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Oh my oh my oh my……… Tsk Tsk Tsk Tut tut

I despair:

I have verifiable evidence that some of the COCK and Bull members are straying from the path, losing their way and being unrighteous. We need to recalibrate them before they further stray.

The culprits went to Montague and Hellfire this last week and have been pushing numbers and clipping bolts!

Oh woe is them!

So dear stalwart members. Please berate them and release them from their blasphemy before they tear their finger tendons, rip up their rotator cuffs, get stiff necks from doing overhanging climbing and succumb to further doing de-bottling bolted routes….. This stuff can really mess with your head.

What’s more there is evidence that they were on-sighting routes they have not on-sighted previously.

Oh woe is them indeed!

Just a km or so down the road, yesterday on Yellowwood there was a TATWOCian flailing and failing on the third pitch of what, is for now, the direct start of Prime Time. The pitch entails some very heady, scary and airy but safe tricks that exit round a roof onto very thin holds and thin gear. (He used 3 shallow placed small Aliens including an offset black.blue a blue alien and a black alien i.e. a 0/1 a 00 and a 01.) He then placed a small RP that is excellent when placed well but very hard to do so. Read on…

The TATWOCian was then, having placed the RP, too pumped to do the very tenuous stemming move to reach the finger jug.

So the RP was tested and as it was weighted it slipped and popped……

down the tiny crack it was in and seated itself better. Gulp! Phew. No air time!

Dave Vallet was belaying and he also tested the gear and thought that a discretionary bolt would allow for a more user-friendly ascent but I am pretty sure there are several hundred if not thousands of hard core Brits, Austrians and even Americans who would hike this pitch.

My feeling is a fixed RP and/or a fixed nut in the lower rail (that can be replaced from time to time) is a better option. That way you don’t have a deteriorating fixed piece in situ that would ruin the commitment that makes the pitch very, very exciting and memorable.

The pitch then continues up a left facing corner to an overhang. The moves required include some funky stemming, lie backs, and even a knee-bar and there is excellent pro. At the overhang there is a rail that takes you onto a very exposed arête and then some more airy-scary but safe moves take you up to a rail and then right and up to the stance below the 22 pitch of Prime Time.

The problem with this busy marvelous pitch, which is technically 23 or so and definitely 24 to lead on-sight, is that TATWOCians would universally feel like the route should end there but unfortunately one is but a mere 60m off the deck……… Hoh hum……

Well back to business: Wednesday 3 Dec is TATWOC day. See you all at the ledge.

And Ged Desforges response: He did Prime Time with me earlier in 2008

Big numbers? Bolts? Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Here's my tuppence worth.

Let's face it, sport climbing in South Africa is shit. Waterval Boven world class? Please, I've done better climbing on my chin up bar (except for Monster, that's good). If you want to see what good sport climbing is, go to Spain. End of story. As for Montague, don't even consider trying to tell me that's good. I've seen better multi-gyms than that.

However, the trad you boys have got is certainly something to be considered carefully. My screensaver at work, and picture on my fridge is of my foot, below which can be seen a notorious Cape Town orthopaedic surgeon abseiling down, with much of the yellowwood amphitheatre beneath him. In between me and him are several bits of gear, put in place to keep him in contact with the rock. I doubt there'd be much bouncing if the anchor ripped. Above me is a solitary rock 6. This was one of the most memorable moments of my year/life. Luckily I managed to take a snap to etch it in my mind. In the distance the sun was setting, and half an hour later we'd be abbing down the lower half of the wall in pitch black. This was the end of one of the most memorable days climbing I've ever had.

The pitch with the crucial offset blue alien was fun, and the steep finger crack was great until i got cramp in my arms and nearly peeled off. But the crux pitch! Now I'm not one for foul language, but fuck me. That was something. I just couldnt make myself make the moves onto the detached, booming pillar. I hung on the belay, trying to force myself to do it, knowing how much Snort wanted to get up this route. He'd done that pitch, and once I'd committed he coaxed me up to the roof, warning me to save the green alien for higher up. Fuck that, the first decent break and I stuffed in every cam I could find to put some emotional distance between me and that pillar. The pinchy, pumpy, crumbly stuff above that was the stuff dreams are made of, especially when you're staring a perfect green alien slot in the eyes, wishing you'd saved it. That belay was a nice one. Stumbling down to the road at midnight, after 14 hours on the go, a long way from Cape Town, and an even longer way from Sheffield, tired, hungry, thirsty, bleeding; I couldnt have been happier.

Point is you lot have got some of the finest adventure climbing imaginable. Don't waste it. I'll be back soon, so keep your filthy mits off that crack line we abbed down.

Cheers

Ged