At Champside sector, we also got to be alone! There were some pretty nice problems, one particularly nice 7A which had a looooong lock off in the end while manteling up some slopes. Extremely font like somehow. Another cool one was a 7A+ which Pia and Chris climbed after some practising. The rain did find us eventually and we called it a day a bit earlier. Off to the pub! Lucy and Ryan brought their deck of cards and so we had pizza, beer and card games. Pretty perfect!
Next day we headed out to Sassies. I hadn't slept at all that night so I decided to have a birdwatching day instead. Luckily Sassies was great for that and such a pretty place all and all. We saw so many sunbirds, wide eyes and many other little chirpers. Chris and Pia climbed a really cool looking 6C+ called the Great escape after some warm up, and while Lucy was figuring out the craziest feet firts heeltoe-jam betas for her 7A project, Chris and Ryan were trying out a tricky 7B+ under the roof.
After a climbing day it was always time for some beer and cake at the Traveller's Rest! Well, usually first some actual dinner, then cake but still ;) This evening we spotted both the pied kingfisher and the malachite kingfisher by the river! Such pretty birds with their long beaks.
It was the last day for Lucy and Ryan before they left to Tanzania to continue their trip! We chose to check out Riverside and wow what a beautiful sector that was! Crystal clear river running through the sector and next to the problems really made it amazing. We started off at the insane wailing wall, which was quite a high flat piece of rock sticking out from the ground! It had beautiful features and perhaps the best 6B+ line so far! The downclimb was heinous though, at least the first time.
We went to check out a 7A roof climb called Baboon but none of us could do it in the end. Chris had his eye on a really scary looking high ball called Crystal death (6B) which he did climb without a problem. No one else wanted to hop on that train. We still found our way to the arch, where the guys climbed more high things. It was a pretty spot and we enjoyed just chilling and looking at the views.
Since it was the last evening with our amazing group, it was time for more beer and cake! Lucy and Ryan promised to come and visit us next summer and then we'd head out to Lofoten together. What a fantastic plan!
After they left we had a typical rest day with a lot of organizing involved. Although this time it wasn't only the mundane things like shopping and blogging, but also road trip stuff. Actually, we made a whole new plan! We extended our safaris from one week to a little less than two! For me it's super important to also see the new country and do some things I would do even if I wasn't climbing. Especially since we're in such an amazing place like South Africa. We had heard many good things about Kruger NP but since there was a chance of malaria, we opted out for Pilanesberg. And then we found out about Madikwe game reserve! According to Lonely Planet, it's considered even better for wildlife spotting than Kruger: it's the country's fourth largest game reserve where no day visitors are allowed, the local guides are highly skilled and now would be the best time of the year to go because the vegetation is pretty thin. We were sold! But more about this soon :)
Our last climbing day we spent just the three of us in Fields of Joy! We checked the map and thought, wow, that's a short approach, for once! Little did we know: the short approach was full on scrambling up the rocky hill :D Well well. The problems were great though: we started with some nice warm up, then climbed a beautiful albeit a little frightening 6C called Sneak and moved on to some other little problems like this cool vertical crag line with some height too. Chris climbed the classic 7A called Kiesel quickly, but we struggled with the long move to the pebble in the end. We moved on to some pretty looking lines like Panic Room (7A) where Pia did some good work and will definitely send it next time. We called it a day before it got dark and scrambled our way back to the car.
On Sunday it was wet. So we gave up on the hopes of climbing and went to see some Rock Art next to our accommodation. I have to say it was surprisingly nice and a pretty good little walk! We packed our stuff, left most of it to the Traveller's rest and the next morning got on early to start our ROAD TRIP!!!
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