The Rocklands

Sorry for the lack of updates but internet is a bit more scarce in South Africa than in Europe. Plus I’ve had some computer trouble and car trouble which hasn’t helped! We have been in South Africa for almost a month now. The Rocklands are a fantastic place to live and climb. The views are spectacular and the bouldering is immense. The climbing here is a cross between the rock of Rocktown and the style of Hueco. It is very grippy sandstone reminenscent of the Southeast. The climbing tends to be dynamic, with good holds spaced far apart. There are many hard dynos here to be climbed.

The sunsets here are some of the best I’ve ever seen and the stars are incredibly bright here. You can easily see the milky way. Pretty much everyone speaks English, but for most locals it’s not their first language. Most people around here speak Afrikaans which I believe is a combo of Dutch and native African languages. Dankie means thank you, that’s about all I know. The landscape here is very open, you can see for miles and miles but it’s not flat, there’s a lot to look at out there from mountains and hills to rocks, etc. There is so much rock here and you can easily see it all since there aren’t many trees to be found.

We’ve been here for one month and it has only rained three days. Pretty much everyday is clear blue skies with lots of sunshine. We hear that it’s not the norm for this time of year, usually it rains a lot more so we’ve finally gotten lucky with the weather! The temps here are really warm considering it is winter. Usually it’s in the 60’s and 70’s with a few cold days mixed in. Luckily it doesn’t need to be cold to climb hard here. We have a crew of five Americans staying at the Loes house out near the Sassies. It’s Me, Les, Ian Cotter Brown, Jesse Bonin, and Kenyon. Between the five of us we’ve managed to tick a double digit boulder problem almost every day and it seems with our various strengths, one of us will be able to climb almost every problem here. Which is a good thing considering there are so many good lines here.

Outside of the climbing, life is pretty good here. Everything is way cheaper than Europe or the US. A beer at the bar costs 12 rand or $1.50. An amazing meal with several beers at one of the nicer restaurants might cost you $15 at most. Or you can get a burger at De Kelder’s for $5. The burgers here are some of the best I’ve ever had!

Life in this part of South Africa is very simple. There is only one paved road within 30 km of here and it was just paved last year! Many of the locals do not own cars so you’ll see them walking along the road or waiting for a ride. The closest grocery store to our house is in Clanwilliam which is a 30 minute drive on the road that was recently paved. Our house doesn’t have a tv, radio, heat, AC, or even a postal address. It does have five beds, a kitchen, and only costs us $10 a night so it’s pretty nice! The days are short, we wake up at sunrise, around 7:30AM, and it gets dark at 6PM. We have a hard time staying up past 9 after eating a big meal and drinking a few beers so we get more than enough rest. I think the world cup kept many climbers away from the rocklands this year since it’s pretty empty here. There are maybe 20 people at the campground and no one is in the other houses near ours.

To sum up my initial impression after living and climbing in The Rocklands for one month, this might just be my favorite bouldering destination. Life is good here.