mclay
Junior Member
Posts: 96 
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Post by mclay on Jul 27, 2016 10:43:03 GMT -7
I'm curious as to whether any RCTM devotees have made the trip to climb in Waterval-Boven. Any ideas as to which USA areas the climbing and rock there would be analogous to?
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Post by Lundy on Jul 28, 2016 8:14:19 GMT -7
Hey mclay - I lived in Mozambique for a couple years and climbed at Boven pretty regularly. The rock is wonderful. It's bullet hard sandstone like you might find at the New, but it climbs totally differently. It's very blocky with lots of compression and stemming type climbing. Lots of fun movement. Without a doubt it has the best moderates I've ever climbed. I've literally never had so much fun climbing a bunch of 5.9s and 5.10s. If you're training for it specifically, I'd say general body strength as well as your standard edges.
If you end up going, let me know, and I can connect you with the guy who runs the gear shop, owns the campsite on top of the cliffs, and has all the beta.
E
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mclay
Junior Member
Posts: 96
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Post by mclay on Aug 3, 2016 5:08:50 GMT -7
Thanks, Lundy.
I'm living in Swaziland now and so Boven is my new "home crag"! I'm familiar with the style already, but curious as how to best train for it. I'm climbing in the 5.9-5.10 (16-21) range now but really want to break into 5.11 territory (22-24) as there are so many great routes in Boven at those grades.
Could you elaborate on training general body strength? I'm doing edges focussed HB phase currently.
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Post by Lundy on Sept 9, 2016 18:02:07 GMT -7
mclay - I'm so sorry I dropped the ball on this thread. By total body strength, I just meant that you'll find yourself squeezing big blocks, wishing you had a stronger chest, then 10 feet later stemming weirdly in a corner, wishing you had stronger quads (and more hip mobility). It's just really great, full-value climbing. As far as finger training goes, though, it's nearly all ledges and squeezing aretes, etc. so maybe some pinch strength will help you.
You should try to connect with Gus at Rock and Rope. He owns the campground on the top of the crag as well as a hostel in town you can stay at. He also has the place totally wired, so any beta needs he's the guy... I can't remember for the life of me some of the routes I was getting on down there, but if you explore a bit, you'll come across the best moderates on the planet, in my opinion.
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