Rocklands 2025
- Tomaso Greksák
- Jan 9
- 11 min read
Every trip is different. Some are more successful, some less so. Some we look forward to for months and expectations are not met or things just go wrong. Some are without expectations and we remember them for years. I have been going to Rocklands since 2011 and I have experienced the whole range of these trip shades there. From sitting for a month with a book under the rocks with a swollen finger to the one that was this year.
This year was truly exceptional. If only because 3 independent climbing groups I know came together and everyone had a mega successful trip. Maybe not without complications but that is part of the experience.
This was my seventh return to bouldering in the Cederberg and the fourth trip to Rocklands, which I organized through Climbingbus and every year it confirms to me that Rocklands should not be missing from any boulderer's bucket list. Not only because of the thousands of boulders and the endless potential, but mainly because of the community and atmosphere that is created there every summer.
I can only envy the young and childless for seven-week adventures, but the last 3 years have shown that even in 2 weeks you can do a lot and leave feeling pleasantly exhausted. Moreover, when you get a good group together, it is also a very high-quality social 2 weeks.
I am lucky with groups. Always. And this year was no exception, quite the opposite. I got a small but very relaxed group of people for the trip, whom I already known well from other trips. I train Martina and so I just had to be careful not to overwhelm her with coaching. Dominik and Simona are already regulars on my trips and so is David. We each went there with different expectations and some with concerns: Will it be too cold there? Is it safe there? Are there any dangerous creatures there? Will I climb anything there? Fortunately, none of these fears came true. The weather was perfect and all the inevitable rain fell exactly on our rest days and the temperatures were pleasant. Rocklands is an oasis of peace and since we spend 90% of our time there, safety is not an issue at all. There are plenty of creatures there, fortunately they mostly hibernate in the winter months and if not, they are more afraid of people than we are of them. And did we climb anything there? You bet!
In areas like Rocklands, you always climb something. This is due to the amount of boulders and the variety of styles that Rocklands offers. Moreover, the transition from bouldering in a gym to rock is particularly straightforward here. Just like in a bouldering gym, there are either holds or there aren't. No unnecessary holds and foot holds around to confuse plastic climbers. Just pure power moves between clear holds and smooth rock in between. And those dynos! In recent years, there has been a brutal dyno boom. Eight and seven grade dynos are created there on a daily basis.
Dominik
This dyno boom attracted Dominik there. After he did the Rainbow Rocket 8A in Fontainebleau, he particularly liked the dynamic eight grades, so his Rocklands expectations and ticklist naturally revolved around unique dynos. As a parkourist with brutally strong legs and spatial orientation, he was rocking it right from the start of the trip. After a few climbing days, his breakthrough day came when he ticked two great climbs in a day: Flying Guitar Thief 8A and Dynosaurio 7C+ (8A). That obviously whetted his appetite because a few days later we were already conquering the daring Albatros 8A together. For Dominik, it ended up being “only” Hole In One 7C+, but since it is one of the most iconic jumps in Rocklands, there was no reason for tears. That day he also added Fruchtzwergs 7C and to make it not just about dynos he also sent Poison Dwarf 7B there. After the rest he threw himself into Barbie Girl 7C, a long backbend dyno with an endurance finish, from which he slipped off a few times but finally successfully fought it off and added White Arrow 7C as well. For parkourists, Rocklands is a "promised land", albeit a dangerous one. Dynamic moves require a lot of coordination and the impacts can be all sorts of. That coordination was lacking on the last day of the trip and it almost cost Dominik a pretty expensive visit to the dentist and a facelift. While running up to the run&jump boulder that we had invented, he tripped over the crashpad and only his parkour reflexes saved him from hitting his head on a boulder. Like a real tough guy, he wiped the blood from his torn palm and sent it with another attempt. So he left behind not only pieces of skin but also a new boulder on the Star Wars boulder - Fart Vader 6A+.
