It was a great start of the trip after a 2 hour delay and an 10,5 hour flight Iep and I arrived save and sound in Cape Town. After some shady routing we found ourselves in the hotel ready for a short night of sleep.
The following morning we picked up our car, Blue Minki, and headed towards Echo Valley for our first day of bouldering. We booked a group bouldering session with Breath in Experiences. Arriving a little late because of Cape Town Traffic being a little bit more chaotic then we are used to. We set out to climb some superb boulders. I managed to climb Mintberry Crunch a classic 7C+ of the area. I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to climb this amazing line in such a short period of time. Thanks so much to Mish, Beks, and all the other amazing people at Breath in Experiences.
A first day at Plateau is always a nice welcome into the Rocklands bouldering style. With short walks and boulders that aren’t to crazy. Like a tour guide I showed Iep around all of the mega classics of plateau. Send him up Poison Dwarf and Minki. These boulders went super well, even though there weren’t any tops. I tried to do a little bit of flying in Black Velvet, feeling more confident on it then previous years.
Cutting our day short again as we needed to rush to the supermarket to buy some food, I got overwhelmed with nostalgia as all the food in the supermarket sparked so many memories form previous years. The banana bread, the double stuffed cookies, the shitty American bread, the gross blocks of cheese it was such a weird experience to relive this place just through the food. Over the past years I’ve become a vegetarian so all the meats are off the menu for me, and I don’t mind this that much. There is one product here that still scratches that carnivorous itch, Biltong. Probably the grossest form of meat out there, as it is just dried meat with some spices. But my nostalgic ass is craving that stuff. Let’s see how long it takes for me to surrender my ethics for a piece of biltong.
Our second day was more of the same. Plateau again. Strait to Minki, still no send. I did I Believe I Can Fly in my third go. And send Iep on some more Classics. The body was getting tired from climbing 3 days in a row so a rest day was needed and deserved.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a more chill rest day. After another breakfast at The Hen House we played some pool at the camping and did some groceries for a feast of a meal. On the way back we stopped at riverside to look at my dream boulder for this trip, if not life, mooiste meisie. An 8B mega classic in Rocklands. The holds on this boulder are crazy. All of these slop
ey edges which seem impossible to hold. The only thing allowing you to hang are these amazing toe-hooks. 5 star line for sure.
The fifth day of the trip was one I won’t forget anytime soon. After our breakfast we decided on going to the sassies an other classic area with some amazing and aesthetic lines. After a lot of searching for the parking and walking towards a different crack we started our warmup. After some easier problems we had our eyes on this beautiful 6C+. I flashed to problem and Iep got really close a bunch of times. I decided to give mega classic Shosholoza (8A+) a try. This boulder is set upon this “stage” of rock and is a two move wonder. I kind tried it as joke but the moves went so much better then I could ever expect. In the end I got close, almost sticking both of them.
Iep decided to give this 6C+ one last try because he had gotten so close so many times. I filmed his try from the side and as he went for the crux move his left leg got a little stuck and he dropped to the ground landing on one leg. There was a loud snap, followed by a terrifying scream. I dropped everything, walked up to him and saw his right leg in an inhumane position. The whole crag came and helped us out in this dire situation. A bunch of strong people carried him out while the rest of us carried down our stuff and made sure we got down to the car safe and sound. While we where in the car it was a shitty drive towards the nearest town, Clanwilliam. Dirt roads with potholes left and right, after an hour of driving we finally arrived at the hospital. Here we still had to wait a good hour before a doctor came to help us. The nurses didn’t really care. We had to ask for our own painkillers and other needs. When the doctors finally arrived they made quick work of resetting the leg and putting a cast on it. The radiologist was not available in Clanwilliam so Iep got the choice either go to Cape Town and do an X-Ray there, or try again tomorrow. He opted for the first and got send to Cape Town in an ambulance. The drive back was a weird one for me. Like a zombie behind the wheel trying to process what had happened I arrived at my caravan where I got jump scared by Max.
Max is a fellow Dutchie who is the roommate of a friend from my Ex. After a weird night of sleep max and I had some breakfast and met up with a trio of Irish guys. Dave Dave and Dan. I got told by all of my friends, my parents and by Iep him self that I should continue climbing and should not let this ruin my vacation. This felt very weird and hard for me. But I went and had a great session with the bois in Powerlines. I did 7 boulders graded between 6C+ and 7B+ which was just what I needed. A lot of bouldering to get back into things. I felt sketched out on my first few climbs. A little shaky and scared to top some of the higher boulders. But it all went well in the end. After a great day of climbing back in my caravan I could not stop the feeling of missing something, or rather someone.
On Friday I felt quite destroyed but it was gonna rain later that day and on Saturday, so another day of climbing it was. Max and I went to The Coop to look at The Finnish Line and try some fun problems. I did Ganja Babe (7B) and Zwangsjacke (7a). Max is staying here for quite the long time. He is writing his thesis on Climbing Tourism in Rocklands for which he is planning on interviewing some people. I got the pleasure of being his first interview which was quite an honor and a cool experience.
Today is Saturday the 8th of July, a wet and rainy day here in Rocklands. I’m visiting Iep today in the hospital, bringing him some of his essentials. I have a long drive ahead of me but I’m happy to see him again and to see how he’s doing.
Arriving at the hospital I was so glad to see a smile on his face. I don’t know how he does it but he keeps his spirit high. We talked a little and he broke his enkel in two places fracturing the inner part of his enkel and he has a break in his lower leg. If all goes well he will get his surgery tomorrow. We also took a little stroll through the hospital and had a breath of fresh air just so he could see a bit more then those four walls he had seen for quite some time now. Pfff if it was me in his position I would have definitely been more of a wreck.
It has even a hectic first week and I’d like to give every week a song that I think relates to the week or at least part of it. This week it has to be:
Tenacious D, Dude I Totally Miss You.
See y’all next week with another update. And don’t forget, be nice, think twice and most importantly, crush some boulders.