

Moving to The Cinema, Benj made the third ascent of "Black Hawk Down" which is the 4 move sit start to "Flubber". The line was opened by Marijus Šmigelskis in 2009 and has only seen a repeat by visiting American climber Paul Robinson last year.