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| Clara Grant on problem 6 |
Friday, February 24, 2012
WP Boulder League - Round 4
Round 4 of the WP Boulder League was back at UCT. Benjamin de Charmoy and Marijus Šmigelskis both managed to send all the hard problems for full marks on the night. Clara Grant and Rachelle de Charmoy matched each other's scores for a tie in 1st place. NB: Round 5 will be at UCT next Tuesday, 28 Feb, NOT at MCSA.
Check the full results after the jump.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
ADK in the woods
"Gourmandise" 8B finally succumbed to Arjan de Kock's efforts in Fontainebleau after numerous sessions over the past few months. Frustratingly, Arjan did the higher 8A+ start in just a few tries over a year ago, but the 3 extra undercling moves for the full line put up a bit of a fight this season.
To celebrate after his send, Arjan also climbed "Kheops Assis" 8B+ within the hour, just for good measure, and just coz he can...
Monday, February 20, 2012
Supertramp Joe
Joe Möhle recently returned from his adventure in Morocco and had the following to say about his trip:
"Flew in to Marrakech and overnighted there to get an early morning bus to Tafraoute.
Spent one week in Tafraoute:
Bolted a new route (remains unclimbed for future visitors), Cycled around the spectacular mountains and desert. Repeats of hard traditional climbs ("Negro Azabache" 28/7c, onsight and "Lover's Crack" 29/7c+, flash) plus many routes in the 18-25 range. And joined a big desert rave party with gypsies!
Travelled to the High Atlas, again via Marrakech
Spent one week in the High Atlas, Jbel Toubkhal region:
Opened a new moderate grade alpine route on Biguinoussene north ridge with British climber Kelvin Mann. Climbed Jbel Toubkhal 4167m, the highest peak in North Africa. Spent a few days trekking around these beautiful alpine peaks. Drank loads of sweet tea with the local mountain guides. Tried my best to make an appearance on a Maltese reality TV show to no avail :)
The background for the route in the video: Negro Azabache is situated on one of the famous Painted Rocks in the middle of nowhere. The route was just the easiest to film, being a sit start to a short route. although including the roof it climbs about 12m of crack. Compared to some ADK or Colenso cracks it seemed a bit soft but on par with many others I've done. but who cares... The rocks were painted in 1984 by a mad Belgian artist. He drove in about 20 tons of pink, black and blue paint in fire trucks and went wild! Usually I would consider that sort of thing pollution, but I grew strangely fond of the colourful rocks during the desert rave party :)"
Another angle of Joe's onsight of the same route, courtesy of Florian Schmale, a crazy German cycling through Morocco:
"Flew in to Marrakech and overnighted there to get an early morning bus to Tafraoute.
Spent one week in Tafraoute:
Bolted a new route (remains unclimbed for future visitors), Cycled around the spectacular mountains and desert. Repeats of hard traditional climbs ("Negro Azabache" 28/7c, onsight and "Lover's Crack" 29/7c+, flash) plus many routes in the 18-25 range. And joined a big desert rave party with gypsies!
Travelled to the High Atlas, again via Marrakech
Spent one week in the High Atlas, Jbel Toubkhal region:
Opened a new moderate grade alpine route on Biguinoussene north ridge with British climber Kelvin Mann. Climbed Jbel Toubkhal 4167m, the highest peak in North Africa. Spent a few days trekking around these beautiful alpine peaks. Drank loads of sweet tea with the local mountain guides. Tried my best to make an appearance on a Maltese reality TV show to no avail :)
The background for the route in the video: Negro Azabache is situated on one of the famous Painted Rocks in the middle of nowhere. The route was just the easiest to film, being a sit start to a short route. although including the roof it climbs about 12m of crack. Compared to some ADK or Colenso cracks it seemed a bit soft but on par with many others I've done. but who cares... The rocks were painted in 1984 by a mad Belgian artist. He drove in about 20 tons of pink, black and blue paint in fire trucks and went wild! Usually I would consider that sort of thing pollution, but I grew strangely fond of the colourful rocks during the desert rave party :)"
Another angle of Joe's onsight of the same route, courtesy of Florian Schmale, a crazy German cycling through Morocco:
Saturday, February 18, 2012
WP Boulder League Round 3
The 3rd round of the Cape's boulder league was held at CityRock on Friday. The turn-out was a bit smaller as many people headed off climbing for the weekend. Nevertheless, Benjamin De Charmoy made his season debut in the mens open field and managed to secure top spot on the night. His sister, Rachelle, edged out Clara Grant for top spot in the ladies field. Full results after the jump...
