Rocklands trad diary by Pearson & Ciavalidini

The name Rocklands says one thing – Bouldering. This vast, semi-desert plateau in the Northern Cederberg range of South Africa is home to some of the hardest, most iconic boulder problems of our time, and the orange/grey rock is the dream of many a climber. However, it appears that there may be more to Rocklands than just the boulders, as Caroline Ciavaldini and James Pearson have just returned from a successful Trad climbing trip! The pair were first tipped off about the areas potential by Italian’s Michele Caminati and Jacopo Larcher, and stories of steep faces split by clean horizontal cracks seemed too good to be true. After 3 weeks of exploring during June/July 2014, James and Caroline were able to open several difficult new routes on “beautiful sculpted orange rock”, but it was the areas vast potential for easier routes that really left an impression. James reports, “We came to the Rocklands hoping to establish cutting edge trad routes, but what we found is perhaps something even more important – an area of incredible natural beauty with the potential for literally 1,000’s of new routes”. Caroline explains “The amazing rock is full of horizontal cracks, making gear placement really easy. The routes are often steep and athletic, and almost always completely safe – Rockalands is a Trad loving Sport climbers dream”. More info and a topo