Reclaiming My Endurance!

My poor fingers...

The last two weeks have been a lot of fun. Started off with a day trip to eZemvelo on the Saturday. Finally closed off a 7C low ball called The Deadly Mosquito. Repeated Animal Planet as well. Did a direct version of the problem seeing as most of the good holds had broken off since I'd last been on it. If I had to guess, it was probably the first ascent since the breaks. I gave Herman a tour of the place so that he could actually have some good lines to hit in the future instead of being confused as to where all the cool lines were. In the process, I repeated Meteor, did an awesome dyno and investigated some of the grades of past lines. We felt that a lot of the lines needed downgrading...


King Kong should be 7B+ (low in the grade)
Third Reflection 7A+
Second Reflection 7B
Where's Willis 7B
Animal Planet Direct 7B+ (low in grade)
Dragons and Shrooms 6C+
7 Biatch 7A
Electroshock Therapy 6C+
Spork 7A+


Well, that concludes some thoughts about the boulders...

NOW on to the exciting stuff...

The Boven Rock Rally Weekend...

I arrived early in the week with the intention of getting all my endurance back. Started off on the Monday by doing Freak On (24) and trying Just Behrly (28/30+).

Tuesday was fun too, did an ascent of Dungeons and Dragons (26) as a warm up in the worst possible style. Afterwards I fought like a cat trying to get out of a bathtub on an attempt on Jack of all Trades (30). I did manage to hold on tight and do it in two parts. Later in the day I put up draws on Lab Rat (32/33) and then pointed Lotters Desire (28), also in the worst form possible while forgetting all the foot sequences.

Wednesday we went down to the Coven. I did a bunch of lines, but most notably I tried God Of Small Things (31) which I found really confusing. I had a really hard time between two of the bolts, I flat out couldn't figure it out. The rest of the route seems easy enough, I think I just need to bone down on some of the crimps. After that I did Devil in the Cauldron (28) second go. It was fun. Really should have flashed it, but I dorked the first move! Stupid...

Thursday I hit Tugela Blue (27). I hate this route, it is a pain to clean and a pain to climb. I suffered with rope drag on my first go (like usual), and almost ended up stripping the draws (like usual). But I stuck with it and cruised it on my second attempt and figured out an intelligent way to clean it, well, I simply cleaned it as I climbed the lower part of the route (first 5 draws at least). Later in the day, I fought a bunch with Lab Rat trying to figure out the moves some more. I managed to get them all together, save two. Tough little bugger. 7C+ boulder crux into 7B boulder crux with a crappy rest in between.

Friday I drove through to Barberton to see Yvette, spent the afternoon with her. I was supposed to be resting but didn't have luck with that as I ended up climbing for the night session of the Rock Rally. The Ausies, Alex, Wes, Allan and Gus spent a bunch of time setting up the lighting for the event. It was done really well. Totally transformed the crag! I warmed up on Freak On and then crushed Monster (29). It was great fun! It inspired Brendon and Gustav to put up a photo shoot for me later on...

Brendon Salzer Photography: God No! at night 

Brendon Salzer - God No! at night

 Saturday: the Rock Rally. I didn't participate, but what I did do was a lot of fun. Brendon Salzer volunteered to come and take pics and video of me on Pit Fighter (31). Pit Fighter is a seriously tough and sharp, 5-bolt route on the Rubik's Cube Boulder opened by Andrew Pedley. I never really have been too keen on the line, but after being in Rocklands for 6 weeks I have the finger strength and power to enjoy the line. Brendon got some awesome pics...

Closing the open-handed hold

The cross over at the chains!

After I was done at Pit Fighter with Brendon and Colin, we got a bite to eat and then headed down to God No! for some training. I did two laps on Jack of All Trades, I fell off right before the first crux and then cruised to the top on my first go and on my second I slipped on the last move. Dorkage... To conclude the day I pointed Condor (27). Always fun.

PARTY... We had an awesome party that night... WOW.

Sunday was pure rest...I needed to recover from the party...

Monday morning I cleaned Pit Fighter and Lab Rat, coolest thing was doing all the moves on Lab Rat and doing really big links, now it's just a matter of time. After that I put the draws up on Godzilla for the night shoot!!! Gustav set up a very elaborate rigging system so that Brendon could shoot a movie of me on my attempt to climb Godzilla (32). I would like to say a big thanks to Alex Bester, who sat in that harness for hours on end acting as a giant weight with a bag of rocks attached to him. Big shout out to Brendon, Gustav, Max, Warren and the Ausies for all your help!

Brendon Salzer

Me on Godzilla (32) care of Gustav Janse van Rensburg

 Tuesday was the last day in Boven, I had to clean Godzilla. I was really tired. After that I went with Illona to Superbowl and she went up Snapdragon (29) but due to fatigue, I ended up cleaning it (and pointing it placing the last few draws). I have no idea how I did it, I was wiped out. Finally, I cleaned Raptophilia (32) for Illona, good times.

Well, that concludes the Rally wrap up. My fingers are still partial craters, but tomorrow might end up being Wigwam :) Good luck finger tips!