From Fernkloof to Waterval Boven!

My week started off on a high note: Valentine's Day. Yvette and I managed to surprise each other with beautiful flowers and really tasty chocolate, I provided the pizza for lunch. We were so happy to have a special occasion together, even if it was just for minutes before she had to get back to studying for her surgery exam.

Falco and I headed out to the barn for some climbing in the evening. Poor guy was feeling quite ill so he bouldered and I ended up doing some routes through the roof. Climbed a 23 and a 25 to warm up, then flashed a really fun 26 through the roof. After that I did some campus boarding:

3-7-11 L Success
3-7-11 R Success

3-7-11 L Success
3-7-11 R Success

3-7-11 L Success
3-7-11 R Success

Jumped on the 29 Paul had set for the men's final comp the other week. Was a really cool line. All the moves were really powerful and big, a few quite gymnastic, especially the cut loose and campus at the lip of the roof on a bread loaf grip! Loose grips can be frustrating though, no matter how strong you're feeling and how little pump is in your arms, nothing will keep you on with a rotating bread loaf. LOL. Will carry an Allen key next time just in case.

Then I moved upstairs to join James and Falco for some bouldering to finish off the evening. We were doing really interesting problems with incredibly long reaches and very dynamic moves from very poor holds. Makes me wish that I were just two inches taller every time I slap for a hold that the two of them can reach effortlessly. 45 minutes later, I was done, very done. Good fun.

Wednesday was a fun day. Drove through to Fernkloof with Illona, James and Ebert. Ebert did Faberge (28) quite quickly while James and Illona worked Stormova (29). The top move on Stormwatch was quite elusive for Illona, most-likely due to her height; it is quite a serious reach. She and James were both looking very strong and they should both be able to crux the line next visit.



Stormwatch managed to keep me occupied. I felt incredible on the warm up while putting in the draws, finding all the footwork on the route really easy and natural. My second attempt saw a link to touch the right hand pinch after the heinous finger slot, which tore all the skin off the top of my left index finger! I got back on and linked to the chains. My third go was a working go on the lower half of the route, for some reason I was just struggling with all the movements so I tried hard to figure out some extra micro-beta. I worked it all out and came down. For my forth go I fell off after I clipped the 3rd draw and almost stuck the pinch. I unclipped the 3rd draw and downclimbed to the starting jug. I then linked it to the chains from there, I was psyched! I was thinking I might be able to get it on my next attempt. I rested for a about 40 minutes while playing some cards with James, Illona and Ebert. I psyched myself up but when it came to the crunch couldn't send. I cleaned the lower half of the route and hopped on Stormova just to finish myself off. Fell off after the traverse and clip on Stormwatch. Was very tired I guess...



Saturday saw me back at fern working on Stormwatch. Two new highpoints but still no sends from either myself, Jacques or Colin. Must have put in 10 attempts on the lower crux. I feel like I am very secure on the first 3 bolts up to the first pinch. I even managed to catch the second, left-hand pinch and move my foot before the wetness of the hold foiled my efforts.

Wednesday the 23rd was the opening night of the NBLs in Pretoria at the Barn. The problems were very fun although one of them eluded me due to my foot continually slipping from the hold. I didn't think that I exerted myself that much but I must have used quite a bit of effort.

Thursday I found myself back at fern. This day was just pure torture. I had no energy and couldn't accomplish anything except refine my kneebar technique. I feel like I'll surely red point the route if I can only make it to the kneebar!

AH!!! A great break from fernkloof was immanent! BOVEN! After the fun drive up to the campsite from town, which left me grinning from ear-to-ear as the car fishtailed all over the show, we set up tents and in no time at all I was fast asleep. The morning was beautiful. After breakfast with Andrew, Dirk and Irene, Kyle joined me for a morning session. I onsighted Sweet Plum (25) placing draws as a warm up for the day and watched as Kyle found himself flash pumped on Rock Chucka Chick, which we agreed collectively is not as good of a route as it is acclaimed to be. Now for the rough stuff! I placed the draws on my project. However, even after 4 attempts I found myself frustrated and fragile. The skin on my finger tips was raw from all the rough crimps after so many days of climbing the big, smooth holds one finds at Fernkloof. Kyle went for an onsight of Sour Grapes (25) and nearly nailed it. There is a tricky roof at the top with almost no feet which finally forced him to succumb to the pump. I was very impressed with the vigor with which he clung to the holds, down-climbing again and again so that he could try to save the onsight!

