Botswana Bouldering

Guided by a single photo found on the internet, a group of UCT boulderers set off for Botswana with rumours of granite covered koppies on the edge of the Kalahari desert. The village of Thamaga was the first stop, but the boulders did not yield many problems, although only a tiny fraction of the potential was explored, and the team moved further west to Moshupo. Here the stone quality seemed to improve and had more features. Gotau Hill was the focus of the trip and the first problem to fall, "Donkey Kong" 7B, was an instant classic and climbed a short overhanging prow. Andrew Wood moved further up the hill to establish a techinal arete problem dubbed "Hungry Lion" 7B. Marijus Šmigelskis spent some time exploring and discovered another cluster, in strong shade the entire afternoon which produced "Four Forces" 7A+ and "Twin Paradox" 7C. As the cherry on top, Marijus tried a blunt arete which seemed completely featureless at first, then after a few attempts only highly improbably, until somehow he pulled through the first move and sent the line to create "Dark Matter" 8A, boosted with extra energy from a mouthful of golden syrup. Check out the gallery and the video below.

 

Tall Champs

It seems Topside's latest testpiece is a becoming a walk in the park for the vertically gifted. Two of the cape's taller climbers, Dom Riordan and Shaun Harris, visited "Real Champs Get Thirsty" in Echo Valley and dispatched the line with relative ease. Near 6 foot tall climbers can use a good heel hook for the entire length of the problem, making the poor opposing slopers easier to hold, and eliminating the finishing crux dyno over the lip off the poorest of the holds. Although the line will certainly feel 7C+ or even harder for some, an accurate grade for the line is open to much speculation, with Shaun finding it as easy as 7B...

Introducing eZemvelo

Gauteng boulderers' prayers have been answered and Jo'burg and Pretoria now have their own proper bouldering area, just outside of Bronkhurstspruit. Development at eZemvelo has been fairly under the radar over the past year or so but the results have been worth the wait. Schalk Erasmus has been the driving force behind this excellent new area and Donovan Willis has added several testpieces. The boulders lie in a river valley on a nature reserve requiring a mandatory game drive just to reach the remote climbers camp. After the USSA competition in Pretoria, the UCT team visited eZemvelo and were impressed with what they found. Highlights of their visit included repeats of "Animal Planet" 7C by Duncan Fraser and Marijus Šmigelskis, Andrew Wood and Marijus sent "Spoon" and "Girls Problem", both 7C and Julia Chen managed a flash of "Cry Baby" 7A and a fast repeat of "7biaatch" 7B. Marijus then went on to open several new problems including "Flashpoint" 7C and "Healing Power" 7C+ and Julia joined in on the action with the first ascent of the desperately thin "Release The Demons" 7B, a problem that stumpted most of the boys...

Check out the gallery here, and the vid below:

USSA 2009

The annual inter-university climbing championship (USSA) was held at The Barn in Pretoria, with lead and sport climbing events. The University of Cape Town dominated in the men's bouldering, claiming all three podium positions. Marijus Šmigelskis flashed all three of the finals problems, Andrew Wood topped out all three, flashing two and Duncan Fraser managed top out two, both on the flash attempt. Ilse Labuschagne climbed very smoothly and also flashed all three of the ladies finals problems. Julia Chen topped out all three, flashing one, and Emma Boyd got close but did not manage any top outs.

	Mens	Ladies
1.	Marijus Šmigelskis   (UCT)	Ilse Labuschagne   (TUKS)
2.	Andrew Wood   (UCT)	Julia Chen   (UCT)
3.	Duncan Fraser   (UCT)	Emma Boyd   (WITS)

Mat and Greg send

At Coppermine in Redhill, Greg Streatfield made the 4th ascent of "Pandemonium" 7C and Mat Rowe got the 4th ascent of "Panic Room" 7C+ on his second session on the line. Mat then moved on to Bonnydoon in Topside and did the second ascent of "Real Champs Get Thisty" 7C+ in only 20 minutes of work, proving suspicions that the line will be far easier for taller climbers.