Bouldering Rocks

Unlike regular climbing with ropes and harnesses, bouldering is a short, sharp and intense experience with serious appeal to problem-solvers. Essentially, the objective is to find the most challenging route to the top of a boulder with the maximum body ‘moves’, using only hands and feet.

- Shellee Kim Gold

ROCKLANDS, CEDERBERG

A mass of American twangs and foreign drawls bubble up between boulders under a cavernous starlit sky, deep in the Cederberg. It’s pizza night at Rocklands campsite lapa bar. Everyone has gathered around, eager to share tales and swap advice on the day’s bouldering challenges. Photographs by Chris Kelk de Pakhuys

Finding a South African accent at Rocklands in the cooler months is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, especially since readers of the international Rock and Ice climbing magazine voted it amongst the globe’s top three bouldering sites.

Even 15-year-old Ashima Shiraishi – arguably the world’s best female boulderer – glided across rock here when she featured in a bouldering documentary.

Unlike regular climbing with ropes and harnesses, bouldering is a short, sharp and intense experience with serious appeal to problem-solvers. Essentially, the objective is to find the most challenging route to the top of a boulder with the maximum body ‘moves’, using only hands and feet.

Rock quality is amongst the top criteria for a successful climb. Some extreme adventurers get so hooked on Rocklands’ iconic orange and grey sandstone, they end up staying for months. Plentiful crevices, crannies and nooks, all coarse on the hands, make for good gripping here.

Heights don’t feature much in bouldering. On average, climbs are up to five metres.

Even so, crash pads are an essential in the boulderer’s paraphernalia. The high-density foam mattresses buffer the climber’s fall.