Andy Mann - Pro Blog 5

Thanks Beth! Ahhh, if I could only teach her what I know about photography, I could spend a lot more time climbing eh? Anyway, I should catch you up to date properly. Honestly, right now everyone is cranking so hard that I feel like a walking, talking Hot Flashes Column ready to unload into a really heavy and fully bound book, but here we go: Daniel Woods opened the Sky Project from the start and aptly named it "Sky" V14. ( I have seen Daniel break through an important barrier in the last few weeks. He is just only beginning to relize the tools he is working with). Woods also opened another amazing project called "El Corizone" V13. This line was an old Klem Loskot project from years past that requires a very strong head and an even stronger hand. "El Corazone" sits like a beacon over the area as a perfect suspened heart shaped boulder with a sick line right up it's center. A five star contender for sure. Paul followed immediately behind his heels, digging deep, and pulling off an amazing second ascent. After the next rains, I predict this one may sit unchalked for a long, long time. The kids have bagged most established testpieces by now, including the long awaited second ascents of "Moiste Maise" V14, "Madiba" V14, and "Green Mamba" V13. Lisa had a big last day before heading back to England for her gitstone sessions. She had had her heart set on Black Shadow V13, having done all the moves on previous sessions, but opted on her final day for a milage instead and fired off a few new V10s before her flight. We miss you here Lisa!

If there were ever a line that suited Paul Robinson it would be Fred Nicole's Amadala V15. Amadala lies in the center of the sector called "Roadcrew." An area famous for its other classics such as Cedar Spine, Roof on Fire, and Ulan Batar. The boulder has a dramatic overhanging lean to it and is composed of a solid orange quartzite banded with a grey gritstone allowing a very resistant path of least resistance. The problem starts from two small crimps about head heigth and the business comes quick. Pull on, and pull right hand to a very sharp fingertip crimper. (Tony says you may only get a few goes off this hold before you will split your tip like a passion fruit.) If you have the skin for it, you will then bust high to a good hold, match it, and fire for a deviously sloping lip at 15 feet, match it, and mantle. The lure of the mantle has spread over the years and some have suggested that this single move way off the deck and over a downsloping hillside, may clock in at around v11! Blow it and you'll eat it hard for sure. Most climbers stong enough to possibly make it that far have saved themselves the heartbreak of possibly blowing the move and opted out of trying for the repeat. Paul crushed it an just over an hours work and seemingly made the fastest ascent of the grade to date, though he may call it V14. Not to mention, it was the very end of the day which saw him and Daniel make the 2nd and 3rd ascents of Matt Wilder's "Power of One" V13. Daniel repeated Amandala as well a few days later. I am both honored and elevated to have watched over the last few years Daniel and Paul grow into young men and become the strongest boulderers in the world, and now, here, each day, watching the two go neck and neck on the hardest problems in the world until the big red sun sets over the Atlantic. I have been watching less through me lens at them lately, and have been growing more and more inspired to push myself as a climber.

After the rains lifted it took a bold (and ignorant) crew to get out to the boulders. There comes a time in everyones trip here to make the decesion, drive to the boulders at all cost, or, walk a little further and save yourself the pain of being sodomized by the Rental Car Man. There is just no room for the former here on this farm, and we have implimented a no car left behind policy. Ralling the cars through the mud and fields has become my favorite pastime. I Absolutly love it. Tommy has alrady sent his rental over the edge and had to re-place it, and Coop and I have more than once buried the Big Up Mobile up to the doors. The one and only rally driver on this trip to have gone where no man has gone before, and have his car show no effects of its adventures is one Paul Robinson. If dude didn't have such a bright future in climbing, I'd say for sure he would be one of the best rally drivers on tour today. I don't even buckle up with him anymore. Badass.

