Topside repeats

Julia Chen made the first female ascent of "Shrek" 7B at the Graffitti Boulders in Echo Valley at Topside. The micro crimpy line was opened by Evan Wiercx at 7B+ and even at 7B, it does not see many ascents. Julia nearly sent the problem unexpectedly on her first try of the day, after a long break from trying the line. Later that same day, Julia headed up to Bonnydoon, where she easily sent "Full Throttle" 7A after a few tries.

At Amazon.com, Marijus Šmigelskis climbed "Bitter & Twisted", which is Topside's first 7C. The problem was opened by Jeremy Colenso and climbs a short blank wall with a very large span move to a tiny crimp. Marijus was just able to make the span and catch the crimp with two fingers, and managed to hold on for the long lock off to the next crimp, where the line eased off.

August Ends

In Rocklands, Shaun Harris sent "Shadows of Ourselves" 7C at Kleinfontein, and Mat Rowe and Jon Reading made fast work of the classic "Crazy Leg" 7C at 8 Day Rain.

Back in Cape Town, Marijus Šmigelskis has continued cleaning up the projects at Easter Island in Redhill. This time, it was the eliminate project on the boulder next to "Storefront Cemetery". The problem is called "Tears of a Rapper" and starts on good underclings, but very poor (and high) footholds make using the underclings rather tricky. It climbs straight up an overhanging face and eliminates all footholds on the wall on the right, but it's rather obvious. The grade? Again somewhere in the 7C to 8A region.

eZemvelo Action

Marc "Flex" Efune has made the second ascent of the eZemvelo classic "Flashpoint" 7C. The climbers campsite is nearly complete and the area is bound to become Gauteng's premier bouldering destination, with hundreds of problems on excellent quality rock.

Donovan Willis also opened a new 7C, near to the climbers' campsite. "The Deadly Mosquito" climbs out a small cave to round onto a slab, with the crux being a static pull off a poor sloper to gain the lip holds. Donovan worked the problem for a session and returned a month later to send it in better conditions.

Cape FA's

Marijus Šmigelskis opened one of the prize projects at Easter Island at Redhill. The line, "Storefront Cemetery" climbs along the prow of a roof and then moves round onto the face for the crux. The grade is somewhere around 7C+ or 8A and future repetitions will decide. Marijus then visited The Lookout in Topside and made fast work of "Fit Birds", a 7C campus problem opened by Jerry Moffat a few years ago, before moving to boulder M and dispatching the roof project. This new problem, "Adult Swim" 7C, climbs out a small cave via little crimps to a wild cutloose crux off good sloping holds that face the wrong way.

Julia Chen also made a visit to Easter Island and managed fast sends of "The Brown Eye of Ra" 7A+ and "Insane in the Duane" 7A, both in a single session on the same day.

Rocklands Round-up

Benjamin de Charmoy spent a few weeks in Rocklands after the Rock and Road trip and managed some remarkable climbing! He sent the classic dyno problem "Oral Office" 8A+ at Roadside and "No Late Benders" 8A at the Fields of Joy. Most impressively however, was his repeat of "Green Mamba" 8A+ after 3 or 4 sessions. "Green Mamba" was originally opened at 8B by Bernd Zangerl and only recently got down graded to 8A+. The problem starts off as for the popular "Black Spider", a 7C traverse until just after its crux, and then moves up a blank wall via a large move to a tiny crimp off a poor 3 finger pocket. Andrew Pedley made a short visit to Roadcrew and sent "Tommorrow I'll Be Gone" and "Purple Nipple Clan" (aka "Une Rhyme Stupide"), both 7C+ classics of the area.

Michael Janata has added another 7C, "The Brutal Minger" to the South African Area in Rocklands and at Roadside, Jon Reading finally managed to put "Nutsa" 8A+ in the bag.

An updated topo has been added for the Roadcrew boulders in Rocklands. Check it out...

Rocklands has been super busy lately with five new sectors being developed. The first is the Champagne sector, where Finnish climber Nalle Hukkataival just added a new 8C called "Livin' Large", which climbs an 8m high arete. This makes it potentially the 4th 8C in Rocklands after "Olifant Dawn", "Monkey Wedding", and "Golden Shadow", all of which are unrepeated Fred Nicole problems. Then at another new sector, Hoeksonderkoffie, Scott Noy opened "Swine Flu" 7C. In addition, the three other new sectors being developed are: Base Camp, The Lorraines and the Ernies...

Back at the older areas, Andrew Wood sent "Jaws" 7C at the Dihedral Boulders and Jon Reading climbed "Paula Abdul" at the Sassies and the classic dyno problem "Black Velvet", both 8A.