Martina
Martina usually doesn't get to the rocks much due to the busy competition season. But when such an opportunity arises, it's a joy to watch. This year hasn't been the happiest for her so far. She was fighting a shoulder injury, which also affected the comp season, her results, but especially her climbing style. She went to Rocklands at full strength, but her body remembered the injuries for a long time. My secret coaching expectation was that Rocklands would kick her up a notch and she would regain more self-confidence in dynamic power moves. On the climbing days, she quickly understood that in Rocklands you simply can't "cheat" with heelhooks on some boulders, but you just have to push through. The first days were all about sevens, but on the first day there were also difficult ones when she sent Distance 7C and on the second day she added Anna's moonkick school SD 7C, Revenge of the gym rats 7C and after the first rest day An Amal Roof 7C. But she only really kicked into gear after the second rest day when she climbed the 8A+ Tail of Caracal in an hour and a half, flashed Scoobie Doo 7C and by the end of the day added three more 7Cs - Question Sit, Overwhaleming and Choping Block. She sacrificed a lot of skin that day but it was clear that she was already at full steam. This was followed by fast climbs of Amateur hour 8A, Fruchtzwergs 7C and Silver Bullet 7C and the bold but beautiful boulder Cinquieme Soleil 8A. As the cherry on the cake, she climbed In The Middle Of Ass 8A on the last day, which Katka Fickuliaková climbed as the first Slovak female 8A during my first visit to Rocklands. Every day, dozens of other boulders rolled into this remarkable ticklist, so as a training trip it was brutal for Martina. But for Martina, it wasn't just about climbing:
"The biggest experience for me was the trip to the rocks on one of the first days. Even on the farm, we came across several unique species of African fauna - Kudu antelopes, zebras and baboons. The trip continued between hills dotted with orange-colored rocks, and hundreds of small bushes and colorful flowers. Of course, beautiful nature was also in the individual sectors between the boulders. For me, it was a joy just to be there and watch the world around. The opportunity to climb those breathtaking rocks and climb a few difficult boulders was of course also a great experience, thanks to which this trip was unforgettable."
David
David went to Rocklands to push his maximum but also to broaden his horizons overall. He was carried away by the diverse nature and views that the Cederberg region offers in abundance:
“In terms of experience, from a climbing perspective it was when I climbed Minki and moved to a higher level. Outside of climbing it was definitely nature, whenever we traveled somewhere, I couldn’t get enough of it. But I certainly can’t forget the dinners, that was the highlight of every day for me, whether it was home barbecues or at the farm.”
Dinners were really always like a vegetarian’s nightmare. 300g steaks were served as an appetizer and the South African traditional dish boboti won us all over. Despite such high-quality nutrition, David was a little surprised by the intensity of the entire trip, perhaps also from how he joked around in Short And Stout 7A and in Last Boyscout 6C - a nice playful boulder that he took in several ways. At the end of the first week, as he himself recalled, he was so sore that he could barely walk. He was already writing himself off for climbing the rest of the trip. Fortunately, the soreness prevented him from walking more than climbing. Just a few days after the soreness, he sent one of his boulder from the pre-written ticklist Zanzibar 7A+ and immediately moved his maximum by half a degree. That was when the harvest began. He managed to climb Minki 7B in two sessions and thus move the grade again, and on the same day he also jumped two 7As Sanan and Schnoiz. He also collected iconic boulders in the Roadcrew sector such as Roof Is On Fire 6C and Mary's Roof 6B.
On the last day, when we were all close to zero in strength but our heads were still going, he jumped Lord Greystoke 7B where he put his last joules. But that last day was more of a playful one, because there are few areas where a no-hands boulder is officially marked in the guidebook. Well, Han Solo 6B is one of them and of course we all had to climb it. The icing on the cake was the first boulder ever climbed in Rocklands - Up The Spout 6A.
