Monday, April 30, 2012

National Boulder League Finals 2012


A somewhat controversial NBL finals took place at the university wall in Durban over the weekend after a late-in-the-season venue change from Grahamstown. Most WC climbers opted to give the event a miss as a result. Benjamin de Charmoy took the mens title for the third consecutive year, and Candice Bagley claimed 1st in the ladies open.

Rachelle de Charmoy

Mathieu Schneuwly brings us a brief run-down of the day:

The warm and humid conditions of Durban played host to the 2012 NBL national finals at UKZN. This year their was an overwhelming attendance of Gauteng and KZN youths who were eager to test themselves against one another and showed plenty of good natured rivalry. There were categories to cater for every age group, including novice and expert categories within the age groups. Everyone was invited!
The qualifiers were kicked off with categories unleashed one at a time to scramble up their problems within a 45 minute time limit. Advantage was given for flash ascents in the qualifiers, meaning people were tentative to be the first person to try, but things quickly got going. The qualifiers ran smoothly and the problem setters did an excellent job to ensure that every style was challenged and that the competitors were kept on their toes and well amused. 
The top 5 of each category were entered into the grand final which was scheduled for the afternoon after a well needed lunch.
The finals consisted of three problems with a 5 minutes on 5 minutes off system. The finals problems were of top quality yet somewhat soft although the fields were evenly spread. The national mens title was once again claimed by Benjamin de Charmoy of WC who flashed two of the problems and obtained the bonus hold on the third. Second place was Mathieu Schneuwly also from WC who’s two top outs and a bonus hold were enough to hold off Dylan Vogt of Gauteng who took third place.
The ladies category was a somewhat closer call with an attempt or two seperating the positions. The Ladies title was handed to their very own Candice Bagley followed by Rachelle de charmoy from WC, both of whom shared a flash or two, and whose scores were seperated by mere attempts. Faye Brouard of KZN took third place after a climbing hiatus to end the day as a huge success!
Unfortunately the 2012 NBL final failed to showcase the full field of talent in the NBL circuit, and if the aim of the organisers; to raise the level of the competition to an international standard; is to be achieved, more effort should be made in future events to ensure that the adult open category is fully representative.
Benj de Charmoy
Mathieu Schneuwly
Faye Brouard
Check out the full finals results after the jump...

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Vintage Ebola

Check out this old school clip of Paul Brouard making the second ascent of "Ebola" 33 at The Cauldron in Montagu back in 2002. This is an extract from "High Society" probably the second climbing movie made in South Africa (the first being "Monkey Pump" in the 90s).

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

WP Boulder League - Final results

The 2012 competition season has come to a close in the Cape after twelve weekly rounds held at various venues around Cape Town. This year's overall title went to Marijus Šmigelskis in the men's open category, Julia Chen in the ladies, Kieran Amin in men's intermediate and Andy Court in U18 boys.

Check out the full results after the jump.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Moderate Monday

Marijus Šmigelskis re-climbs "Scirocco" 7A+, a problem he opened in 2007 on the Cape Fear boulder in Topside's Echo Valley.

Monday, April 16, 2012

WP Boulder League - Round 11 results

Round 11 took place on Friday night at CityRock. Check out the results after the jump. One event remains for the season, at UCT tomorrow evening (17 April).

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Be Quick or Be Dead

The long lost and forgotten mini trad crag of Crystal Dream Palace on the outskirts of Hermanus has lay devoid of any real activity ever since Clinton Martinengo developed the cliff at the turn of the millennium. Joe Möhle decided to give the area some attention with his sights set on the crag's testpiece, "Be Quick or Be Dead" 31, which had no repeats since Clinton opened it in 1999.
Joe made the drive out to Hermanus five times before success came on a rainy Saturday and he claimed the second ascent of what he claims is "the best power endurance route in the world...". The ground fall potential and the tiny nature of the gear placements make placing pro on lead extremely dangerous and difficult, so Joe opted to climb it on pre-placed gear, in the same style as the first ascentionist. Thanks to Garrreth Bird for the screen grabs!



Saturday, April 14, 2012

Paarl bouldering topo updated

Niel Mostert has updated the Paarl bouldering topo with all the new problems opened since the last version. Check it out.


