Riddle Me This

Yeah, I’ve been really slack lately about blogging. What I am wondering now is if blogging from my iPhone will increase my output, or just increase my nerd cred? I guess we are about to find out.

Classic

Yeah, I know.  I’ve not been climbing anywhere near long enough to start choosing which routes qualify for the term “classic”.  I’ll let other folks do that for now.  Today, along with guide Richard Behne (he did a fantastic job), I had the pleasure of climbing a route that had already been dubbed such.  At his suggestion, after warming up on Belly Button Brigrade (a three pitch 5.7 slab route), we took on Little Dutch Boy.  If I remember correctly, what he told me before we climbed it was something like, “oh, the second pitch is like a 5.9 or something, but you’ll be fine”.  What followed was a sweet 3-pitcher following a quartz dyke along the face of Brittaina Rock at Paarl Rock.  You can see pics of other folks on the route here.  There were just the two of us, so there were not to be any pics of the two of us climbing.  I like the way those that bolted the route describe it (from samountainmag.com):

Opposite Sunset Warrior is a distinctive quartz dyke that, like former NP politicians, goes from right to left. However, it didn’t quite reach the top of ther dome, but where it became horizontal it seemed like the angle was fairly gentle and it would be possible to friction climb from the dyke to the summit. So one day, Jono Fisher and myself got to work. We tied a number of ropes together and trailed them down from the trig beacon at the top of Britagne Rock. The abseil to check out the route was rather entertaining. Jono and I were on separate ropes next to each other. As our ropes abraded and slipped across the rough granite we got into a discussion about UIAA rope ratings, mantle strains and abseil fatalities. We survived the recce and armed with hardware store drilling systems we returned and began whacking away. Jono bolted the bottom bit and said that the splinters of quartz would offer fantastic protection. I bolted the top crux pitch, which was about 25 meters long and involved some delicate climbing. I placed about three bolts and examined my handiwork. I figured that if you fell off near the bolts you’d be okay-ish; but if you fell just before clipping them, you’d at least have a good pub story. Andy Wood was at the bottom shouting advice and after a few hours we felt like the job was done.
All that was left was to climb the route. I lead the first pitch and failed to find any snazzy gear placements. One bolt was clipped and the sling I wrapped around something fell off. Jono lead the crux. I impatiently shouted up for him to hurry up. When it came to my turn to follow I was amazed at his boldness. The climbing was trickier than it looked and off balance. It was an incredible lead. The third pitch was easy, but a touch dirty. A few minutes of cleaning would have made a world of difference. The route was done in a morning. We called it Little Dutch Boy. It had to do with boys and dykes, but the meaning was lost on me.
A few years later two more bolts were added to the second pitch, however it still remained fairly bold and a huge flake near the top had also peeled off. The route was later soloed by Chris Lomax. I was young and competitive, so soloed it too. Looking back, it rates as one of my dumber achievements. Recently, the route was totally rebolted and instantly gained classic status.

I followed the route, and that was clench-worthy enough for me.  Because much of the route is traversing along the dyke, any falls on follow are going to take you to well below the next bolt, and more importantly well below the features the dyke offers.  Without the dyke, a near featureless, near vertical slab awaits.  Apparently it was motivation enough.  Other than a small stumble early in the first pitch, this was a fall free day.  Best of all, I took a look at the guidebook when I got done.  Seems Richard’s memory of route ratings was not all that good.  It turns out Little Dutch Boy is a South African 20.  That’s 5.10c to you and me.  Dang.