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Marijus Šmigelskis and Paul Robinson have been busy adding more classic testpieces to The Cinema at Topside. Marijus broke a hold on the "Cloverfield" project, the scar left a nicer crimp and allowed him to send the climb with a less reachy alternate sequence to the originally intended line which was rather morpho. Paul then used his height and strength to open the harder variation of the same climb, which he dubbed "Zodiac" 8A+. Lastly, to complete the lines on the boulder, Marijus opened "War of the Worlds" 7C. which climbs the first crux of "Cloverfield/Zodiac", but then heads rightwads to escape through a gap between the boulders.

Paul then made good progress on the "Paranormal Activity" project, sticking all of the crux moves and establishing a stand start at 7C+. The full line is expected to weigh in around the 8B+ mark and Paul hopes to complete it fairly soon.

8B+ comes to Cape Town!

Cape Town received its hardest climb to date with the completion of the well known "razor crimper showdown" project at the Aerial Boulders in Topside by Paul Robinson. Paul tried the line last year, working out all but one of the moves, and returned this season to complete the problem in just a single session. The problem, now called "Mirta", fitted Paul's style to perfection, and features 12 or so moves on tiny incut edges up a 45 degree wall.

The Dropout

As Paul Robinson continues his tear through the boulders of Cape Town, a visit to The Classroom resulted in the completion of the sit start to "Blood and Thunder". Dominic Riordan opened "Blood and Thunder" a few years back, starting in a standing position, but an obvious sit start remained, adding a few moderate moves, but essentially completing the full line. Paul came close to sending the problem from the sit start on his first session, but fell on the delicate foot smears on the last hard move. Returning a week later, Paul managed to send the full line creating "The Dropout" 8B, as well as making the second ascent of "Exam Stress" 8A.

Echo Valley sendage

Topside's Echo Valley has seen a good amount of attention recently with a bunch of new lines being opened and some standing testpieces being repeated. American Paul Robinson has been tearing through the valley, quickly repeating many of the hard lines and is now working on some of the many projects the area has to offer. In between burns on some harder lines, he managed a quick first ascent of "Ladder to Suckcess" 7C+, a heinous jump off a micro crimp. Local legend, Clinton Martinengo has also been trying to keep up, with repeats of "Mintberry Crunch" 8A, and the much awaited second ascent of "The Buoyancy of Citrus". The latter problem getting the upgrade treatment to 8A, after no successes after many attempts by most of the local heroes.

Rocklands season kicks off

Benjamin de Charmoy has started off his season with a repeat of "Tea with Elmarie" 8A+ at the campground boulders in Rocklands. He tried the problem a bit last year, but ran out of time to complete it with so many other projects diverting his attention. Benj is in Rocklands for a few more weeks so we can surely expect more good sends.