Guest Iron Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Iron, remember Baviaanspoort? This was an awesome crag and we grew up climbing there. One day it started, these guys held up one group, and from there it just decayed. Nobody has been back there since. My routes have all rotted away I'm sure. Waterval Boven was especially bad at one point, but through careful police work and help from the community, it was traced back to one group. Thats the sad part. The crime is done by a small group, but the fear is widespread. I used to take my girlfriend to Chosspile all the time but after reading about the crime, I decided to stop going there. Same with the Secret Garden. It was set to be the new face of Gauteng bouldering, until some cretin raped an innocent student there. Needless to say, people stopped going there. What can we do about it? I've thought so much about it, and there are no answers. Violence leads to violence. If you take tazers, the guys will bring guns. Bring your gun, the guys will shoot you with theirs (stolen from some other hapless outdoorsman). The real solution must come from government in the form of serious consequences for crimes. Kill someone, death penalty. Stab someone, life behind bars. I don't for one second believe that the criminals would stop their **** if there were 'jobs for all'. The news article clearly shows the hate these people have in them. Why would you want to cut the guy's head off? It only points to one thing. For me personally, I moved to the Cape a few years back. Crime is very small here. There still is crime though, and a lot of my friends have been victims of it. I just found that my outdoor life was becoming smaller and smaller the more I stayed in Gauteng. Let's face it, for a lot of us it's why we choose to live in SA. It's a beautiful land, and I love the people here. It will break my heart to leave for supposed 'greener' pastures, especially with the World's economy crashing. Things will not be so rosy up north in a few years. Only suggestion I guess is to form clubs, go outdoors in large groups, and possibly have armed guards in certain areas. Good memories out there , hell i think we should start a climbers page on this thread just to see how many of us there are. I hear you in your statement and love this place , the cape has some damb good climbing aswell.Will never leave SA the only reason grass is greener on the other side is because thet have more ****.
Bobbo_SA Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Any Alberton South riders here also Climbers? May be some areas where we could ride to, do some climbing exercise and then ride back, would also be good exercise carrying some additional weight in the form of ropes, QDs etc, :-)
Guest Iron Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) big baby Iron, remember Baviaanspoort? Ever remember Swinburn and Mount Everest in KZN, I loved these places! Edited January 18, 2011 by Iron
Just Keep Pedaling Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 What angers me is that these criminals do not exist in a vacuum. They live in communities generally close to where the crime occurs. The issue is that the communities either just turn a blind eye or they simply encourage it by enjoying the 'fruits' (money) the crime brings into their community. Criminals can't exisit in communities where people don't turn a blind eye.
Bobbo_SA Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Good memories out there , hell i think we should start a climbers page on this thread just to see how many of us there are. I hear you in your statement and love this place , the cape has some damb good climbing aswell.Will never leave SA the only reason grass is greener on the other side is because thet have more ****. Us climbers never did have a good forum like this to hang out, perhaps its cause we were always chasing the next route, :-). I would love to know what the storage life is on climbing equipment, all my kit (ropes, Cams, nuts, QDs, etc) was all cleaned, dried and stored in a dark "box", probably about 3-4 years now.
Just Keep Pedaling Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 "Us climbers never did have a good forum like this to hang out, perhaps its cause we were always chasing the next route, :-). I would love to know what the storage life is on climbing equipment, all my kit (ropes, Cams, nuts, QDs, etc) was all cleaned, dried and stored in a dark "box", probably about 3-4 years now. " Give 'em a test - let everyone else know!
Kranswurm Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Let me clear it up, "sport" climbing you use a thing called a quick draw and place them on the rock into a prebolted "eyebolt" when you get to the top you thread your rope through the " eyebolts" that are there and your parntner belays you back down and you retreif your quick draws as you go down . the people in question whatch this and at this point hold your partner at knife point as not to let you down and threatened to cut the rope to you. its f%%%%ing scary !! I know Just jerking your rope....sorryWhen we used to climb the berg in the 80's I would schlep my 9mm para with me if it was just me and the missusThe most popular pastime of the bandits was to stone you in your tent at night.Once there was an incident where they ripped out the heart etc and other vital stuff from two okes bodies and then tossed them off the Amphitheatre the week before we went up
Guest Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 big baby Iron, remember Baviaanspoort? Ever remember Swinburn and Mount Everest in KZN, I loved these places! Yip, climbed a lot out there. There has never been an incident at Mnt Everest though. That's because it's on private, fenced off land. Such a special place. I was looking to work out a MTB trail there some time ago. Hillbilly is busy out there at the moment building trails. The Freestate is amazing. Some really special memories are etched in my mind growing up climbing those hills. What angers me is that these criminals do not exist in a vacuum. They live in communities generally close to where the crime occurs. The issue is that the communities either just turn a blind eye or they simply encourage it by enjoying the 'fruits' (money) the crime brings into their community. Criminals can't exisit in communities where people don't turn a blind eye. I dont quite agree with this. In these situations community members are often made to fear these criminals and so turn a blind eye. Most times, the crimes in these communities are far worse. Anyway, at 'Boven, the locals did help, and the crime went away. It took a lot of active work though. These issues just don't go away by themselves.
