Bouldering in Rocklands

Destination
Bouldering in Rocklands
Despite only being developed as a bouldering venue relatively recently, South Africa’s
vast Cederberg wilderness is home to a massive concentration of world-class problems.
Jamie Maddison goes exploring and falls in love with Rocklands.
“This is Rocklands,
South Africa, and it
could quite possibly
be the best bouldering
venue in the world.”
36
October 2011 www.climber.co.uk
An isolated moment of nothingness
whilst the flight is underway, followed
soon after by an abrupt, almost surreal,
tactile sensation as fingertips clash
forcefully against the rough stone.
Reality jumps from the periphery back
onto the centre stage once again and
I’m swinging from the jug that seemed
so impossibly distant a half-second
beforehand, on the hardest problem I
have ever climbed at the best venue
I’ve ever visited on the last day of a
month-long trip. It’s a lot to take in.
Rocking over the lip of the egg-like
boulder I’m treated once again to the
captivating view that has dominated my
horizon for these past few weeks: the
deepest blue of an African sky gently
punctured by luminescent mountains, a
vibrant tangerine in colour, slowly fading
in brilliance as the mid-morning haze
advances. It is an outstanding sight,
but then again this is an outstanding
place. This is Rocklands, South Africa,
and it could quite possibly be the best
bouldering venue in the world.
The reputation of the Cederberg
Wilderness Area, more widely known as
Rocklands, precedes itself. Wherever
you turn in the vast interwoven labyrinth
that is climbing culture and media you
run into stories, videos and pictures of
this otherworldly destination, home of
the most perfect looking lines. My first
glimpse of this place of much acclaim
was out of the rearside window of a
bakkie, a small pick-up truck whose
owner had seemingly been intent on
running me down in a dusty petrol
station an hour previously. He was, in
actual fact, arriving to pick me up, just
with a lot of style. And so, an hour later,
here we were chugging resolutely up
the winding road over the Pakhuis pass.
As the landscape out of the window
began to open up the true extent of
Rocklands, which I’d previously only
seen through the diminishing prism of a
computer monitor, suddenly slammed
into me. Looking at the vast expanse
of orange rock, stretching away for mile
after mile on either side the car, it was
hard to shrug off the distinct impression
that here was an area with more
potential for development just within my
immediate eyesight than is now left on
the entire British Isles as a whole!
The author on the immensely
photogenic Bill and Ted’s
Excellent Adventure (Font 7A+).
www.climber.co.uk October 2011
37
Destination
“Here was an area with more potential for development just
within my immediate eyesight than is now left on the entire
British Isles as a whole!”
The birth of Rocklands
bouldering
Monika Kastner tackling the
highball Fakir of Ipi (Font 7A) at
Tea Garden crag, spotted by her
husband Michael.
38
October 2011 www.climber.co.uk
Marcel Van Zyl on the dream line Girl on Our Mind
(Font 6B+). Words cannot even begin to describe
how beautiful this problem is to climb.
Given the immense size of this vast
stone ocean it’s surprising to learn
that the first boulder problems in the
area were not opened up until really
quite recently. The initial exploration
of the region came from the trio
Todd Skinner, Scott Milton and the
legendary Fred Nicole in 1996, after
Todd had spotted the huge potential of
Rocklands whilst passing through on
a sports climbing mission three years
previously. Rumours of an immense
golden bouldering heaven soon got
around, and the next season saw
visits being paid by Nic Sellers and
Cory Dawn who opened a number of
stunning new venues and put up the
now classic lines Creaking Heights
and Kingdom in the Sky. Klem Loskot
arrived on the scene in 1998 and so
began a true explosion in development.
Over the following years some of the
hardest problems being sent anywhere
were climbed at Rocklands, including
Thomas Willenberg’s The Vice (Font
8B), and Fred’s Black Eagle and Monkey
Wedding, the second and third Font
8Cs in the world. Klem Loskot returned
in 2005 intent on exploring the far side
of the pass. His work, along with the
efforts of several strong American teams,
opened up the de Pakhuys, Sassies and
8 Day Rain sectors, arguable today’s
most popular zones. Approaching
where we stand at present, 2009
was of note for two outstanding lines:
Killian Fischhuber’s Airstar and Nalle
Hukkataival’s immense Livin’ Large, both
audaciously difficult problems.
And so, after this whirling history
of great achievements of the recent
past, began my own small and quite
inconsequential episode in Rocklands.
A first day spent at a crag called Tea
Garden was a perfect introduction to
the true ethos of the bouldering in this
part of South Africa. Wandering under
the towering, twisted rock-architecture,
some bearing inscriptions dating as
far back as the early 19th century
(although these pale in comparison to
the San Rock Art scattered across the
pass, the oldest of which dates back
nearly 8,000 years!), it was an inspiring
experience just to follow the chalk lines
and look upon what was obviously a
massing of top quality problems in very
concentrated area indeed.
