Rocklands 2015

Riverside, Rocklands (SA).

Two  seasons have elapsed since the last time I was in Rocklands, the renowned area in the Western Cape region of South Africa. That trip was actually my first time out of Europe and was also a good reaching  point  for my first year as a full-time climber. I was excited the day I left and the trip was brilliant for different aspects. Despite I didn’t like some sides of the area, like the low quality below the V9 frontier, I remember a lot of positive things: some good boulders in the highest difficulty range, the climate which was often perfect, the breathtaking landscapes and the cost of life which was cheap for us. These things made me keen to come back as soon as possible, even because the potential for new stuff is probably bigger than anywhere else.

The climbing style in Rocklands is anyway really simple. It is way simpler than in every other place I have ever climbed. Nothing is difficult. The only thing you do is to grab a hold, which most of the time is a good crimp, and pull it as strong as you can. Rarely you have to figure out something technical or the climbing seldom offers brilliant moves like spicy arêtes or sequences where minimal details are the key. Everything is basic and repeated over and over. This is something I like and I don’t at the sometime. I guess in some cases is really fun and nice. Even the hardest problems are of course difficult for the strength, but super simple for the reading and for their interpretation. After a while, I miss the true bouldering and the gym style of the area start to get me bored; this is the negative side.

Campground, Rocklands (SA).

Max trying "Pinotage", Rocklands (SA).

"Purple Nipple Clan" 8A, Rocklands (SA). Photo Max Buvoli

This year I booked my flight really late, like one month before or maybe even less. Me and Max, a friend of mine, opted to come down in July and just after booking I immediately planned a program which worked well. I went to Silvretta for a bunch of days before my trip and I could text myself after those 2 weeks training. I felt positive, light and in a good shape. Skin was perfect and this meant a lot to me. I just had troubles on the endurance and some specific moves made my shoulders feel weak; The time between Silvretta and Rocklands was anyway enough to recover this lack.  We landed on the 11st of August and we only have 20 days of climbing ahead. It was short, but it was definitely better than spend another full month in the terrible Italian summer. 

Everything started well  like I desired: I felt light, I got tough skin and I kept going into a positive flow. The first 4 days were brilliant. We first went to 8 days rain sector where I finished the classic “Golden Virginia” 8A and flashed “Monkey Buisiness” 8A+/B.  Everything seemed to promise for a joyful trip. The days after I jumped on some classics I left in 2013 and I briefly tried one of my favorite problem ever i.e. “Black Eagle”. I wanted to check it out to see if coming back later or not. Unfortunately this never happened. After the first 4 days on, I took a day off; I wanted to start working on something harder and to look for some new projects. I had many things I wanted to do and I knew the time was pretty short.

Since the first day of rest, everything started to go wrong; or better I couldn’t fix my problems properly. I started to be sick for five days and  I felt weak in some moments; In the same period I seriously split my medium tip, for an Anthyidral bad use. I started to be stressed at that stage, probably because I knew I was wasting some of the few days I had. I should have simply looked after myself in the coldest nights and use the Antihydral better. Good things for the future!

 I anyway started working on “Speed of Sound”, a problem rated 8B+ and freed by Jimmy Webb. This problem sadly took me all the trip long.

