Chongololo 8c/34

I first tried Chongololo once with Andrea in about 2014. The crux moves starts just after the fourth bolt which in itself is a desperate clip. I was sure that I was not strong enough to do the crux the way Andreas was trying it so I decided to rather try a project I bolted in Oorlogskloof that later became the Seamstress (8B+).  In the back of my mind I always wondered if there was a different way of doing the crux moves on Chongololo.

After I opened the Seamstress I spent a lot of time working abroad and when I did get to climb I only bouldered. A slow stagnation in my climbing ability had begun. It felt the harder I tried the less I achieved and the more frustrated I got. It was a perpetual motion and I started to not enjoy myself which defies the whole point bouldering and climbing in general.

So in September last year I decided to change it up a bit. I fished out my rope and decided to go sport climbing again. I thought I needed a goal to build up to and I decided to get back on Chongololo. I soon found a different and more realistic way of doing the crux move.

In November I partially tore my MLC doing a drop knee while trying Life Enhancement Project at the hole. It did nothing to enhance my life as I had to wear a knee brace for the whole of December and a lot of physio afterwards.

By late January I was able to do the moves on Chongololo without any pain in my knee so I decided to start working it Chris Sharma style – get fit and train on the route – despite it being the hottest time of year in Montagu. I made day trips once a week, mostly on Sundays.

It took a bit longer then I though to stick the crux moves from the ground up. It involves a big slap with your left hand for a bad sloper while holding a bad pinch with your right hand. As soon as I started to do this move regularly from the ground I started to make good progress. This however was halted when a tick mark for my foot somehow got moved a centimeter to the left. I was suddenly finding the big jump move almost impossible. After a number of frustrating day trips I finally figured out the micro beta last Saturday and moved the tick mark to the correct spot and then red-pointed Chongololo on my second try of the day on Sunday.

The breakdown of the route in my opinion is easy climbing till you end up matched on a horrible crimp rail where you do a hard clip of the forth bolt. You then do a six hand move, hard 7C, boulder problem that ends with a big jump to a semi good rest (the opening three moves of this section are the hardest moves of the route). Then there is a crimpy 7A boulder problem past two bolts where one joins the top easy but pumpy climbing of My route down by the river.