Simona
Simi worried she would have a tough time with the four of us, performance-oriented climbers, and she went to Africa with mixed feelings. She was worried that it would be cold there, what the situation was with vermin and crime there, and how she would actually climb there. That's why she needed longer than the others to get used to the daily rhythms and start enjoying Rocklands to the fullest. Stress and fear are connected vessels, so until she relaxed, she was unable to climb anything that even slightly smelled of a high boulder. The first few days she didn't really want to climb, but we always convinced her and found her something nice, lowball and motivating. After the first rest day, she was already being talked into more challenging things and on the fourth day she climbed 6B in the 8 Day Rain sector. Fortunately, Rocklands is an all-sensory adventure trip and climbing is only one part. In addition to gastronomic orgies, we also treated ourselves to various trips. The first was to the ocean and a visit to Bird Island in Labert's Bay, where a large bird colony nests. At the end of the first week, we added a safari to Aquila Private Game Reserve, where, in addition to the species we met on the farm, we also saw elephants, hippos, rhinos, buffaloes, giraffes and even lions. An African experience as it should be! Simi started climbing before the safari, when she climbed a couple of nice sixes in Danger Zone and conquered Bang Boom Bang 6B in Plateau. After the safari, she added a beautiful overhanging boulder One 6A+ in Road Crew.
Tomaso
And finally, me. I experienced one of the most successful eight grade trips when comparing time and number of climbs. When I went to Rocklands for 4 or 6 weeks there was never much pressure to do fast climbs. These last three visits were a lot of work to fit into two weeks. While the first year I went for quantity and climbed 100 seven-grade boulders and last year I went for a few pre-selected gems, this year I had no idea what was going to happen. In the end it blew up beyond expectations. A bunch of motivated young people helped a lot. Their fast climbs and the volcanically growing ticklist of eight-grade climbs made me lose respect for grades and I went for things that I had assessed as beyond my strength on previous visits. Whether it was ultra-crimping sevens like Anna's moonkick school SD 7C and Revenge of the gym rats 7C the very next day or the tricky 8A by Nalle Hukkataival, Amateur hour was almost in a flash. I would never have climbed Springback on my own, but when Marko tried it, I joined in and, lo and behold, it wasn't as scary as I thought. The fourth day of the trip and I already had two eight As. It even became a rhythm and 8A were climbed on a regular basis. And I thought I had it all figured out. I also tried Tail of Carracal 8A+ with Martina, but that turned out to be too much for one session, so I at least took the two-move Smack Attack 8A right next to it, which eventually turned out to be my hundredth boulder 8A and above. I managed it just before Kubo Fabric, who only needed 5 years to climb his hundred, while I had been collecting it for 15 long years. At least I managed the first hundred before I was forty. I have a feeling that the next hundred will be a little harder. But since I was celebrating in two days, I had to start the second hundred as soon as possible in order to make it to sixty. So the next day I took my brown pants, and tried the daring dynamic boulder Albatros 8A. Fortunately, I sent the upper scary part on the first go. After the rest day, I started my fourth decade in a big way, with two eights on the same day. I had already checked out Cinquieme Soleil beforehand and thanks to the fact that the French group and I put together a really big landing area, I quickly stuck the final sketchy move and started the “sending train” which Martina and one of the young Frenchmen immediately jumped on and sent it right after me. On the way back, already in the dark, we stopped at Barbie Girl, which Dominik jumped and I tried the direct version for 8A, Barbie's bro/ho ratio. I jumped the initial backbend dyno after many tries and I fortunately made it to the top in that same go. After such a day, of course, the next day I was in a state like after a car accident, but I moved around a bit with the others in the Roadcrew and on the rest day I talked them into going to the 8 day rain sector before the predicted rain. I had flashed the Boulder Scorpion 7C a long time ago and so the sitstart for 8A was a relatively clear choice for easy prey. The problem with flashed boulders is that you don't learn much there and your body doesn't have much to remember. So even though I unlocked the sitstart on the 4th climbing day, I wasn't able to climb the rest. On that first session, I had a few rough-looking falls, but luckily I didn't have to deal with that for a long time on the second session. I exhausted my eight-grade karma with this boulder and so I tried to keep the bar as high as possible in the last few days. My best moment of the trip came right before leaving the rocks on the last day of the trip, when I climbed my 14-year nemesis project Kingdom In The Sky 7C. I've tried this boulder every single time I've been to Rocklands, maybe with the exception of last year, and it's always held up. The clean crimpy line through the middle of the otherwise smooth wall was love at first sight back in 2011. And I don't like crimps much. Now it's finally in a bag and another nice piece has been added to the climbing puzzle.
I'm already looking forward to new pieces next year and a new group to show the beauties of Rocklands to.
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