At the first session I still had two weeks ahead; all of them have been spent working on “Speed of sound”.  It took me 4 full days of effort in which I exclusively  tried that line for 6 or 7 hours per day. The first session I had tape on, while during the second day I also split my index. I kept working with double tape, but I knew I had to stop and recover my fingers properly if I wanted to climb it. I had already spent two precious days, so I wanted to finish it before the end of the trip. The routine was like: intensive session on “Speed of Sound”, climbing on easier lines with tape the day after, resting 3 days and then repeat this loop again. Everything was mentally frustrating for me. I knew that after the resting time I could have 5 or 6 goes on the boulder, and then I had to work the sequences with tape on. The third session went good, falling at the very end before starting bleeding. I put tape on my tips again and I could try the end for a while. I figured out a smarter way to climb the upper moves and I knew that if I could have reached that point again, I wouldn’t have fallen anymore. I removed the tape off, I looked at my fingers, I looked at the boulder and I set my mind off until the next session, trying to keep the positivity. I started another resting loop; it was really long to sit on the pads all day, waiting for a bit of skin. The game started to stress my mind more than what I expected: I was in Rocklands and I had spent lot of time on a single problem. I still had time ahead to  check some other stuff; but at the same time I would have not recovered enough to work properly “Speed of Sound”, so I would have thrown away one week of hard effort. I opted to choose the hardest way for myself: keeping on resting and keeping on believing in that ascent. I had no chance: I would have climbed it or I would have basically wasted the whole trip. I got a risk put 1700 €, three weeks trip, 20.000 km on a single boulder problem. A boulder problem that at the end I didn’t like so much, but at the point it was more like a personal game between me and my mind.

  

"Speed of Sound" 8B+, Rocklands (SA). Photo Giulia Agatea

                            

The third session was on Monday the 24^th. Then the day after we went to Campground where I climbed on easier stuff before another resting period. The plan was simple: resting Wednesday and Thursday, try hard on Friday, then resting on Saturday to have the last possible chance on Sunday, before leaving. Doing this I would have had 5 total sessions for Speed of sound, 2 of them still ahead. I honestly thought that one would have been enough, but knowing about another possibility made me more relaxed and positive. Unfortunately the forecast damaged my plans. On Thursday the weather forecasted rain for Friday and Sunday, while Saturday was supposed to be a sunny day with temps between 14 and 24. I knew I only had a couple of shots before starting bleeding and then with tape the sending would have been much harder for me. I hence rested on Friday as well and the pressure started to make me bad. Saturday was the day. I woke up and I immediately went at the window to see if the rain of the previous night passed by. I wasn’t worried, I trusted in the forecast. I wouldn’t have . It was desperately foggy and quite wet outside. I felt nervous.

We had our usual breakfast and we drove to the pass. Going to the Saddle, the sector where speed of sound is, the path takes like an hour. The fog was thick. The rhino was visible at 5 meters only. I have never seen Rocklands in that scenario. I opted to postpone my warm up, praying to see blue sky soon. After a couple of hours I was warming and the fog started to fade off. We went to Roadside to finish my warm up on “Sunset Arete”. Max climbed “Pinch of herb” 7C+, while the sky was fully azure; his send and the clear air made me much more positive than the early morning. We hiked to the saddle in our silence. Beyond how the result would have been, that was my last time on the way. I got under the boulder and I cooled down my temperatures; I sheltered in the shade of the overhang and my skin started to be colder. I made a quick warm up for the exit, re-climbing the new way I checked the session before. I didn’t want to check the other moves to save skin; but I would have liked. Everything seemed anyway good, just the skin was more moist than the last time. I wondered why, but an answer would have not made any difference. Pressure was high and I decided to break it with the first go. I climbed so bad and roughly, missing the middle crux. I rested and I started again. I felt too nervous and my feet slightly shake in the sequence. I grabbed the heinous crack and I got into the hardest move but I quickly hit the pad. My mind was not following my body. I had to stop and set it off. After 45 minutes I sat again under the boulder and the anxiety passed by. I felt my mind was searching for the positive stream and it miraculously found it. I was on, I felt a turning point and I began once more. I had a really bad go, with a quick finger snap in the easy section. I fall down, but I was much happier than ever, because I reached a good flow with my head. I rested few minutes and I started with a even better focus. I reached the crux, I went over and I got in the changing feet. I felt stronger; I was climbing into the flow and the flow lead me to the lip. I did the mantle at half past 4 PM, with only a bunch of hours before leaving. I was happy about all the process. All the resting days have been paid off with a single shot and an intense moment.  At the beginning of the trip I had totally other expectations, definitively much more positive. But the things roll differently many times and I had to change my plans. This experience will make me stronger on the red point mode; and since it is one of my weakest point, it is what I actually needed.