Last week came with it the Rock Stock 2, the annual party in town that brings together all the climbers from around the world that have decided to make South Africa home for the summer. It is put on by local Justin Hawkins, and believe me, he can throw a party. In fact, he is renowned for it. We walked in the bar to the sight of 2 lambs on a spit and all the passionfruit brandy you can drink. Yeah-boy-howdy!!! After filling our bellies once and then overfilling them from the scrap buckets (locals say the best meat is in there?) We drove (designated) ((disclamiers will be in double parenthesis)) about 2 miles from town into the Rocklands before blowing our spare. There we sat the night away until we were rescued. Epic is the name of the game here. There are plans of paving the roads into the Rocklands next year, but I assure you it will not come without loss of adventure and expierence. The dirt roads here are special if you ask me, it has always been this way. The paving of the roads will certainly bring the Cape Town pinicers and loads of traffic into these fragile areas. The seperation between what is 21st century, and what has reamained the "lack there of" here on the farms may be changing. Locals agree.

Oh, by the way, on a lighter note...I finally beat Noah Kaufman at chess!!!! It was a punishing defeat to the master himself, let me tell ya, and I feel like I can now hold my own at the table. The following morning I also took vicotry over Wills Young. Queen's Gambit Suckas! This is the best opening sequence ever, and I got it d-i-a-l-e-d. I will probably never beat them again, so I am officially retiring from chess as a champion, like a real man.

The other night the owner of the farm we are staying at offered up a local feast to show their appreciation of returing to their farm year after year. I spent some time in the kitchen with the women learning a few secret recipes and speaking a little Afrikans. Before dinner the local farm workers gave us a talent show of sorts for entertainment and we celebrated our 8 days of rain with the coming of a bright outlook in the forecast. As a group we have been trying to expierence as much local flavors as possible. We spent yesterday soaking up the sun on a deserted beach near Lamberts Bay, and after watching the sun set over the Atlantic, we were given a traditional African Braai under grass huts on beach. This was an unforgetable expeirnece for sure and I am remined again that the best part of climbing trips are the spaces between.

Having Tommy around everyday seems to have a big influence on the group moral. Officially an "Old Schooler" amongst this group! Amazing enough, Tommy has been climbing for over 25 years, and is still breaking personal barriers in his bouldering strength. On the 3rd day of shooting a new project for the film, Tommy got up at 7:00 am, in the rain, and went out and claimed the first ascent of Storm Trooper V12. Early Bird gets the worm! Tommy first came to the Rocklands 11 years ago, around the first time Fred first visited this magical place. When Tommy was here before, the Apartheid had just ended and blacks were still not allowed in the local resturants we frequent regularly this trip. Unfortunitly, the wounds here have only healed on the surface, and although we feel safe in the Rocklands, things can be very different in either direction from here.

Development of a new big sector has begun the last few days and the best untouched boulderfields have now revieled themselves under time restraint. Photo work, video work, and number chasing, have all taken a backseat the last few days to the cleaning and developing of the new sector. Like kids in a candy store, those with the worst sweet tooth will tell you that nothing in out sport is better, or more exciting, than developing an amazing boulderfield. I'd have to say that after spending 4 months total here now, I am only just beginning to realize the potientail of the bouldering. Unlimited and without doubt, still untouched. Take a 30 mintue drive from the Rocklands from Clanwilliam and you'll find Woopertal, which is another Rocklands but even a bit bigger. I'm guessing that as it did with the birth of the Rocklands proper, it will take a group of climbers to actual stay in Woopertal for weeks at a time, and begin the mapping and developing of the boulder fields there. Only a few years out are the tales of what is to come from Woopertal.

So things are on the up and up and Josh, Cooper, and I have been capturing it all for the Reel Rock Film Tour this fall. Working with Big Up has been amazing for me, and the creative energy between the crew is at a max. Make sure to check out Big Up Productions.com for some new cool features, and video stills of the trip thus far.

New crew members Nick Sagar and Corey Rich have finally arrived and the crew will now remian the same until we leave. For now, "the holdout crew" of Paul, Daniel, Laura, Tommy, Beth, Courtney, Corey, Nick, Matt, and Is for now, we are all living the dream I guess. The rains have past and injuries have healed. If there is one thing I've learned well this year traveling, and it is this: "The sweet just ain't as sweet without the sour!" So on that note, we have only a few days left and too many adventures too fill them. If its full of rain, bring it. If its full of car trouble, bring it. Why? Becasue, its not as sweet without the sour. If you don't here from me again for a while, dont blame me. Talk to Beth. She handles those things nowadays!!! Cheers.