After Kyle left to visit his nonc-friends in Jozi, Andrew onsighted Sour Grapes and I almost flashed it. Admittedly I fell off through no fault of my own; reaching for the chains I snapped off the foothold which had all my weight on it, leaving me with two scratched knees and a feeling of frustration. Oh well, at least I flew up Legends (25) too as a bit of a cool down.

The evening was brilliant. We sat around the fire, Dewald, Harry, Mads, Dirk, Illona, Andrew, Irene and I had such a great time. Danny and Claire joined us too bringing with them wonderful new topics of debate :D After dinner we joined the rest of the group to celebrate our friend's 30th birthday: Heiko you will be remember in all our hearts. The planting of the Buffalo Thorn tree happened in the morning. The historical linking behind this tree provided us all with a warm feeling in our hearts: the branch of the tree is said to attract the spirit of the dead in the African cultures and is used to transport the spirit to its resting place. It is also said to be immune to lightning which provides us with a deep connection between Heiko and the tree.

The climbing of the day was really fun. Warmed up with a repeat of Dungeons and Dragons (26) and by climbing two thirds of Jack of All Trades (30) so that I could share my beta with Claire. My first burn on my project found my catching the elusive crimp that I had been unable to reach up until now. I felt the send was immanent! Gustav came and set up for photos and I went for my final attempts of the day, but I just did not have the power to make it through. I've never been able to climb this line two days in a row so for me to actually reach a new high point on a second day was an accomplishment on its own... I guess all this training has been paying off!

I absolutely love the peace and tranquility of Boven. There is simply no other place on the planet that is quite like it. Friendly people, amazing climbs and a sense of belonging that forms amongst all the visitors and locals which continually draws us back to my second home. Admittedly, I spent 72 days there last year and so far 16 this year... With another 20 planned for the next two months... Looks like it has the potential to be another home, yet again.

Training up a Storm!!

Training, training, training. Some of us really love training. Tuesday night training with Paul and James at the Barn: now that is hard work. Every now and then when I feel like sharing my punishment with others I'll give Paul a call and he's one of the few people out there who can punish himself as much as I can, so long as we push each other. No exception this time.

Warm up began with about some work on the rock rings and the campus board to get the contact strength up. Moved up to the cave and began a session of add on till we reached 20 moves. After this we it was time for a bit of intensity stamina training. By using one of Paul Brouard's programs we mapped out this 20 move problem and then repeated it 9 times with two minutes of rest in between each attempt. Fun. Especially the style of the problem. Very gymnastic, lots of rotations through the roof, very dynamic. The culmination of the problem was dropping down into an undercling at the end! Booya! Awesome! The problem took us each about 50 seconds to climb without any shakes. That's kind of the objective with this type of training. You need to push yourself to the limit and realize that the limit is only in your mind. Things like sweaty hands and hot conditions should not restrict your ability to perform. Everybody uses these as excuses but if you practise these less than ideal circumstance then you can use them to your advantage if you find yourself in them in a competition or when you're pushing yourself to the edge of your ability.

After a 15 minute break, the three of us headed down the the campus board.
Paul has a different size of board than the one I normally train on. 13cm between rungs instead of 23cm. This leads to a variety of options for training.

3-7-11 Success
3-7-11 Success
3-7-11 Success
3-7-11 Success

3-7-11-7-3-6-9-12 Success
3-7-11-7-3-6-9-12 Success
3-7-11-7-3-6-9-12 Success
3-7-11-7-3-6-9-12 Success
3-7-11-7-3-6-9-12 F7 continued though and finished
3-7-11-7-3-6-9-12 F7 continued though and finished

3-8-3-8-3-8-3-8-3 success
3-8-3-8-3-8-3-8-3 success
3-8-3-8-3-8-3-8-3 mono with leading hand success

3-8-6-8-6-8-6-8-6-8-3 L success
3-8-6-8-6-8-6-8-6-8-3 R with 5 second deep lock at end success
3-8-6-8-6-8-6-8-6-8-3 L with 5 second deep lock and 5 push ups on rail success
3-8-6-8-6-8-6-8-6-8-3 R with 5 second deep lock, 5 push ups and a 8 second lower off and pull up.