Trip is over now and it has been good to live this “bad” events and to overcome some mental problems. It has been curios to me to see how some aspects has changed between 2013 until and now. I would have never been able to work so intensively on a single problem in the previous seasons and this is definitively a good point. I am pretty excited for the fall in Europe now. I have many projects to do, things to develop and testpieces to repeat. Hopefully the temperatures will drop in the next weeks!

Max trying "Cedar Spine", Rocklands (SA)

Leopard prints in Kleinfontein, Rocklands(SA).

Roadside, Rocklands (SA).

"Time Out" 8A+, Rocklands (SA). Photo Giulia Agatea

"Ulan Bator" 7B, Rocklands (SA). Photo Giulia Agatea

Giulia trying "Demi Lune", Rocklands (SA). Photo Max Buvoli

Rocklands, last part

Roadside sector, Rocklands.

My trip in Rocklands is over and I arrived at home on Sunday morning. Five weeks seemed long and sufficient, but when you do bouldering every day the time passes fast and the days are never enough. At the end I still had a bunch of problems which I would have liked to try or to see and the list counts always many good lines. The last two weeks were anyway good and in the second half of the trip, I started to work boulders I had already tried at the beginning of my stay. The first two ticked lines were in "tea garden" sector, "Black shadow" 8A+ and "Brown shadow" 8A, both in the same roof. In The first one I had some troubles in the middle, where I felt my leg too long to stay into the position and every time I would have liked to cut it. My feeling was bad and it made me quite nervous. In fact, the movement in the middle part was hard and I had to fight a lot to win one of the most classic ones of all Rocklands. In the same evening we went to the sad camping bar and a bad notice came out: from that day "tea garden" area was closed, this fact is due to some problems like trash, no walking in a unique path and no respect for the private area. It is really shameful hearing about this kind of problems, since many places around the world are not so respected by climbers or common people, who have fun by getting away its own trash like bottles, tape and other stuff.

Besides the usual problems, my adventure went on with other good climbing lines. On 28th of July , after a rainy/rest day the weather was still bad in the morning and I started to be bored at home. At midday the rain stopped and after one hour we decided to go to check the campsite, the closest sector. I was doubtful, it looked all wet from the view of our house. My plans were to go in solo mission to check a problem not so often frequented by climbers, which I found lovely. This one was the line on the right side of "gliding through the waves like a dolphin", put up by Bernd Zangerl on 2011 and called "sitting in a corner with depression". The line follows a wide arete, like a big orange/grey egg with moves in compression, spans and beautiful climbing. During the way to reach it I found the ground wet and I was not so sure about what I was doing. surprisingly, at the top of the hill the wind was optimal and every piece of rock was perfectly dry. Also the temperature was cold and I started to get warm extremely motivated. I put the pads under this gem I saw the first day and I was hit by its beauty. After some hard times, I had every move and I was super happy to be under a boulder like that, with grey sky but also with awesome friction and completely alone. The climbing is amazing, the line too and I don't understand why climbers usually don't attempt this problem. The wind was too strong, so I put my shoes and other stuff to lock them in the ground. After some rest I did it, and I would like to advice this line to every climber, since it is usually marginalized.

