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It’s not about whether you win or lose, but if you like rock climbing…

The finals of the PETZL Rock & Road Trip Western Cape 2010 took place on Saturday afternoon at Oudtshoorn. After the gruelling semi-finals the day before, many of the finalists were feeling their previous efforts as they walked along the pathway up to the main wall to face the last day of climbing.

The six female finalists of Faye Brouard, Candice Bagley, Illona Pelser, Rachelle de Charmoy, Tessa Little and Heidi Rower were given Hard Play, a 28 that served as one of the men’s semi-final routes the day before. Each climber was given twenty minutes to work the route, after which the finals would take place. Candice was looking very strong in her working session, as were Faye and Tessa who all reached round about the same point in their twenty working minutes. Illona was not far behind, with Rachelle and Heidi spending a bit more time figuring out the lower sections of the route.

Last Updated on Monday, 20 December 2010 17:04 Read more...

The Semi-finals in Oudtshoorn prove to be a unique event

By 11am on Friday morning the PETZL Rock & Road Trip Western Cape 2010 contenders were gathered around the base of the main wall. This striking scar of blue, grey and orange limestone curves like a slash made by an axe into the surrounding landscape; creating a feeling that you are almost looking into the flesh of the mountain.

By 11:01am the first climbers were on the rock for their 20 minute working sessions of the routes put before them. In the girls case it was Royal Flush (29) and Going, Going, Gone (28), and the boys were given Hard Play (28) and The Quickening (28). The guys were allowed a 20 minute working session in which they could flash if they didn’t come off, and if they did come off they had one redpoint attempt which they had to wait the entire round of 16 men to try again. This applied for both routes. The girls had exactly the same set-up except they were allowed two redpoint attempts. Some girls opted to forfeit one attempt simply to rest for an extra cycle, as three sessions on one of these routes which are 30m+ is a pretty exhausting feat.

Final day of the Redpoint Challenge goes down under grey skies

Today we didn’t wake up in baking hot tents. While pondering how it was nice to be in my sleeping bag I realised that it must be quite nice sending weather too, and things that looked certain yesterday may not look so certain today. Like who might be coming in first, who pushed too hard on day one of the redpoint challenge, and who was still waiting to strike…it’s becoming that time of the trip for tactical attacks with multiple artillery, when people try not to care about the points that others are racking up when they actually care a whole lot.

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 December 2010 09:29 Read more...

Rainy Rest Day for the PETZL Rock & Road Trip Western Cape 2010

Day 6 of the PETZL Rock & Road Trip Western Cape 2010 was a designated rest day. Which apparently doesn’t always mean a hell of a lot, with quiet a few people still having to contend with taking down draws off the sopping rock of Montagu. The group was divided into people who were keen to get to Oudtshoorn chop-chop, those who wanted to dawdle along Route 62, and those who had to stick around in the rain at Montagu until their racks were complete again.

Last Updated on Saturday, 18 December 2010 09:16 Read more...

Montagu sees a number of sends with the PETZL Rock & Road Trip Western Cape 2010

Guinea Fowls have an awfully loud squawk. Especially at 5am when they’re right outside your tent. Day four of the PETZL Rock & Road Trip Western Cape 2010 thus officially started when the little spotty rascals belted out their heart-wrenching alarm clock with the rise of the sun. Yes! The sun! The rain predicted for Tuesday never materialised, meaning that a full day of climbing lay ahead.

After breakfast the climbers disappeared in hyped-up bunches to start sending routes. With the scorcher of a day burning bright, many people were amped to get one route under their belts by lunch time. Basically, the climbers are scored on their two best routes logged in the two days we have at Montagu. Each grade from 22 to 35 equals a certain number of points, 50 extra points are awarded for a flash, 100 extra points are awarded for an onsight, certain bonus routes have an extra 100 points, and if you’ve climbed a route before you have to subtract 100 points. Easy peasey.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 December 2010 22:51 Read more...

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