chossclimbers

Go back to Smalblaar Ridge.
Go back to South Africa.

A more leisurely start the following day with some cragging on the menu. We drove about an hour to a famous mountaintop granite dome paradise called Paarl Rocks (there’s even a little guidebook for the area). Here we climbed a 4-pitch gem (grade 18 or about 5.9) called Sands Of Time. Absolutely fantastic climbing in a wonderful location! Pitch 2 looks improbable from below (steep, faint looking dike) but climbs like a 5.9 wet dream (positive flakes and edges appear when needed). Kind of pitch that makes your sorry when it’s over. We also got on a line called Josef’s Birthday Party but I backed off midway up pitch 2: crunchy lichen covered slab going into some moss overgrown section (seemed well bolted though). Rounded out the day with the beer-wine-scotch routine.

Photos

Go to Lekker Time.
Go back to South Africa.