Jumping on the Font 7B classic Arch
Climb was a crash course into the often
upside-down nature of climbing found
on the rocks of the Cederberg. Starting
out with confidence on good holds it
was tempting just to gun for the finish in
a thoughtless campus-hungry manner,
but after your feet have slipped off for
the second or third time you’re in end
game; pumped into oblivion with no
fuel left for the suddenly nasty finishing
crux that springs out of nowhere.
Indeed, you can forget all about the
delicate balance-orientated nature of
Fontainebleau or even at home on the
grit, here is an area where technique is
required, but only when accompanied
by a strict framework of intense power
and a grim determination to hang for
as long as possible. Slabs aren’t really
the done thing and big moves are the
order of the day. And whilst the rock, a
unique type of sandstone (part of the
Table Mountain group), was a constant
pleasure to climb it could also be
terribly rough. Many a coming evening
was to be spent muffling screams in the
shower as the hot water worked its way
into the plethora of abrasions created
throughout the day.
The author flashing the mid-grade
classic Feist (Font 6B+), at the
Far Plateau boulders.
www.climber.co.uk October 2011
39
Destination
Top: Sarah on Warm-up Crack,
perhaps one of the best Font 3
lines ever put up.
Bottom: Marcel Van Zyl on the
very tricky Creeper (Font 7A).
40
A visiting climber from the French Réunion
Island sieges Road Kill Cafe (Font 7B+) just
above the de Pakhuys campground.
Into the wilderness
The campsite de Pakhuys has to be,
in my opinion, the very nucleus of
Rocklands. From this centralised locale
on the far side of the pass all manner
of the area’s more recently developed
venues can be explored with ease;
from the low but popular Close Plateau,
where crowds gather every morn and
eve to hop on the insanely classic Girl
on Our Mind, through to the behemoth
highballs (even by British standards)
to be found up in the Fields of Joy
sector. Such a concentration of easily
accessible, dastardly good lines was a
complete lifesaver to myself who, in the
early days of the trip, having arrived quite
out of season and devoid of personal
transport found the campsite to be
completely deserted. And so for a good
week or so all I could do was poodle
around the many different crags within
walking distance of camp (of which
there are a great many) bouldering with
only a loyal farm-dog called Charlie
for company. On occasion when the
weather got too hot to climb then it was
back to the caravan for my secondary
objective of whittling an entire handmade chess side!
But the best memory of this selfenforced period of solitary confinement
came from getting up one morning at
ridiculous-o’clock to attempt a line called
Panic Room before the day’s heat got
too stifling. Attempting a seven-metre
rising traverse with only one pad and no
spotters makes for quite an interesting
puzzle; in the end all that I could think
of doing was to move a few rocks out
of the landing zone and throw the mat
down in the vague direction of where
I thought the crux may lay. A minute
later the air was blue; pumped out of
my head and higher up than I’d like to
be and over some distinctly unpleasant
looking spikes I hadn’t thought were in
the fall zone, having gone far past the
defunct pad. I pulled over the top in a
cacophony of grunts, curses and heavy
breathing, breaking the blissful serenity
of a location otherwise devoid of human
noise, a growing tingling sensation finally
alerted me to the fact that the one hand
was now minus several of its calluses.
Lying on the top, the elation at having
done my first ‘hard’ Rocklands problem,
the pain from the fresh wounds and the
icy sensation of the blood dripping down
the hand onto the cool rock below, all
surged together. Mixing and growing, the
feeling peaked as some cathartic release
of joyful abandonment; a single instance
of realised achievement in a wild and
solitary world.
October 2011 www.climber.co.uk
“Technique is required, but only when
accompanied by a strict framework of intense
power and a grim determination to hang for as
long as possible. Slabs aren’t really the done
thing and big moves are the order of the day.”
www.climber.co.uk October 2011
41
Destination
INFORMATION: ROCKLANDS
When to go
The warmest months in Rocklands are during the summer and autumn seasons from December to May. It gets exceedingly
hot with average daily temperatures ranging between 30° (86F) and 40º (104F) with very little rainfall. The cooler months are
during the winter and spring seasons from May/June to October making these the most suitable time for climbing.
How to tet there
Clanwilliam, the closest town to Rocklands, is located 220km North East of Cape Town. Public transport in South Africa is
pretty limited so it’s advisable to hire a car (details of good rental companies can be found on the main Rocklands website
(www.rocklandsboulders.com). That being said, getting to Rocklands without personal transport (as I did) can make
for quite an interesting and adventurous experience. If you wish to attempt this then your best bet will be to look into the
Intercape buses, which travel along the main N7 road and can drop you off just outside of Clanwilliam.
