Monkey Wedding 8C by Dave Graham

Dave Graham, one of the very best rock climbers in the world of the last 15 years, reports on Facebook that he has done Monkey Wedding 8C in Rocklands. Here we present the beginning of the story. - Last weekend I finished off one of my ultimate-global-nemisis-projects, the legendary @fred_nicole problem Monkey Wedding [8C] which chills in the center of one of Rockland's most popular sectors. Last season I tried the boulder quite a lot, for at least 12 days, but could never seem to improve my highpoint, or do better than one hang the beast, which is only ten moves long. This year I returned partially uncertain of whether or not I could even summit this small peak, my confidence dashed by last years failure. Right off the bench I discovered more intelligent beta, resequencing my old crux, and matched my previous links. Sadly the war continued for another 6 days. I was confused by the conditions, normally cold weather is my jam, but my cursed sweaty fingers never seemed to stop sweating while I sat at basecamp, about two meters from the start of the rig, amidst all types of cold blustery weather, but it was always smarmy and humid somehow. One day, my window presented itself; super hot and a northerly wind, directly from the dry deserts of Africa, I felt something, potentially like an opportunity.