Ten minutes from the boulders, forty from the beach. Fresh gourmet seafood entres for less than $10 and rooibos everywhere we go. Not to mention all the gymnastic style boulders surrounded by valleys of untouched rock. Tis is Afrika!

I arrived in Cape Town mid June to meet up with Kasia, Jimmy, and Daniel. We spent the first few weeks exploring areas east of the city with Arjan near his farms.

Needless to say, lots of work to be done there.

We left for the Rocklands at the end of the month, but by that time I was pretty broken – before the flight out I tweaked my left knee, managed to sprain my left ankle a few hours off the plane, irritated an extensor tendon in my hand and burned a finger on a metal lid. Regardless, thanks to Kasia’s previous experience here I was able to top out some stellar problems with her the first week.

(Left) Me on Sunset Arete 7c Photo: Kasia Pietras  // (Right) Kasia Pietras on The Rhino 7b+

I’m not going to lie, being injured sucked. Having to hold back and be cautious was the last thing I had imagined doing when I finally made it over here. Especially when climbing with fun, strong ladies! Overall though I knew resting was necessary to eventually top out the boulders I had my sights set on, and, a benefit to being at a new area, in the meantime I could pick out climbs that didn’t hurt. Now after having some time to heal patience has to paid off. I’m feeling psyched, ready to project, and anxious to see what happens!