Friday, April 13, 2012

A Grand Finale for AdK

Arjan de Kock had pretty much given up on "The Big Island" 8C, the desperately condition dependant project he had been besieging all winter long as Fontainebleau moved into the warmer spring and summer months. However an April cold snap brought unexpected success for Arjan on another line he'd been working, the low start to "Satan i Helvete", which bumps the grade up a notch to 8B+ (he'd done the higher start in Feb). With renewed confidence, Arjan returned to "The Big Island" and became the 1st South African to boulder 8C!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

31 Up for Grabs by Phlip

The Easter Bunny gave Phlip Olivier a super sweet send over the weekend with one of Oudtshoorn's classics, "Up for Grabs" 31. Phlip says the route went down on the warm up of the third day, warmed up on the easier part and went for it! It was his fourth time on the route, and came quite unexpectedly for him.

"It did not go down without a proper fight though (some manly yelps and some girly screeching). Was ossem! Glad Estelle was there"
Phlip attributes his send mainly to his sending pant he received as a gift from his wife the previous day.
Phlip enjoying his well earned post-send sarmie in his new sending pant

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

WP Boulder League - Round 10 results

Ten out of the twelve rounds this season have passed for the WP Boulder League. Only the top eight scores of each climber count towards their final standings. Check out the full results after the jump. This week's round will be held at CityRock on Friday the 13th of April, at 17:30.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Moderate Monday

The next time your weekend is plagued with rain in Cape Town, why not head across to Paarl Rocks to sample some fast drying granite? Just 40 minutes from the city, it receives far less of the frontal weather that hits the peninsula in the winter months. Below, Phlip Olivier makes the first ascent of "King Joker" 7A+.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Matt Free Solo

Another feature of Matt Bush, this time rope-free on some very impressive solos in Montagu...

Friday, April 6, 2012

Matt at Llandudno

Check out this clip of Matt Bush shot over the summer on some new and not so new problems at Llandudno, including his ascent of "The Love Project" 8B.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Life Enhancement Program

As we reported in Feb, Joe Möhle made a trad ascent of an old sport project he opened last year at The Hole. The route was originally bolted by Jeremy Samson and stood un-opened for more than 10 years before Joe set his sights to it and created "Life Enhancement Program" 31. A few weeks later he returned yet again, this time with Jonathan Joseph to capture the magic. Enjoy:

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Candy for Snapdragon

Waterval Boven's mega classic "Snapdragon" 29 received some female attention a few days ago when Candice Bagley managed a send of the world-famous endro testpiece. Check out what Candice had to say about the route and some sweet shots by Gustav van Rensburg below:


"I had been on Snapdragon a few years previously but it felt fairly unattainable in the usual weekend trips to Waterval Boven. This time my trip was to be a bit longer and my power was up enough from bouldering that meant the moves did not feel difficult on their own. I spent 4 climbing days on Snapdragon this time and from the first day it felt doable, quite the contrast from the first time I was on it.
 

Every move of this classic route feels elegant and interesting. It has a little bit of everything . There is a crimpy, balancy crux that requires specific foot movements which make it almost effortless. The pumpy lower section is full of seemingly easy moves, each draining a little of your energy. My favourite move on the route is a crazy drop knee, inspired by Nadine Methner’s video, in the middle section. The orange wall suddenly kicks back to become more of a pump fest. The famous heel hook crux is novel and a great deal of fun, topped off with some tricky moves to the chains.
 

I have about 5 days left in Boven so hopefully I will be able to tick off another stunning endurance route like this."


Monday, April 2, 2012

Vajra Days

Julia Chen continues to rack up here impressive list of female firsts, this time with an impressive ascent of "Elfen Lied" a 14+ move 8A traverse! Julia built up her stamina over three sessions on the line, refining her sequence, and managing to send on her fourth day.

Just one boulder over, Andrew Wood managed a repeat of "The Sound of Violence" 8A, and Marijus Šmigelskis managed to add a silly 6 move extension to the start of the same problem to create "The Sound of Violins" at one notch harder.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

CityRock Bouldering Comp 2012

CityRock held their annual bouldering comp on the brand new bouldering wall which has now doubled the climbing surface. With over R25,000 in prizes and hundreds of brand new imported grips, it's a surprise the entire country didn't descend upon South Africa's premier indoor climbing centre! In all, 35 problems were set to cater for all levels by some of SA's top climbers resulting in a wide variety of styles, as well as the usual dyno and monkey swing comps for those taking things a little less serious...

Andy Davies displays some old school stemming
technique to dispatch problem 28.

Mens Open
1 Marijus Šmigelskis
2 Duncan Fraser
3 Robbie Fraser

Ladies Open
1 Julia Chen
Mens Intermediate
1 Nielen Venter
2 Jason Collins
3 Adir Deokran
Womens Intermediate
1 Isabella Van de Rede
Mens Novice
1 Petrus Theron
2 Anesh Magan
3 Mats Elliot (tie)
3 Ryan Bezuidenhout (tie)
U18 Boys
1 Daniel Duval