Guest Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Us climbers never did have a good forum like this to hang out, perhaps its cause we were always chasing the next route, :-). I would love to know what the storage life is on climbing equipment, all my kit (ropes, Cams, nuts, QDs, etc) was all cleaned, dried and stored in a dark "box", probably about 3-4 years now. The hardwear should be fine, all slings and ropes should be destroyed. Slings on the cams will need to be checked. Beal has some guidelines for durations etc on their site (bearing in mind the bias of course
Arkadion Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 What angers me is that these criminals do not exist in a vacuum. They live in communities generally close to where the crime occurs. The issue is that the communities either just turn a blind eye or they simply encourage it by enjoying the 'fruits' (money) the crime brings into their community. Criminals can't exisit in communities where people don't turn a blind eye. Perhaps we should start an initiative to reward community members who hand this information to the cops. Reward them with money, cell phones, airtime, shoes, clothes, whatever they are looking for. Its a win-win, they rat out the bad guys and get rewarded for their positive actions. Maybe all cycling/climbing clubs could pay a percentage towards the fund. Just a thought.
Super_mil Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Us climbers never did have a good forum like this to hang out, perhaps its cause we were always chasing the next route, :-). I would love to know what the storage life is on climbing equipment, all my kit (ropes, Cams, nuts, QDs, etc) was all cleaned, dried and stored in a dark "box", probably about 3-4 years now. All your hardware will be fine. I would possibly consider buying new slings and would definitely get a new harness & rope for sure. Yeah, it's sad we're having to deal with these f**kers in our natural areas. A lot of spots have unfortunately been affected (including some of the kloofs owned by the MCSA). One spot that has been mentioned (Waterval Boven) did see a serious crime problem developing (I also got held up ) but the guys there have really fought to try and sort the problem out and they have defnitely made a difference. That said people in Boven need tourists/climbers/MTBrs to sustain them living out there, other areas like Chosspile don't have anyone directly influenced (except the victims) so I guess the urge to defend them is somewhat diminished. That said if anyone is keen to help out there is a meeting happening (set up by climbers) regarding the crime at Chosspile: Dear All Climbers In the last few weeks there have been a number of serious crime incidents at the parking area of Chosspile sport climbing area. This is one of our main sport climbing arrears near JHB/PTA and as there has been a big investment in the bolting of this crag, we would very much like to keep the venue safe and available to climbing. In order to achieve this we have arranged a meeting at the MCSA JHB Section clubhouse (Corner Scott and Stirling street, Waverley) on Wed 2 Feb at 20:00 for 20:30. The aim of the meeting is to pool resources and together find a solution to the growing crime problem that is currently the single biggest threat to sport climbing in Gauteng. We contacted the land owners and Mr Bill Murray will be at the meeting on their behalf. This is an open meeting and all are welcome. If you feel that you would like to be able to continue climbing at Choss, it is essential for you to be there. Neil MargettsSA Climbing Adademywww.saclimbingacademy.co.za083 669 3028 Also for the local climbing forum check out ClimbZA
Guest Iron Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Us climbers never did have a good forum like this to hang out, perhaps its cause we were always chasing the next route, :-). I would love to know what the storage life is on climbing equipment, all my kit (ropes, Cams, nuts, QDs, etc) was all cleaned, dried and stored in a dark "box", probably about 3-4 years now. Well your hard ware ( Draws,cams,hex's,nut's ect) will last as long as its cleaned and in a dry place. The problem comes with soft ware ( ropes, slings ) they have a safety life span , google your rope. Edilrid has a 5year safety rating if not used and that decreases depending on how many fall factors its had.the internals of the rope become brittle with time and loose their elasticity, thus the shelve life . Hope this helps
Bobbo_SA Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 big baby Iron, remember Baviaanspoort? Ever remember Swinburn and Mount Everest in KZN, I loved these places! ahhh, Mnt Everest, 6 pitches of absolute bliss, :-), one of the best experiences I had, that and Roc Rally.
Guest Iron Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 ahhh, Mnt Everest, 6 pitches of absolute bliss, :-), one of the best experiences I had, that and Roc Rally. Man , this topic has got me going , i wanna go crank again! is the gym in kyasands still running? anyone know?
Bobbo_SA Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 It is, havent been there for years but it was sold just after we stopped climbing and renovated quite nicely, would love to go back and dust off the shoes, :-) http://www.wonderwall.co.za/default.aspx
Guest Iron Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) It is, havent been there for years but it was sold just after we stopped climbing and renovated quite nicely, would love to go back and dust off the shoes, :-) http://www.wonderwall.co.za/default.aspx OOhh those shoes are going to hurt after all that time I have been to wonderwall since they opened and worth going to just was not sure if they were still running. Edited January 18, 2011 by Iron
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