Chicks Dig Scars » Waterval Boven

Spring break

emile — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:00:41 +0000

….perhaps a bit late to be calling it that, but still, a mini get-away for me. Took off Wednesday, Friday & Monday, making it a looong weekend, so this is me wasting away the last couple of minutes at work for the week.

Some cool stuff’s been happening. No, I still can’t ride the unicycle, but I’ve started on the bouldering wall – got most of the wood, ordered a good set of grips to start off so I’ll start drilling some holes tomorrow – after seeing the attorney, but that’s a long story - let’s call it atonement for past sins

Paul, PTA strong man and owner of the gym where the schools finals will be held

Roc Rally is on! Leaving on Friday, and so far the weather is looking good.

My effort with setting up the registrations for the Rally paid off, so far 26 teams registered with the minimum hassles.

I’m really looking forward to the crazy & fun atmosphere – be there or be square!!!

Then, SA Schools finals the week thereafter – a lot of people put in a lot of work and now it’s come to the first inter-provincial comp in many years, if not ever. Most of the KZN & W-Cape schools & teachers will be making a roadtrip of it by doing the Roc Rally and then travelling to JHB & PTA for the two final events the week thereafter.

Ooooh, before I forget, MensHealth put up a link to my blog, what a pleasant surprise! I took a screen shot just in case they realise the mistake & take it down

I’ll post up some pics of the bouldering wall progress, just in case you’re interested. Check out the Gecko site too - simple diagram, even I can understand it….

That’s it I’m done
(for now at least…)

Looking forward

emile — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:12:31 +0000

Hmmmm. Let’s see summertime is here, time to start dreaming again.

Coming up: Half price bungee at Orlando Towers. Sounds like fun, not sure if my nerves will hold. No big plans for the weekend (yet). Maybe start working on that long planned bouldering wall….. yesss, my precious, that sounds like a brilliant idea.

Got tickets to the Sun City Spring Bash and the Van-Fokken-Tasties gig (blame Tuks for that name ) on Thursday, and then flipping a coin on whether I’ll leave for the Roc Rally on Thursday or Friday. Going these alone at the moment

Let’s set a deadline for learning to ride that unicycle too. How about end of October – and by riding I mean steady enough to commute from my parking garage to the office.

Let me stop there. I’m famous for loading way too much hay on my fork. If I can pull these off, I’d be quite happy. After that there’s still the multi-pitch climb at Swinburne and the kite surfing rig…….. the slackline, trad climb, the trip to the coast. The web-site, making ice, selling the plot, growing something in a pot.

Mediocrity is no longer an option. Live while you’re alive, sleep when you’re dead.

And we have lift off…

emile — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:24:37 +0000

Burnt some midnight oil, some weekend oil and then some more midnight oil – finally we have lift off for the ’09 Boven Roc Rally registrations on my very own creation called SANCL.org.

Gustav liked & stuck to the idea of having a central climber database & ranking system and even turned down another offer to do the same – thanks G!

As most things IT, especially the little rush projects, there was a minor bug or two, but that’s fixed now, and bar any more problem reports, I’m going to have a early night tonight.

Weekend @ Boven end of May

emile — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:57:55 +0000

I popped in for a climbing quicky at Waterval Boven, and decided to try out thr Rack Rail Inn, instead of the usual camping at Tranquilitas, which is stunning, but it’s cold and I was looking for a change. I’ll cut it short & say next time I’ll try Gustav & Alex’s rooms. At the RackRail Inn I got the guesthouse as a favour, seeing it was empty. It’s big – sleeps about 12, got TV, limited DSTV and a sufficient kitchen, but it’s a bit neglected. Nothing serious, but enough so that I’d rahter try another place next time. Pity though, the place has got a lot of potential. The main inn is an old dormitory, and they serve the preset menu in the old eating hall. There’s a couple of TV rooms, bar, and pool table. The rooms are minimilistic, but neat. The food won’t kill you.

Moving on to the main menu: Wonderland. The approach we took was not the one I’m used to, but I’m soooo glad we did. Gentler walk-in, and some new climbs. Above some random shots. The drive was worth it as always. Did two interesting climbs (among the others), one with an awkward “traverse” which is really not much more than a big reach, but it felt weird & off balance, and another “Man Slaves” – probably the easiest climb I’ve climbed in ages – all very on-balance, huge footholds, huge grips, all very positive grips, no slopers, but (for me at least) a very scary bit where you climb out under & over this protruding block with no idea what’s waiting for you on the other side. Super fun when you realise you sh#t yourself for nothing, as the easy climbing continuing for the remaining 1-2m to the chains.