Rope ladder skipping rungs --> at least I tried, not used to his like Paul and James are.
Rope ladder skipping rungs and bouncing up. Lower 3 rungs as a time. TOTAL FAIL! tough work.
Undercling rope laddering --> just punishing.

5 front levers
40 pushups
1 min of core stars

The result of this session was that I was so stiff on Wednesday that I could not train. I did manage to go for a bit of a run on Thursday, but my arms were so stiff that I didn't feel the urge to punish them further. In retrospect, I wish I would have as I felt tired and underpowered on Saturday while I was working Stormwatch at Fernkloof. I did however have a great deal of meetings and work to do for my master's degree on Thursday and Friday, including a short presentation to the current master's group about focus groups and how they will be involved in the up and coming focus groups this month. These two days were far more tiring than any training session could ever be...

Stormwatch was opened by Roger Nattrass in 1990 at the grade 31, when the hardest line in the country was 28. Roger is a climbing legend having climbed with some of the top climbers in the USA, including Tommy Caldwell and Todd Skinner. Roger is still going strong now with a recent repeat of Gravity's Rainbow (30) and a long-awaited redpoint of Up For Grabs (31). I have been working Stormwatch for about 5 days over the last 5 months, which has been quite to my detriment owing to the extremely sequential nature of the climb. One thing that is for certain, it is the hardest 31 that I've ever been on! The opening crux of the route feels like a Font 7B+ which is very tough on its own. It then links into a route that is probably a tough 28 with no significant shakes or good holds. The moves are all very gymnastic, which is my antistyle. I love being able to do moves statically as my contact strength tends to be lacking compared to some of the stronger boulders that I know.

My personal crux on the route is clipping the 3rd draw which is from this tenuous finger slot which puts 90% of your weight on to your left index finger leaving you shreeking from the torn skin on top of your finger. After that is a series of dynamic throws to pinches with alternating hands until you reach a mediocre kneebar before the very run out race to the finish which leaves me panting every time! I feel so inspired watching Colin, on his 53rd birthday, gliding through the sequences that leave me frustrated and sore. He fell off one hold before the good shakes at the top of the route. Something tells me that this coming weekend is going to see us celebrating his hardest redpoint. Even after 4 full burns, 3 to the chains and 1 falling off at the last draw, I still managed to walk over Vandals direct. I've said it once and I'll rant it again: two more moves don't change this from 26 to 27. Those two extra moves certainly make it a better route, but definitely don't change the grade at all.

Sunday I found myself at eZemvelo Nature Reserve with Schalk. We started off by working Animal Planet (7C) which I found myself very close to sending but just not enough energy. We moved on to the planetary boulders and a problem called Meteor (7B), which is brilliant! Took me 3 goes to figure out the sequence and then I found myself at the finish dyno with a bit of a grunt! Very cool problem. Schalk then took me down to a project of his which we worked for 3 hours. We were trying everything, getting it all wrong! After a while of being frustrated and a pebble being dislodged to present us with a new hold, I suggested we try a totally silly sequence which turned out to be the way to climb the problem. After at least 20 burns, I kept on finding myself on the last move which is a massive throw to the right, from small crimps to a really small crimp with only a left foot to keep my body on. I can touch the hold with two fingers, but that is simply not enough. If I'd have to guess, the crouch start that we were working will be somewhere around 7C/+ and the sit extension (which adds only two moves) may be close to 8A. The line was very inspiring as it is not a lowball problem: the topout is up around 4m high and the throw for the elusive right hand crimp leaves the climber with his feet 2m above the ground before take-off. FUN TIMES...

One of the best parts of eZemvelo, other than the bouldering itself, is the vast game population. We must have seen 50 wildebeest, 150 springbok, 5 Zebra, 40 impala, and a dozen hartebees and warthogs. The tranquility and safety of the surrounding is very inviting. I'm looking forwards to the time when the area will be officially open to the public with the bouldering campsite nearing completion. Until then, I'll just have to be happy going along with the developers of the area to ensure that there are no further complications like last year...