The days after I managed to do "The power of one" 8B, in Roadcrew. Also this one was always present in my mind by Progression film. I have to say that on this line I had a bit of luck, since for the last swing I was really close to the pad but fortunately I didn't touch it. Seeing the effort which It required me, I am not sure that I would have been able of doing it again after that attempt. The fourth week was dedicated to the most two desired problems, aka "el corazon" 8B and "moiste mooise" 8B. The problem of "el corazon" is to find a good day when also other people want to try it, since more pads you have and better is the fall. The 30th of July was my third day of climbing in a row and I decided to take a rest for the next day. In the evening Jernej passed from our house saying us he was syked to try this mega line the day after, and, despite a bit of tiredness, I knew I would have seized the opportunity. In the morning I rested, preserving skin as I could, and, in the afternoon we went there to prepare the landing. The boulder is only possible in ground up, a style which make it still better than it is. The big span to the crimp is simply one of the best move that a climber could desire and it looks hard not being dazzled under a line of this quality. It presents itself bigger than the videos and its shape is perfect. It looks like an amphitheater in front of you, with its majesty and its importance which make you feel smaller. The color is orange and the light, which passed form a big hole, makes the atmosphere still more motivated to attempt a gem like that. Descriptions apart, the first two tries I failed and bad feelings attacked me. I started to say in my mind that probably it was not the right day to do it seriously. I took a longer rest, while Jernej fell after the big move to the crimp. The attempt after the rest was good, but during the dynamic I lost everything, keeping the crimp with one arm and I was really bad to grab the last jug. I rested more and, during the try after, everything went as I wanted and I sent it. For sure, not losing the hand in the first jump is a big advantage. 

The Power of one 8B, Rocklands. Photo Nils Favre

Two days later, I decided to come back in Riverside, to try "moiste mooise". Also Adrian had some projects there, so we planned a full day there. In the morning my friend Simo came at my house and he joined with us. I was happy about this, finally I was able of climbing with him in South Africa after one week that we were both there. After the warm up in "take off your shoes" we moved to "au bord du l'eau" 8A a historical wall with perfect sandstone pockets. The last hole was still wet as the first time I saw it, but I was too motivated to rest and I put on my shoes. after few goes I did it, but the way with a shoe off is definitively better for me. Having the bare left foot is an advantage since with the finger you really can grab better this particular foothold. As I knew "moiste mooise" remaines in the sun for all the day, so when the sunset came I decided to go. The friction was not as good as I hoped, in fact I didn't feel the slopers so better respect the first session in the morning during the days ago. After two goes with team shoes, Simo advised me the oldest soft shoes I had in the bag, and it worked well for the crux toe hook. With this soft shoes I could turn better my foot behind the corner and the move looked easier. The problem for me was when I started from the bottom, since I went on to fail it on the last hard move. The night came and we could continue to climb thanks to the Nils' big lamp. After other unuseful attempts I rested and I decided to do the last go of the day for quitting after it. Before start, I surprisingly felt a little source of energies and I decided to try to use them. I arrived before the crux move and I don't know how but I grabbed the last sloper remaining with my body on. I was a bit confused since didn't believe I managed to do it. Amazing emotion also on this masterpiece.

After that evening I felt really ok, I thought about my trip and I saw that the most part of the boulders I really wanted to do were basically done. I was happy because all the problems were chosen with a quality criterion after having removed the lines that didn't hit me. Having climbed "el corazon" "Caroline" "sitting in the corner with depression" and other ones, made me happy and relaxed. Anyway, The day after I decided to start to work a line which for sure would have required me more sessions of attempts. I decided to dedicate to "Golden Shadow" 8B+ in Roadcrew. I went there with Adrian again and we got warm just on the side of this cave where there is "orange heart" a 6C on some cool rails. I started to work the moves and the session went better than the last one of few days ago. I managed to find a good way for the exit, so the full second part was done and I did the middle hard sequences of five moves. At the end of the session I cut my index tip and it started to bleed: the hole seemed quite big. My mistake was to have not removed the higher skin with sandpaper, so the crimp raised the skin up the letting me the wound. I have nothing to complain, since this kind of stuff is not so usual in my skin. after a fast check in my mind I thought it wasthe second time that I cut my tip and I have to admit to have been lucky. 

