Rock climbing equipment

We are duly braced.

Ghaz,

We have a small climbing gym i pmb where i go as regularly as i can to keep fit and strong. will be good to see you there one day.

I must get details of where it is, check it out some time.

Ok, so I did 2 routes at Monties (Monteseel - half way between PMB and Durban).

Trevor lead both of them (naturally) - lots of cams placed, they are definitely much easier to remove

The first route we did was a grade 12 (apparently thats about an E grade) - Adam’s Apoplexy:


I had "shoe failure" a third of the way up and had to finish the climb barefoot. Not too much bloodshed occurred... I will be buying climbing shoes shortly...

Due to the difficulty of the first climb and the fact that I didn't have decent shoes for climbing, we went for complete overcompensation on the second climb - a hybrid of 2 routes, Hot Plate and some other route which I don't remember the names of:


Before I get a bunch of responses about how a belayer should never take his hands off the rope, note that I had the rope locked with one hand and asked him if he could wait for a photo - so safety wasn't jeopardised

With the rope in place (just before I began to climb), you can see the route:

@Ghaz, I'm jealous,

Just got another pic of the climbing of facebook (Adam’s Apoplexy):

I think rock climbing may be a secondary infection to the Berg Bug bite I suffered in 2009 on top of Rhino. I find the idea of being able to summit certain rock climbing peaks to be highly appealing - although I did enjoy the climbing aspect. I am still only looking at the Sentinel, bulk of the Cathedral Peak range, Amphlett, Turret and maybe a few of the tougher easy climbs like the Inner Tower. I can't see me using Monteseel for anything other than Berg training.

Considering the first climb I did on Saturday was an E-grade and wasn't that difficult I am sure I am able to kill some easy roped Berg climbs provided I can find a group to tag along with - my climbing ability is not yet sufficient to lead (not to mention that it will take a while to build up equipment)...

I found a funny way of remembering the old grading system:

Blah
Can't be bothered
Darn easy
Easy
Fair
Gnarly
Holy sheep! cleaned up
Insane!
Jy joke seker

The Climbing wall is on Mayors walk, in the sports development center where they do gymnastics and martial arts.

Josh Runs it and he has made a nice place for us climbers here in pmb