They carry mattresses on their backs and in bars they are the ones gesticulating like crazed semaphore operators.
They are initiates of the sport of bouldering and they have invaded the sleepy town of Clanwilliam in South Africa’s remote Cederberg mountains in their hundreds, bringing an economic shot in the arm to the region 250km north of Cape Town famous for producing rooibos herbal tea.
“The whole climbing thing has caught us a bit by surprise,” said Thys Kruger, owner of De Pakhuys outside Clanwilliam, one of half a dozen farms offering no-frills accommodation for climbers.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s grown tremendously from 2004, when we had maybe 34 climbers. This year I’m expecting in excess of 500, mostly international climbers. Some of the top guys in the world climb here,” Kruger said. “When I bought the farm, I thought: ‘What can I do with all these rocks?’ Now I’m farming the rocks.”
Kruger estimated that climbers would pump from 4 million to 5 million rand (US$591,000 to US$738,394) into the economy of Clanwilliam this year.
Climbers flock to the bouldering mecca, dubbed “Rocklands,” during the southern hemisphere winter. Cold weather is essential because sweaty fingers cannot grip the rock.
Jason Crase took a two-month break from the San Francisco climbing gym where he works to explore the zone of spectacular rock formations caused by glacier action aeons ago.
“During the northern hemisphere summer, this is where you come to climb,” he said. “There’s a couple of other places you can go in our summer, but not with the concentration of good climbing that they have here.”
Crase and other climbers spend the entire duration of their trips in the Cederberg — safaris and beaches hold little attraction for them.
Bouldering — or clambering over rocks and rock faces generally not much higher than 8m without aids — has been part of the training regime for climbers for more than a century. However, its evolution as a sport unto itself is a modern invention embraced across Europe, North America and now South Africa.
The only equipment needed is a pair of special shoes, a bag of powdered chalk to improve finger grip and a thick foam mattress or “crash pad” to place on the ground as a safety cushion.
Climbers start conquering a boulder at ground level, searching for cracks and ledges that will provide finger and footholds. A typical boulder “problem” takes little more than a minute or two to complete.
“It is trying to search for movement,” Crase said. “Everyone has their own thing they’re looking for in a boulder problem and movement is a huge part of it. People get really excited about doing certain moves, in that way it’s like gymnastics.”
David Majure, a cardiologist from San Francisco, described bouldering as “a readily apparent challenge that you can conquer in a relatively short period of time.”
When climbers get together they regale each other with graphic body-language descriptions of memorable boulders, repeating the arm movements they used to conquer a tricky problem.
“You can always pick out a group of climbers when you walk into a bar because they’re doing that with their hands,” Majure said, shooting his arms into the air as though looking for elusive handholds.
Paul van Hoesslin, a Web developer from Cape Town, said the sport had a Zen-like appeal.
“You become one with the boulder,” he said. “The rock teaches you how to become humble. You sit back and go: ‘What am I actually supposed to do? How do I do this? What am I actually after? What’s the goal?’”
Many of the climbers at Rocklands describe the sport as an addiction. Some will spend up to a year studying a single “project” — how to move along a line of handholds across a particular boulder and complete the problem.
Austrian climber Manuel Ladner said success was “like winning the lottery.”
“You don’t need anything else,” he said. “You’re really proud.”
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38