I’m just taking a big chance and blogging on a community that has 0 activity and hoping for a little miracle. Let’s build this thing!!!
In January my son started indoor climbing at a brilliant Climbing gym called CityRock in Cape Town, South Africa. It’s a world class space with 15 meter walls, top rope and lead climbing walls with a few auto-belays thrown in for the visitors and newbies. The facility is also home to a brilliant bouldering section and fitness gym with a yoga studio. You really can’t get much better and this is the best in our country!
Seth climbing about 6 months ago when he first joined the gym
*A good view of the climbing gym - @CityRockCT
We feel really lucky to have this awesome facility only an hour from home. The decision to sign up as members wasn’t without its worries. The fuel costs are as much as school fees and then I still pay the membership fees for Seth and I, (I ended up joining in May after spending so much time watching) but the rewards of the sacrifice have been incredible!
Me climbing on top rope
Seth joined first and his climbing has skyrocketed in only 7 months. He’s lucky to be a homeschooler so we treat the day trip to the gym as a school day 2-3 times a week.
The first thing we noticed is that the climbing community that we are a part of is wholesome, healthy, welcoming and are amazing mentors. We’ve met incredible people and are constantly making new friends that are cheering us on to climb well and keep trying new and more difficult routes.
The South African grading system is different to the rest of the world, but when you see them side by side it gives a good indication of difficulty. I find all the grading quite subjective in general. Sometimes a climb that’s a grade higher than what I am confident sending is actually easier and the vice versa is also true.
I started climbing 15s and 16s and I’m now confident on 18s and moving into grade 19s and 20s. A 19 would be the equivalent of a 5c-6a and a 20 would be the equivalent of a 6a to 6a+ using the French system which is used for contests. Seth is climbing grade 25-27, around 7a to 7b+.
My son and I both certified for lead climbing quite early on and he is absolutely loving it but I am a bit of a scaredy-cat and I’m sticking to top rope with an easy lead climb here and there.
my dad getting certified to lead belay
We Boulder in between to work on technique and strength while the wall climbing really builds endurance. I am definitely not strong enough for most of the overhanging climbs and I can see how the strength to weight ratio is so important.
My son has the perfect climbing physique - long limbs and very lean. The physical changes in his body shape have been incredible. He was just a skinny kid and now he has great definition and strength which compliments his flexibility.
A new buddy invited us to climb outdoors for the first time a couple months ago and this has opened up a whole new world of climbing for us. But I’ll post about that later.
If there are any other climbers out there why not tell us how you started climbing and a bit about yourself? We’d love to connect and grow this hive community.
Hi there! I'm actually a fellow Capetonian! My father is Tony Dick, who was quite a world class climber and mountaineer in his day, and then made friends with the next generation including Andy de Klerk, Ed February and Charles Edelstein (who actually has a share in the City Rock Business!) My dad has just turned 75 recently and has to stick to scrambly hikes and a bit of skiing now...
As for me, I still have a hardness, rope and other gear somewhere, but I have a slight fear of heights and never pushed it beyond about grades 20-22. I tend to surf more but was getting a bit into bodyweight exercises and it would be interesting to see if I can still boulder and climb a little as a result.
Your son sounds like he is doing very well for such a short time in the sport! Have you tried climbing outdoors at all? At the very least I could help suggest where to go for that!
Oh that’s incredible! I can’t believe we’re both on Hive. We’ve met Robert who’s the main owner at CityRock and we tend to go early at 11am most days to miss the crowds so that we can climb whatever we want. You should come and Boulder some time! I’m on 0823693266 for WhatsApp.
We’ve climbed at Lower Silvermine and then my son also tried a couple climbs at The Mine on the Tokai side of the mountain. But we still need a bit more gear to do it without going with buddies. Missing about 8 quickdraws and 1 more carabiner. But we will get there more often as soon as we’ve built up the gear. We’re in Kommetjie so Silvermine is only 15 minutes away.
Give me a shout if you want to join us at the gym some time!
Lekker! Yes, I joined HIVE about 4 months ago on the advice of @zakludick, who is trying to encourage and gather a community of South Africans to grow together on this platform. Zak, I think you are aware of Zoe? But Zoe, I'm sure Zak would be interested to see if you know any other South Africans that we aren't familiar with yet!
Zak's partner @clairemobey and I perform our original songs together. Music and surfing are my main hobbies, followed by a bit of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and other martial arts... and I probably haven't climbed for ten years and will definitely embarrass myself! I still have about 10 quickdraws, a harness, a rope, and an ATC somewhere though.
Is Robert the main owner? Don't let Charles hear you say that! Hahaha! I definitely think Robert is there more often though...
Hello there! Yes, I am aware of @zo3d! I want to buy the marmalade jam she advertises. Lol.
We have chatted a bit and again on WhatsApp.
I hope you are doing well Zoe!
Good to see my Hive students finding everyone and networking. We will have our own Hivefest! Lol
Haha! Yes Zak and I have chatted. I spent a solid year blogging last year (almost daily) and built up my profile and reputation. And then slid off the face of the earth this year when climbing took over. But hopefully I can get back into it again. At least the wallet keeps growing slowly even if I don't blog so that’s ok. I have loads of content waiting in my photo albums. So let’s see how it goes this year.
Well if your brave and capable son sets up the top rope, then I suppose I have nothing to lose trying to come climbing again! I will say hi on WhatsApp soon!
We could just do a gym climbing day if you’re up for it. Otherwise there are some easy climbs at Lower Silvermine that Seth could set up if we use your quickdraws 😜
Wow, that's an amazing facility!
We have one near us, https://www.bostonboulderingproject.com/
That’s so cool! My son would be in his element! I came off a low Boulder on Thursday and got a bit of whiplash. I prefer climbing with ropes 😅 I’ll have to make a list of climbing gyms in the US that we could visit one day!
the one near us was bought out, by a bigger company... now, there's a sister in DC, in NYC, Chicago, and of course, two near us, here around Boston