Two days later I came back with Simo and the resume of the days is this: In the morning, I used the softer shoes and in this way I could use well the new beta, with the toe hook on the right. since my foot was more free, I was able to put it deeper and not touching the stone during the exit. This way, if you don't touch the stone, it is easier that the original one. At the end of the day I fell three times when the boulder was basically finished, before the toe hook. During the little swing I touched twice the rock and for little dab I felt fair to quit and go down. In the evening I planned two days of rest, hoping in an improvement of my skin. I had to sacrifice some other personal project but I thought it was the right way to take. The choice was repaid three days later when I did it with Nils just before a storm and a big rainy day.

The day after we should have climbed just few hours since we wanted to leave at midday or so to go to Cape Town. Three friends of us started on Thursday and only Nils and I were still there on Friday. Nils had some troubles and he lost his phone, so he carried me to 8 days rain at 8 o'clock and his searching went on. I was alone in all the sector and after no kind of good felling in "quintessential", I went towards "golden Virginia" where a not so good surprise was waiting for me. I started to work it and I felt some steps going towards me in the path. In my mind I thought it was Nils', but after few seconds some bushes started to move and some scream drew my attention. I had a look and a bunch of four big monkeys where 30 meters in front of me and they looked quite angry. I was totally alone and I didn't know nothing about their behavior. I was fucking scary and I didn't have any idea about what I should have done. After few minutes, I checked the situation and one of them  stood up of the bush and they looked at me moving at my sight. I kept hidden and I knew that the path was blocked. I choose the coward way and I decided for an alternative back path to reach the parking, letting all my thing under the boulder. Finally, after some effort in the wild I reached the parking where there was the car and Nils was going to search me. bad timing. I shouted and he answered me coming back to the car. After few minutes we went there in two and the animals had already left the place allowing us to take my stuff abandoned there like a stupid. It looks maybe strange, but being so close to wild big animals was scary for me and I passed big fear moments alone in 8 days rain. The trip finished with this wild experience and fortunately no fight between man and nature happened. :)

Also this travel is anyway done and during the five weeks I was really happy and glad to be there. The place is for sure one of the best I have ever seen and I liked a lot the natural contest which it presents. The rock has a high quality in the pass sector, while in other part like campsite or other place it has a medium quality in my opinion. For sure I don't feel to compare this kind of sandstone to the Bleau's one, since for me the Font's rock is on another step respect to Rocklands' one. The spot offers true gems to climb with amazing features and really good climbing, but I should say that some easy boulders are medium and not as good as a person expects seeing all this media pushing that Rocklands has. The most impressive thing is for sure the natural place, where you can really stay in the nature and climbing in amazing landscapes. I had really great time and I will come back one day for sure.

Madiba 8A+, Rocklands. Photo Nils Favre

 

