July Hits

The Plateau Boulders in Rocklands have seen a lot of action lately and it seems that everyone is lining up to send the area's testpieces. Clinton Martinengo, Jon Reading, Marijus and Edvinas Šmigelskis, Scott Noy and Marc Efune all sent "Weichei" 7C+. Clinton Martinengo flashed "Louder Than Bombs" 7C and "Arch Baby" 7C, and Scott Noy did "Shadows of Ourselves" 7C+ at Kleinfontein. Julia Chen sent the super crimpy "Model Robber" 7B as well as "Teapot" 7A at the Campground Boulders. "Born Into Struggle" has also seen a lot of ascents, including a flash by Marijus and a consensus has been reached to downgrade the line from 7C to 7B+. Dale Posthumus is making a return to bouldering and repeated "Sunset Arete" 7C in a single session after having tried the problem briefly a few years ago.

Dale on "Sunset Arete"

At TDA on the Deadwood boulder, Marijus Šmigelskis added an excellent new problem called "Parthenon" 8A. It starts as for "Hip Hip Chin Chin" and then moves up and left through the steep wall using the big moves off small crimps to join "Xibalba". At the main boulder, Monique Harris dispatched her project and sent "Skunk" 7B, and Julia Chen got the first lady send of the crimpy sit start dubbed "Super Skunk" 7B+.

At the Roadside boulders in Rocklands, Julia Chen has probably become the first South African lady to climb the notorious "A Question of Balance" 7B. Although she got close to climbing the problem in one day, the moves took their toll and she returned send it on her next trip. Ben Harper and Marijus Šmigelskis also made repeats of the Roadside classic "Pendragon" 8A.

Julia on "A Question of Balance"

Martin Renz has been active in the Eastern Cape and has added a bunch of new problems to the boulders of Alicedale, the most notable being "Yoma Yoki Direst" and "Afterglow" both 7B+. He also repeated "Raptor" and "Joe Lives" both 7C in Hogsback.

Durbanites in Rocklands

Durban locals Mathieu Schneuwly and Benjamin and Rachelle de Charmoy made their annual winter pilgrimage to Rocklands and managed some good sends despite the rain storms that lasted more than half their trip. Rachelle sent "Model Robber" and "Directors Cunt" both 7B and Mathieu and Benjamin cleaned up around the Plateau Boulders with double sends of "Weichei" 7C+, "Born Into Struggle" 7B+/7C, and "Louder Than Bombs" 7C (which Mathieu flashed). Ben also tied up a project from last year and dispatched "Caroline" 7C, as well as the awesome dyno "Black Velvet" 8A. Mathieu also came close to doing "Black Velvet" and stuck the jump a couple of times minus the first move. Not bad at all for a bunch of sport climbers...

Rachelle on "Director's Cunt"

Mat sticking the "Black Velvet" dyno.

June Hits

At Echo Valley in Topside, Marijus Šmigelskis opened a slightly contrived but rather hard little problem named "Turboset" 7C+ which involves a deperate pull off a polished sloper to catch a small edge.

With rumours of the closure of the main boulder at TDA flying around, many Cape climbers have been busy tying up loose ends and trying to send their remaining projects. Marijus Šmigelskis managed to establish another worthwhile linkup traverse which starts as for "Super Skunk" and joins "THC", resulting in "Chinese Nosebleed" 7C+. He then returned a few days later to add an even further extension to the start and bumping the grade up one notch to 8A. This latest addition was named "The Last Line of Defence" and starts as for "Inertia" 7A+ and traverses rightwards to join "Chinese Nosebleed".

Back in Rocklands, Shaun Harris repeated "Sean's Roof" 7C and added the classic "Sunset Arete" 7C to his ticklist. Marijus Šmigelskis took a visit to Frenchside and managed to do "Stroh 80" 7C+ as well as "Scorpion" 8A (which has lost some of its holds) in 3 tries after figuring out the sequence.

Marijus on "Stroh 80"

May Hits

With conditions improving in Rocklands, Evan Wiercx and Scott Noy both sent "Born Into Struggle" 7C, with Scott also sending "Louder Than Bombs" 7C and "Sean's Roof" 7C. Jon Reading send "Arch Baby" 7C and the ultra-classic "Cedar Spine" 7C.

Shaun Harris briefly tried "Pudgy Bitch" 7C+ at Echo Valley in Topside a few months ago with no success but returned for a quick send after one sessionl. He also did the TDA linkup "Caveman" 7C.

NBL 2009

The South African National Bouldering League Finals were held at a brand new sector at Redhill, dubbed Coppermine (check out the results here). This new area is a tremendous addition to the Cape Town bouldering scene and already features some instant classics. Marijus Šmigelskis managed to open "Pandemonium", which is certainly one of the proudest boulder problems on the peninsula- tall, hard and beautiful. The line was originally graded 8A, but a new hold was discovered by Andrew Wood the following weekend which resulted in altering the crux move drastically and dropping the grade to 7C. Either way, the line remains a super classic must-do...

Andrew Wood on "Pandemonium".