Serious Frustration

Well, what can I say? The week started off really good after coming back from my time in the Freestate. Trained hard on Monday, making it 3 days of climbing consecutively. I was wearing 6 kilos of weight. I began with 40 minutes of tough boulder problems. Each of them between 7 and 9 move boulder problems.

From there, I went into my campus program with weights on still.

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 Success
Rest 1 min
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 Success
Rest 1 min
1-3-5-7-9 Success
Rest 1 min
1-3-5-7-9 Success
Rest 1 min
1-4-5-8-9 L Success
Rest 4 min
1-4-5-8-9 R Success
Rest 4 min
1-4-5-8-9 L failed 8
Rest 4 min
1-4-5-8-9 R failed 8
Rest 4 min
1-4-5-8-9 L Success
Rest 4 min
1-4-5-8-9 R Success
Rest 4 min

Removed the vest

1-4-6-9 L Failed reaching to 9
Rest 2 min
1-4-6-9 R Success
Rest 2 min
1-4-6-9 L Failed reaching to 9
Rest 2 min
1-4-6-9 R Success
Rest 2 min

1-4-4-Deep lock-2-0 Success
Rest 2 minutes
1-4-4-Deep lock-2-0 Success
Rest 2 minutes

1-4-1-4-1-4-1-4-1 Mono middle finger --> Success
1-4-1-4-1-4-1-4-1 Two finger --> success
1-3-5 ladder using two fingers only

I felt exhausted after this and needed to take Tuesday as a full rest day in preparation for my trip to Waterval Boven on Wednesday.

Wednesday: This brought me to the culmination of the last 3 weeks of training. I was working my project in Boven. Put the draws up, then on my second go reached a new high point but my fingers slipped off the left hand crux side pull. I was quite happy, tried the route two more times and made it above my old high point twice but was unsuccessful on the route still.

Afterwards I needed some time to think and rest so I climbed on Condor. While I was placing the draws I figured out the moves again and got the crux sorted out with some beta that Andrew recommended. Got it easily 15 minutes later. Thought it was a bit too soft to be a 28.

Thursday: rest day. Well, almost. Did a bunch of walking between Superbowl and Go No! to pick up saws and a hammer we forgot there when Andrew was adding bolts to Overlord the previous day. I then watched Andrew fly through the rebolting of Tripolactic Fairy Tales. Afterward, I cleaned Hypertension for Ebert so I could show him how to do the crux.

Friday: More frustration. Wet holds cost me the send on my line. Tried a new line of Andrew's after this, Just Behrly! AND IT IS BARELY THERE! Smallest holds I've ever tried to hold in my life. Seriously a massive sandbag if it's meant to be 28. It is much more like a 30. Had a good workout on Monster after this, hadn't quite figured out the upper crux at the top so ended up having to downclimb that bit and then reclimb it. Was fantastic fun to repeat!!!

Saturday I found myself at Fernkloof with Colin, Jono, Ruan, Ansie, Frankie and Ilse. Was a brilliant fun day. Worked Stormwatch a bunch, linked from below the 3 bolt to the anchors, and managed to link just past the third bolt from the ground. Too bad for seeping holds. Still was a brilliant workout! Repeated Lawyers, Guns and Money (26 soft) first go so that I could help Jono with the beta.

Sunday was a nice relaxed day. Was at the Barn with Paul for a while trying to flash the competition routes from the day prior. Had good fun. Afterward, I put in a short session on his campus board there.

3-7-11
3-7-11

3-7-11-Down climb-7-3
3-7-11-Down climb-7-3
3-7-11-Down climb-7-3

3-7-11-Down climb-7-3-6-9-12
3-7-11-Down climb-7-3-6-9-12
3-7-11-Down climb-7-3-6-9-12
3-7-11-Down climb-7-3-6-9-12

Was good fun...

Also had an awesome meeting with Tristan who informed me that he would like me to design the Brian Weaver Signature Series of grips for Vertigo Industries. Keep your eyes open for them in the future, they're coming!