Golden Shadow 8B+, Rocklands. Photo Nils Favre

Rocklands, second week

Time is passing fast here in Rocklands and every evening we reckon how many days left. We are in the middle of the trip and we still have some areas to visit, many projects to try and goals to achieve. After "King of limbs" I finally felt that my two previous months of training started to work well enough; not as I would, but It is obvious that the physical shape has higher and lower points in the graphic. I am feeling in a pretty good shape but for sure not as I was in "gandalf il grigio" or in Sweden. Last week I managed to put some ticks on my list doing a couple of problems I found really lovely. The first is "derailed" 8B, it looks like a ball of glass to squeeze and it has the first ascent signed by Daniel Woods. I watched this line in Progression film, I think four or five years ago, and I was pretty impressed by its slopers and its movements.I remember I said that I wanted to try it one day in my life and that it would have been a dream to see it and to be in a place like that. But everytime that I asked to my dad to go to Rocklands his answer was always doubtful because I was too young or things like that. He often explained me to have patience during my life, in the climbing side. When he saw me disappointed after a day of climbing he said me that with patience and no haste I would have climbed in south Africa or would have done some hard boulders around.For sure "derailed" is not the best line in the world, but last tuesday it was like a little dream for me to be under it; because I waited four years for it and there I was conscious about my dad’s words, probably he was right . Finally I could touch that sloper which was always present in my mind and never in my hand. After a fast warm up, my goal was under the sun, but I decided to try it a bit since the wind blew and it refreshed the holds. After a session of work I understood how to do the first move and the changing of feet which is probably the hardest part for me. At the end of the session I missed the last crimp from the bottom and my energies went down while the sun was heating up more and more. I took the best decision deciding to wait for the evening, when the shadow would have fallen. We went in another wall and I rested thinking about "derailed". In the late afternoon I started to go towards the line with Adrian but we took a halt to see the monkeys on a boulders. When we arrived it was already in the shadow and my motivation grew up fast. I did it on the first go. I’m really happy about this line, it is very significant for me and for my climbing journey.
The day later we went to Sassies. My friend max told me that the walking would have been really long and sandy  so I was ready to walk; or probably I just thought that I would have been ready. Fortunately the walking skipped. we managed to go up with the car until the highest parking and shorten the path to few minutes. The approach with the car was crazy, because we spent 15 mins to push it since it sank in the sands  so it was really hard getting there. During the day I flashed "Pinotage sds", a probable 7B+ and climbed "Shosholoza" 8A which is a well known line of two moves simply awesome. Also for Nils was a good day since He flashed his project "leap of faith", a hard jump with a scary fall. The two days after were rainy and we all got new skin and good energies for our projects. During these rainy moments boredom was high for all and we tried to fill our days with ping pong and poker tournament. On Saturday 20th, we woke up and surprisingly It was raining again, despite the positive forecast. Fortunately at 10 o'clock in the morning it stopped and some blue sky started to appear. We had many indecisions about where to go and we went on to ask ourselves which sector would have dried first. Probably the time for "sky" was arrived and in fact at midday the final decision was to go to Kleinfontein. I felt a bit of pressure because I knew that I wanted to have the line in a perfect conditions to attempt a possible flash go. We parked and a slight rain restarted. Anyway we went towards the project and when we were under this marvelous thing the azure of the sky started to appear again. I was a bit more relieved.I don't write here about the high beauty of the problem, since everyone knows about the perfection of this rig and the videos of today can explain well how pure and essential it is. In my mind the first move was a bit shorter, but when I was in front of it the move looks long with arms completely open. After the warm up I was ready to try. I brushed it and I was focus. This moment was often present in my mind and also my friends knew the possibilities about a good flash go. I took the first one and I lost my feet, I matched and I failed going to the last pinch. Shame for this, but the pressure immediately went down, letting me more quiet for the next tries. After two attempts on the last move I crushed on my second go and I was anyway happy to have done this super orange gem. Concerning the stupid grade system, my personal opinion made some discussions but for my size I thought that the grade can't honestly be higher than 8A+. I think that this kind of number doesn't matter as I always said and it seems ridiculous to put discussion (o start a discussion) about grades in front of a boulder. I think that whether it is 8B+ or 8A+ or 7C, this kind of valuations doesn't ruin in any case a perfect line as sky is.

"Sky" 8A+, Rocklands. Photo Nils Favre

Apart from the usual problems about numbers, the day after we finally went to Fortress where it is the line of "the vice" 8B. This line was put up by Thomas Willenberg fourteen years ago. Its true looking is for sure better than what it seems in the video and it counts 13 movements which made me pumpy before the easy exit. I was happy to have done also this line and I think it is a worthy one despite the long path to reach which made tired my thin legs.

"The vice" 8B, Rocklands. Photo Nils Favre

As every climbers can image the lines here are good and the rock too. But for me it is not the most impressive thing of this place since Fontainebleau has a better kind of sandstone. For my experience, Rocklands is the first  climbing place where there is not any kind of artificial noises and you can stay alone among the natural landscapes without seeing and hearing cars, airplanes, roads, cities and other human made stuff. In my opinion this is the best aspect of this place, the possibility to be alone in this marvelous scenery surrounded only by rocks and natural elements.
After Friday we will have still two weeks of climbing. for now I would like to say thanks to Nils who is taking me some really nice shots.

