Two P's and an FA

The last weekend of June saw several good sends in Cape Town. At Coppermine in Redhill, Andrew Wood and Mat Rowe got the 2nd and 3rd ascents of the super classic "Pandemonium" 7C, both on their second sessions on the problem. Andrew then found an alternate sequence for "Panic Room" 7C+, bypassing the crux pull of a poor sloper pinch, but says it probably won't work for taller climbers. Dom Riordan then made 3rd ascent of "Panic Room" the following day, using the orginal method (which may be 8A according to several other cape boulderers). Andrew then continued his great sending form at Bonnydoon in Topside and established an excellent little compression problem named "Real Champs Get Thirsty" after a cheap softdrink company, also somewhere around the 7C+ mark...

March Hits

Andrew Wood made the second ascent of "Parthenon" 8A at the Deadwood boulder at TDA. He was close to sending the line before having to return home to KZN for the university holidays in December 2008. Upon his return, 5 or 6 more sessions yielded success on the problem.

One of Redhill's longest standing and most tried projects fell to Marijus Šmigelskis when he sent "Mayhem", at a fairly modest grade of 7C. The line features a big pull to poor pinch sloper above a sketchy two-tiered landing.

February Hits

Surprisingly another new problem was put up at the main boulder at TDA. A fairly obviously line at that which somehow got overlooked over the years! Marijus Šmigelskis added an alternate sit start to "Skunk", starting as for "Invisible Monsters" and climbing straight up and slightly left to create "Monster Skunk" 7C.

At Redhill, Andrew Wood sent the classic traverse testpiece "Elfen Lied" 8A on his 1st try after two previous sessions working the line. Later that day, he made an impressive flash of the powerful "Madness the Magnet" 7B+. Marijus Šmigelskis added a harder finish to "The Crazy 88" which involved a big throw to poor slopers, to create "Pai Mei" 8A+.

Marijus on "Pai Mei".

 Edvinas Šmigelskis visited Turkey's premier bouldering area, Bafa Lake and managed to get some impressive sends in on his 2 week stay. The highlights were fast sends of "Epifanic" 8A+, the dyno problem "Kill Bill" 7C/8A and "Moon Safari" 8A.

Edvinas on "Epifanic".

Redhill Additions

Redhill continued to see a lot of activity over January, with Emile Esterhuizen managing to climb "Elfen Lied", an 8A traverse and then continue to link it into the problem's reverse (dubbed "The Untitled Symphony of Self-destruction, a 7C+ on it's own). The result was a 25 move traverse which was jokingly named "There and Back Again by Emile Esterhuizen" and given an 8A+ traverse grade. Marijus Šmigelskis made a second ascent after adding a few new problems of his own. First to fall was "The Crazy 88", a powerful line through a roof, with hard pulls off small crimps and slopers which went at 8A. Next was "Black Hoodie Rap" 7C, which climbs the "Four Singers Extension" to join the crux dyno of "Shark Lord Darron". And finally, "Madness the Magnet" 7B+, a short burly problem sharing the same boulder as "The Crazy 88".

Marijus on "The Crazy 88".

Emile continued his good sending form to send "Caveman" 7C at TDA. The lines starts as for "Invisible Monsters" and joins "THC" and is probably Cape Town's most popular 7C.

Decemeber Hits

At Redhill, Dom Riordan just managed to squeeze in one of his 2008 goals by sending "Elfen Lied" (traverse grade 8A) on the last day of the year, along with "High Maintenance" 7C a few days prior.

Despite the heat, Rocklands saw several 7C sends, with Shaun Harris ticking "Cabe Town" at the Fortress, Edvinas Šmigelskis sent "Arch Baby" and Marijus Šmigelskis did "The Outback", confirming the downgrade from 8A.

Donovan Willis added another classic to the under-developed Malelane Gorge in Mpumalanga with "Ejector Seat", a hard dyno off poor crimps. The full line will have a few more moves and a sit start, but the jump and top out alone go at about 7B+.