Climbing South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA - Rocklands, Paarl, Outdshoorn, Amphitheatre, Waterval Boven

General Access: We rented a car to get around the country, and while not necessarily the cheapest option it's a great one if you're climbing cause you have the freedom to go to places that other forms of transportation (like the oh-so-overly-touristy Bazz Bus) won't give you access to. We used aroundaboutcars, but there are tons of car rental options at the major airports.

Language: English will get you what you need wherever you go.

Cost: more expensive than you would think. Rocklands was cheapest (30 rand a day for camping, aka 4 dollars). Everywhere else we were paying about 10-20 CAD per day for accomodation.

Specific Areas

Rocklands:

location: 2 hrs north/northeast of Cape Town.

accommodation: campsite

type of climbing: bouldering

type of rock: sandstone

comments: Boulders boulders boulders everywhere. The place is huge, so give yourself lots of time if you want to be projecting things. And the rock is SHARP, so bring tons of tape. And bouldering is f'ing hard, so don't make the mistake I did, and train before you arrive. There's not a lot of easy stuff here, if you want to really take advantage of the AMAZING bouldering, you need to be strong when you arrive.

There are topos available at the campsite, but others will be able to point you in the direction of each sector and then just look for the mad chalk marks everywhere.

You can rent crash pads at the campsite as well. they are kind of grungy, but do the trick just fine (consider though, that we were there in low season so pads were readily available. if you go in August when there are more people it might be harder to rent gear).

Bring warm clothes. It gets flipping cold at night.

Limited amount of chalk and other climbing gear available for purchase at the campsite.

Paarl

location: 1 hour east (i think?) of Cape Town

accomodation: backpackers/guesthouse in Cape Town

type of climbing: single & multipitch sport climbs

type of rock: granite

comments: we only spent one day in Paarl, in order to do a multipitch. Unable to get our hands on a topo of the area (the climbing gym in Cape Town didn't have any to sell to us), we arrived with a scrap of paper covered in scribbles that were meant to indicate the location of a good multipitch climb.

It took us about an hour to find the climb, after accidentally getting halfway up something WAY harder than what we were going for...oops.

In short, I recommend getting a guidebook if you can!

The rock is kind of weird here - super slabby granite. Feels like there are no holds a lot of the time, but the grip is great. Beautiful varied multipitch with a cool traverse in the middle. Sign the book at the top, and try not to get lost on your way back down the cliff!

Oudtshoorn

location: along the Garden Route, north of Mossel Bay (head towards Montague then go East to arrive at Oudtshoorn)

accomodation: camping on location...with a swimming pool! (don't know much more than this cause we just stayed for an afternoon...enough climbing for a few days at least, though)

type of climbing: single pitch sport

type of rock: limestone :)

comments: Welcome back to Tonsai! Overhangs, stalactites, big jugs...We felt strong here after our time in Rocklands, so the climbs were highly satisfying. Topos available upon arrival at the campsite entrance - there are three or four walls here, with a wide range of grades and some pretty fun lines. At least one wall is in the shade at all times of day. Bring a bit of cash, as you have to pay about 25 rand/person to gain access to the rock.

Kind of a trek to get there..make sure you get clear driving directions before heading out.

Amphitheatre

location: Northern Drakensburg, an hour away from Amphitheatre Backpacker's Lodge

accomodation: camping or rooms at Amphitheatre Backpackers (they have a bouldering cave at the lodge)

type of climbing: short sport routes (aka bolted boulders) and some multipitches (which we didn't do), trad

type of rock: basalt (I think...but don't quote me on this one)

comments: the windiest crags I have ever been to! apparently it's not usually like this, but the winds were definitely a-blowin' while we were there so didn't get to try much. Lots of potential though as this is a HUGE area - a mix of big walls with multipitches and scattered boulders which have been bolted. You have to walk a bit to get from one boulder to the next and sometimes the routes are hard to find. The multipitches looked promising, although some of the lines have been bolted in interesting ways...unnecessary rope drag in a few spots.

Waterval Boven

location: 3 hours east of Jo'burg just past Nelspruit

accomodation: Roc n' Rope has a lodge in the town of Boven, and there is also camping and a few rooms a bit closer to the crags (Tranquilitas)

type of climbing: SPORT. THE BEST SPORT CLIMBING IN SOUTH AFRICA!!! also a few trad climbs, but who cares about those...:)

type of rock: quartz

comments: Boven is incredible if you are a sport climber. Over 600 bolted routes, well equipped, and best of all...totally empty. NO line-ups, nobody but you. We were often the only ones at a wall for the entire day (even on the weekend), on beautiful long routes. Bring a 70m rope cause you will need it.

Zero jugs, this is crimpy climbing, so expect to get pumped (even the big holds are flat ledges...so forearms forearms forearms and footwork are the recipe for success here). Technical, varied climbing. Lots of slabs but also dihedrals, arretes, overhangs...whatever you're looking for. Trees and shade almost all day at most of the walls, and easy access to nearly every sector (although a car makes life easier, some sectors are still within a 30 minute walk of the lodge).

Spend a minimum of a week if you want to actually get anything done. Two or three would be better.

Roc n' Rope is run by Alex and Gustav (she's french, he's south african), and they are incredibly welcoming and generous. They have a well-equipped climbing shop, so you can stock up on essentials as well as get a new pair of climbing shoes if you want 'em. Currently the guidebook is out of stock but they have a few spare copies they lend out as well as print outs of all the brand-new routes that haven't been put into the guidebook yet.

If you are a sport climber, go to Boven!!!!!

These are just the areas that we went to. The beautiful thing about South Africa is that there is an insane amount of rock absolutely everywhere, and we missed a ton of it....so go explore!

www.climb.co.za

www.rocrope.com

http://www.climb.co.za/wiki/index.php/Main_Page