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Gauteng Boulder League results after week 2
Results of the Gauteng leg of the National Boulder League are trickling in. Check out the full results after the jump.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The other Steve Bradshaw ALSO climbs 8c...
Hot on the heels of Professor Steve Bradshaw's recent success on "Where I Stood", a 34 (that's 8c in the French grading system) in Montagu, the younger (unrelated) Steve Bradshaw sent his 8c project in China's sport-climbing mecca, Yangshuo. Global traveller Steve junior had spent a few weeks in China climbing several routes up to 8b+, but his main goal "China Climb", eluded him until the very end of his trip. Disappointed, he joined his family on a brief sailing trip to New Zealand, but fortunately made plans to return to Yangshuo after a relaxing holiday and managed to send the route! Check out more of Steve's adventures here.
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| Steve Bradshaw "China Climb" - photo courtesy of The Stangie Travelogue |
Monday, February 13, 2012
More action
Whilst everyone is melting from the heat in South Africa, Arjan de Kock is kickin' it in France and continues to tie up his loose ends from last year's Fontainebleau trip with sends of "Partage" 8A+, the world-famous arete, and the powerful "Satan i Helvete" 8B, with much better temps this year 'round.
Harry Crews has left the working world and gone back to becoming smarter at UCT. Being a student should give him lots more time to climb and he's already taking advantage of his situation by cruising through to Montagu one weekday afternoon and cruising up "Strange Days" 31 at the Palace in true Crews style...
Not contempt with his bolt-clipping first ascent of "Life Enhancement Program" 31 at The Hole last year, Joe Möhle spent a few more session on the route and finally managed to climb it placing traditional gear. When asked why? Joe simply responded "to climb hard on trad, you have to climb hard on trad...".
Naureen Goheer's siege on "Faberge" 28 at Fernkloof ended rather soon when she managed to send on her first try after getting to the kneebar mid crux. This was Naureen's ninth 28 or harder route!
Harry Crews has left the working world and gone back to becoming smarter at UCT. Being a student should give him lots more time to climb and he's already taking advantage of his situation by cruising through to Montagu one weekday afternoon and cruising up "Strange Days" 31 at the Palace in true Crews style...
Not contempt with his bolt-clipping first ascent of "Life Enhancement Program" 31 at The Hole last year, Joe Möhle spent a few more session on the route and finally managed to climb it placing traditional gear. When asked why? Joe simply responded "to climb hard on trad, you have to climb hard on trad...".
Naureen Goheer's siege on "Faberge" 28 at Fernkloof ended rather soon when she managed to send on her first try after getting to the kneebar mid crux. This was Naureen's ninth 28 or harder route!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
WP Boulder League Round 2
The second round of the WP league took place at UCT again and the wall was packed way beyond capacity as climbers jockeyed for a chance on each problem. Robert Fraser was the only competitor to make it through the contorted start of problem 15 to reach the bonus hold to take the lead in mens open on the night. Julia Chen dominated the ladies field with the only send of problem 7 and was the only lady to move past the bonus hold of burly number 8. The next round is on Friday, 17 Feb at CityRock.
Check out the full results after the jump...
Check out the full results after the jump...
Monday, February 6, 2012
JC sends Hypoxia!
Montagu's classic burly roof "Hypoxia" 29 received it's first female ascent when Julia Chen clipped the chains on the route this Sunday. Julia tried the climb for the first time last November, and then returned several times over the summer to work out some girl-friendly beta for the route's powerful and dynamic sequences. Julia fell a handful of times from the very last move, each time taking ground scraping falls as she opted to skip the last draw, much to the terror of her belayer. Check out the send below...
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
WP Boulder League Round 1
The first round of the Cape Boulder League kicked off last night and the turn-out was excellent. Over 50 competitors crammed into the sports hall at UCT to battle it out on 15 problems for 3 hours. The mens open field saw a 3 way tie on the night with Jimbo Smith, Robert Fraser and Marijus Šmigelskis sending problem 13. The ladies open was won by Julia Chen, who managed the only female send of the dynamic problem 6. Thanks to Calvin Kemp for organising the start of another promising comp season!
Check out the full results here.
