Sunday, August 2, 2009
South Africa Bouldering
A strong crew of Bay area and Sacramento climbers flew across the Atlantic and down to the southern part of Africa to Rocklands. The 33 hours of numbing travel to South Africa brought Berkeley Ironworks manager Paul Baraza and Great Western Power Co. Manager Lyn Verinsky to some of the best bouldering in the world.
Randy Puro on Solaur Power (v10)
They are staying in a small cottage on a farm north of Clan William in the Cedarburg Range. A place where Paul thought the "electricity was added as an afterthought in the 1980's."
They have adjusted well so far to the foreign environment, despite having some trouble driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Paul aptly stated, "The oncoming headlights coming at us on the right side prompted panic a number of times!"
Lyn way off the ground on Creaking Heights (V4)
The climbing in Rocklands is mostly hard sandstone and features everything from tiny crimps to big slopers to enormous jugs. Lyn noted, "I'm finding the Rocklands to remind me a lot of both Colorado and Utah with very similar rock formations, canyons and peaks." The areas are highly spread out making it necessary to drive between the boulders.
Lyn and Paul have both been crushing. Paul has sent hard classics like Pinotage (v10) and Gliding through the Waves with Dolphins (v11) while Lyn has hiked Petit Hueco (v8) and a number of other awesome testpieces.
Lyn working the moves on her project Caroline (v10)
Here's a video of former Ironworks employee Katie Brown on Petit Hueco. Lyn also fired this problem just a few weeks ago.
Paul wrote more about his adventures at his blog and there is a good collection of the Bay area blogs on a Rocklands article at Climbing Narc.
Randy Puro on Solaur Power (v10)
They are staying in a small cottage on a farm north of Clan William in the Cedarburg Range. A place where Paul thought the "electricity was added as an afterthought in the 1980's."
They have adjusted well so far to the foreign environment, despite having some trouble driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Paul aptly stated, "The oncoming headlights coming at us on the right side prompted panic a number of times!"
Lyn way off the ground on Creaking Heights (V4)
The climbing in Rocklands is mostly hard sandstone and features everything from tiny crimps to big slopers to enormous jugs. Lyn noted, "I'm finding the Rocklands to remind me a lot of both Colorado and Utah with very similar rock formations, canyons and peaks." The areas are highly spread out making it necessary to drive between the boulders.
Lyn and Paul have both been crushing. Paul has sent hard classics like Pinotage (v10) and Gliding through the Waves with Dolphins (v11) while Lyn has hiked Petit Hueco (v8) and a number of other awesome testpieces.
Lyn working the moves on her project Caroline (v10)
Here's a video of former Ironworks employee Katie Brown on Petit Hueco. Lyn also fired this problem just a few weeks ago.
See more videos like this at Rock Climbing at YourClimbing.com
Paul wrote more about his adventures at his blog and there is a good collection of the Bay area blogs on a Rocklands article at Climbing Narc.
Labels: Lyn Verinsky, Paul Baraza, Rock Lands
¶ Sunday, August 02, 2009
