Click Click Click

Damnit, Joe Wilson made me dab on my project.

A Moral

I'm still here in Africa, but everyone has now left me. I'm the lone American here, except for the other one, but I don't ever see him. Therefore he doesn't exist. I'm living with a bunch of Germans, driving a beater bug, and overall sick of this continent.


On the bright side, the flowers are in their prime. I'm beginning to see why old people might make the trek out here to see them. I mean, if there were nothing else for me to do, I'd be right with them.


On the climbing front, I've got a number of projects. Nothing I'm all the psyched on, but then again, I've been here way too long. Some of the climbs here sure are lookers, like Black Mango Chutney (7c+) below.


Rain and horseback riding are in my near future. As is pizza. I finally have internet in my house, so my clairvoyance is picking up more posts as well. I think I'm missing home, or am I just ready to leave Africa? Either way, more of the same would be easier to bear if Amna were still in the hemisphere. Apparently loneliness is the price to pay for buying the ol' ticket on a whim. Remember that. I need to remember that.

Rocklands Continues

It's absolutely gorgeous here. Not a whole lot more to report. The climbing is fun but soft. I can do 11s and 12s in half an hour! Look at that sky...


Amna is getting over a wrist injury, but it's slow. Here she is on a cool 7b traverse, gritting those teeth.


This pretty little thing is the Hatchling. I hear you can rock it back and forth with enough people. Check out Wick barely stick the crux below.


I've promised myself that I won't do any FAs, or contribute to the Rocklands climbing scene in any other way as well. After last season at Black Mountain, I'm sick of doing new stuff. I want the problems to be found, the chalk to be on the holds, and the beta to be whispered into my ear. Is that so much to ask?

South Africa

I’m in South Africa. It’s like the USA, but with more barbed wire and more black people. This place has a crazy history and crazy rocks, so I wonder if there’s some sort of connection there. I’ve been keeping the apartheid jokes on the DL so far, how could I do otherwise? I want to express solidarity with the oppressed, and I fear that the whites wouldn’t know it was a joke. I sat by a racist old hag on the airplane and learned that South Africa is the only country in the world with a government made up of ex-criminals. Jail for all those who demand basic human dignity when their white oppressors wish to...oppress.

The trip so far. I had a few hours waiting in London, so I ran into the city and saw some boring buildings and spent a lot of money. London sucks.


Look, it’s Big Ben!

Then I sat in on a House of Commons session, and I must say, the excerpts on NPR are way more interesting. The Honorable Gentleman from Worchestershire didn’t say a damn witty thing. Then I saw Buckingham Palace, a boring concrete building that wouldn’t be out of place at UC Davis. Check out my photo essay commentary on British colonialism.


I call it “The Jailing of the Guards.” Isn’t that deep?

The climbing is pretty much awesome here. In order, we’ve got Justin on Tomorrow I’ll Be Gone (V10) and Amna on Mary’s Roof (V4). The formula for grades: ROCKLANDS GRADE = REALITY+1, and you still get a bunch of softies. The scorecard loves it, but it would be nice to have a little more connection to fact.




Becky tore her MCL the second day she got here, so she travels around like Dr. Octopus on crutches.


Amna has been donning the war paint.


There is a bunch of rock art around from the San people. It’s over 10,000 years old. Sometimes they draw penises on the men.

Final photo:

Falls and Falls

Dihedron is intense. My first go at the lead was plagued by nerves. For good reason it turns out. I fell and pulled 3 of the 5 pieces I had in! Thank you small-ass BD stopper. I'll try again soon. Some photos from Greg Epperson, and more from Robert Miramontes in the slideshow above.