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.
