C across the Sea: Rock Climbing at Umgeni Nature Reserve

South Africa will never cease to amaze me, amidst the giant sky, the rolling green hills, and the vibrant culture, lies these amazing jewels of nature where you are literally thrown in the bush (or ungracefully trip over a rock into a bush). Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve is situated 30 minutes outside Pietermaritzburg but feels like a world of its own.

Similar to most reserves in SA, Umgeni is home to karoo, wildabeests, zebra, and other antelope species that can be spotted from their grazing points in the grasslands or trying to hide under the shrubs. The trails throughout the park are little more than 30cm wide dirt paths overgrown by ferns, trees, and the delicately hanging (huge) spider.

To get to where we were climbing, we treked one of these overgrown paths winding along the side of a deep valley for about 3km. Not thinking, of course, I wore sandels and was flopping about everywhere. Actually, for the most part I was barefoot which made traction on the rocks a lot easier.

When we finally reached the climbing area, there were 15-20meter sandstone cliffs jutting out of the mountain. Beautiful: the views from the routes were amazing!

The people I went with are all reallly good climbers and climb about 5.13a (29 on the SA scale). It was fun to watch them dance up these routes but really intimidating considering I am no where near their levels. They provided my friend Jared and I with a rope and a rack for lead climbing, gave me a quick run down of how to lead and how to clean (take the equipment off the rock when you're done with a route) and we were off. Leading is so different than tope roping. It's kind of anerving because the falls are a little harder and you have to clip yourself in as you go up. So, if you don't have a good hold when you go to clip in, you fall a good 1 or 2 meters. My falls weren't bad. They were right after I clipped in on a 21 (5.10d YDS) and I just bounced gracefully off the rock. Stupid finger crimps and smears; couldn't find a good hold within my reach! But it all worked out so I can't complain. I even cleaned the routes, which was kind of scarry because you basically, attack yourself to the bolts and detach yourself from the rope at the top of the route, pull the rope through the chains, reattach yourself to the rope, and then take all the equipment off the wall as your repel down.