South Africa, First week

King of limbs 8B, Rocklnds. Photo Nils Favre

At the end of a travel lasted 29 hours , last monday evening I reached Rocklands. The first week of my trip is basically over and I decided to write something about these days in African landscapes. As I said, the journey was obviously long from Milan; it was my first flight out of the Europe. The halt in Dubai lasted almost nine hours and we sat in a jack daniel pub to have a dinner. Sunday night we took the second flight and Nils and Gulham got the upgrade to Business class and I had to settle for the economy one. Next morning we arrived in South Africa and Nils bound our pads above the car, since it was really small for all the luggage. The driving lasted about three hours from the airport to Clanwillian, the closest city to Rocklands. We passed through the grasslands which was rich of sheep or similar animals and in the evening we were exhausted so we decided to go to bed early to be in shape for the day after.

Fortunately, on Tuesday we had a couple of hours to climb here and we checked the first sector close to our home in pakhuys camping . Finally I was able to try a few lines which I desired for years. We tried "ray of light", "glading the waves like a dolphin" and "el corazon" where I missed the ascent touching the top on my second go. Nothing was climbed during these first hours, but I immediately understood that the place would have been worthy and it would have offered me some awesome landscapes and sick boulders. The day after we went to the pass, probably the most famous area of all Rocklands, where I was finally able to crash some problems like "nutsa" 7C+, "out of balance" 8A, "green Mamba" 8A and "caroline" 7C. In the first three lines I always missed the flash at the last move like a stupid and I climbed them in the second go. I was really hit by the beauty of Caroline, for sure the best problems climbed in this week. The rock represents a perfection of pinches and cracks, probably made by the water and these features made it really unique. I really liked also Green mamba, which has a really lovely sandstone at the beginning and cool moves at the end. For Thursday I planned a day of rest, but it is really hard in a place like this to have a day with no climbing. In fact, in the evening I reached Benoit in "witness the sickness" 8A, since it is one of his project for this trip. At the beginning I was strong to withstand this inviting problem but at the end I fall in its temptation. Fortunately I climbed it fastly and after two goes I was at the top with no additional dangerous troubles at my skin. On Friday the time for "moiste mooise" finally arrived and Nils and I were extremely syked to put our hands on it after long period of waiting and dreaming. We got warm in a crazy and marvelous wall, which has some easy lines and I’d like to have always such easy and beautiful problems to warm up). It deals of a slightly overhang whit a black slab before the topout, it was amazing being under it. After climbing the four lines on this wall we put the pads under one of the meanest problems which I would like to do, Moiste mooise. It was completely at the sun and with 23 degrees it looked hard. My skin got worse after few goes and I wasn't strong enough to do it. I did it splitted in two sequences twice, hoping to get an improvement the next session. The riverside sector is really particular and nowadays everything is burnt after the big summer fire in January. Nils told me that last year It wasn't so simple to find the lines, because a lot of bushes and trees hinder the path. Now the area is bare and the boulders are pretty visible going towards the zone. This zone has also a little river, which makes it a bit different than the other ones I saw so far and this stream was a bit useful to refresh my hands, since they was burining after the two hours trying Moiste Mooise. In the late afternoon I was under "black shadow", knowing that the ascent would have been quite hard for me, because I felt tired again. In fact I failed miserably at the end of the problem. after calling the day, I decided to take one/two days of rest and I started to think a wish problems list by the selection done during the first days. For sure I will come back to try "black shadow","el corazon" and "moiste mooise" and during the next days I would also like to check other lines to put them in the working list and to climb other easier stuff.

After the rest I felt quite better and today, after the warm up in a classic like "the rhino", I could climb in few attemptes "king of limbs" 8B, a cave with a big gaston move and a powerfull finish.

The first week is gone and I’m going to have other four ones to visit new places and try other sick sandstone lines :)
 

Green Mamba 8A, Rocklands. Photo Nils Favre

The rhino 7B,Rocklands. Photo Nils Favre