Rocklands, Part 3
Rocklands
July 20 - August 10
These final Rocklands blog posts are retrospective. During the final six weeks of our trip, I was less motivated to document in the moment as it felt as if it would solidify the finality of our time there.
We returned from our getaway to Cape Town on Saturday, July 20th, and headed to The Pass for an afternoon climbing session. Of course, the weather predicted a zero percent chance of rain, yet it started downpouring while we were at the crag. Thankfully, Zane could stay dry and climb under a roof, which was his project then, and had a very productive session. One pattern we noticed was that even though the rain was exhausting and limited climbing days significantly, cooler climbing temperatures did follow, which was necessary for projecting. Zane could capitalize on an excellent weather window a few days after this storm to finish this project, a 60- or 70-degree roof sitting on top of a precipice with a panoramic view of The Pass. This three-week stretch had many ups and downs, but this was a big highlight.
Throughout this trip, we continued to learn more about the projecting process and trip pacing, as the tactics are generally far different from shorter trips. By the end of July, I was starting to feel mentally tired since I was investing a lot of climbing days into projects and falling at the end of almost all of them. I expected more "success" by week eight of the trip, which was my first mistake. Thankfully, I had projects I had fun climbing on and found micro-beta adjustments on several sessions that were instrumental in my success, so I continued to make slow but steady progress.
Eventually, we realized that one of the biggest hindrances to success was that we likely needed to climb more volume. Even though we are on a trip to climb full-time, we climb less most days outside than in the gym. We were also projecting a lot, so we were climbing low volume yet at a high intensity. Days of rain, tweaks or near misses with injuries, sweaty skin, and physical exhaustion were other reasons we had to rest more.
Realizing this issue by the end of July, we planned a three-day stretch where we climbed more volume, picking climbs we could complete. After a rest block, we went to my project, Minki, and I was able to send on my second go of the session. I fell on the final crux move about 20 - 30 times over four sessions. I first tried the boulder at the end of June and finished at the beginning of August, taking seven total days of climbing. Even though I fell on it for days and days, I loved the intricacies of the movement: tricky knee-bars, heel-hooks, and toe-hooks to climb out of a steep roof with sloped hand holds. It was an "anti-style" boulder for me, making the process even more gratifying. Each day spent on it, I learned more and more about the subtleties of the movement pattern and had fun climbing. Ultimately, the feeling of floating the move I fell on for so long was a rewarding experience.
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Liam arrived the last week of July, and we enjoyed the change of pace and his company. He came around the same time as a large group of climbers from The Bay area, which allowed him ample opportunities to climb on many different high-priority climbs with the needed pads and support. Some of the best lines in Rocklands are tall and require anywhere from eight to fifteen crash pads. Typically, one person can carry one to two crash pads. He had an awe-inspiring three-week trip, finishing a hard boulder on almost every climbing day.
While Liam was here, we went to the Fish Fry or the Muisbosskerm Open Air Restaurant at Lamberts Bay. The restaurant is right on the beach and only open when there are enough reservations because they braai several courses of freshly caught local fish and other large dishes. The setting was beautiful, but the food, especially the mussels, tuna steak, pickled herring, crawfish, and fried calamari were the highlights.
Pictured: Fish Fry
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