Hello Everyone! I must admit it sure has been good times here in the Rocklands lately! Despite some unfortunate weather and some random South African plagues which have been rocking some peoples worlds, we have been going full steam ahead. As this is my first trip here in the Rocklands, I have been trying to climb some of the iconic classics established by the visionaries of the past, and its been a real treat. Yesterday, despite humid conditions left over from the days of rain which soaked the mountain pass, we quested out to the Road Crew sector to tackle some projects. I headed out to The Rhino for a pleasant warm up, then rolled up to The Power of One (an amazing 8b I had nearly done in my first session some days before) and fortunately for my skin banged it out first try of the sesh. We headed over to the mythic Amandla, a Fred Nicole problem originally rumored to be as hard as 8c+, but later repeated and confirmed as something around 8b+. I gave a token flash burn with the original method; a brutal move of a minging little razor edge to a large slot, and had second thoughts about my skins condition for this kind of move. Immediately I began looking for other solutions, rallied some beta which cut the razor edge out of the loop, rested for about 45 minutes then sent it on my first go from the start. It was a magical moment, a boulder I had waited years to try, and a successful execution, no punting was involved.
Its really satisfying to have successful climbing days out here. Sessions when you climb things which challenge you are incredible, the polar experience involves brutalizing your skin and body, tripping out your mind, and rallying long into the dark, setting up forced rest days abound, and a less confident morale.
This video was made by our friend Clement Perotti, mastermind behind SandStones Meida (check him out on vimeo), and soon to be contributor on the Island. Look for more content here coming from him in the next days, he has been producing some awesome weekly recaps of the action down here in the Rocklands, and we will get it uploaded asap!
Music credit goes Gonjasufi, and the song is Candylane. Enjoy!