Security
The South African police confirm that the crime in Clanwilliam is extremely low consisting mostly of petty crime and is
almost non-existent within the Cederberg mountain range. However, one should always act with discretion and take
every effort to minimise temptation.
Guidebooks
www.rocklandsboulders.com is a good first stop for online topos, as is the Cutloose Bouldering Google site. However,
the best of the lot is the Rocklands Bouldering guidebook by Scott Noy. It isn’t widely available in the UK at the moment but
can be bought from the de Pakhuys campsite upon arrival or at the City Rock climbing gym in Cape Town. At around £30
it’s a rather pricey but, in my opinion, invaluable resource in discovering and exploring Rocklands to its fullest extent.
Where to Stay
I’m being entirely partisan but de Pakhuys is the place to stay! However, make sure to reserve a spot well in advance,
as it is a safe assumption that the campsite will be completely booked up throughout the entire climbing season. Other
options include self-catering lodges at the Alpha Excelsior Guest Farm, Traveller’s Rest and Kleinkliphuis. For further
details look on www.rocklandsboulders.com
“Rocklands exudes connectivity; it’s
a place that inexplicably manages to
balance the atmosphere of a friendly
cultural gathering whilst at the same
time retaining its bearing as an isolated
and beautiful wilderness.”
Top left: Nicolas Telford battling
his inner-demons on the crux
dyno of the nerve-wracking
highball Down with Words
(Font 6C) in Arch Valley.
The crew out on the approach
to Kliphuis Camp, one of the
first sectors in Rocklands to be
developed by boulderers.
Bottom right: A Christopher
McCandless styled self-portrait
outside the caravan. I didn’t see a
single sole for this entire week!
42
Orange Crush
But that’s not true Rocklands. Ask
anybody who has been there and
most will tell you instead about the
massive social depth of the Orange
Crush bouldering scene. When the
climbers arrive, most congregate
at the one campsite. With so many
like-minded people all rubbing
shoulder-to-shoulder, tent-to-tent
and pad-to-pad, it’s inevitable that
large bouldering-orientated friendship
groups form. It is probably because of
these that development has erupted
so exponentially and so extensively
across the region in the last few years.
The focussed gatherings of dedicated
climbers has aided the swift opening of
new areas, the working out and sharing
of problem beta and also has provided
the logistical aid of access to an army
of crash-mats to help wild individuals
pad out even the worst landings. To a
October 2011 www.climber.co.uk
self-conscious British person, attuned
to the serenity of solitude, this may
sound like the seventh circle of hell, but
then Rocklands is so massive that at
some venues you can follow the crowd
but upon getting to the destination set
yourself up on your own problem and
be completely removed from the radar
of everyone else. Rocklands exudes
connectivity; it’s a place that inexplicably
manages to balance the atmosphere of
a friendly cultural gathering whilst at the
same time retaining its bearing as an
isolated and beautiful wilderness.
My last day bouldering was an
encapsulation of these dual qualities.
Racing around the rocks with a group
of young South Africans we ended
up once more back at Close Plateau,
the espresso-like climbing fix for
the campsite connoisseurs. Having
previously been trying a big dyno called
You Say Party, I Say Die, a Font 7B+,
today was either sending or going home
time. The crux of the problem was all
in the head; you’d set yourself up each
attempt with a bed of mats and hands
awaiting your return below, knowing
for certain that your legs have enough
spring to reach the aloof jug.
And yet every time one of us
committed to the jump something would
misfire; either the hand wouldn’t latch or
a foot would slip or the distance wasn’t
quite enough. In the end the only way
I could work the problem out was to
pretend to turn everything off; to become
a mere point of focus, a set of eyes
devoid of body, and just go. Latching
that last hold was the final seal of
approval on already mind-blowing trip.
In truth, the Cederberg Wilderness
Area remains many different things
to many different people. To the
local farmer it’s a means of making a
living through the district’s excellent
conditions for olive, citrus fruit and
wine production. To the Capetonian
middle class the region is a pleasant
weekend’s distraction away from the
rapid pulse of city life. To the chronic
traveller it’s a lonely paragraph in the
middle of a South Africa guidebook. But
to Fred Nicole and the first developers,
Rocklands was a blank canvas; a means
by which to etch out their vision of a
brave new playground and to leave
recorded in rock an indelible memento of
the efforts of their physical selves. Now,
standing on the shoulders of giants,
it can be seen that Rocklands has
become a new international home for all
those who profess to love the sport of
bouldering, regardless of age or ability.
It is, by way of a circular conclusion,
one of the most important new climbing
destinations on the planet. Long may the
development continue!
www.climber.co.uk October 2011
43