Cliff Guide for The Theatre

A Crag Guide gives an extensive view of all sub areas and climbs at a point in the index. It shows a snapshot of the index heirachy, up to 300 climbs (or areas) on a single web page. It shows selected comments climbers have made on a recently submitted ascent.

At a minor crag level this should be suitable for printing and taking with you on a climbing trip as an adjunct to your guidebook.

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Table of contents

1. The Theatre 10 routes in Cliff

Summary:

Trad,Sport

Long/Lat: 30.363827, -25.663584

Description:

A few incredible lines including some classic trad on the big obvious orange wall you can see for miles! Be brave and leave the „social‟ crags of God No and Superbowl for a day and ckeck out these brilliant lines.

Access Issues: inherited from Waterval Boven

Best is by car but see bus info below. There is actually no need at all to venture into Johannesburg itself (not that it‟s such a bad place, some people love it!). From Johannesburg airport (O R Tambo International) take the R21 south for a few kilometers then the N12 east towards Witbank, which becomes the N4. These are excellent highways and within two hours (several kilometers after the second toll gate) the turn-off to Waterval Boven is reached on the right. Note: the highway splits into two

1.5 kilometres after the second toll gate. Both are still signed N4 Nelspruit, but only one of them passes Boven! Keep straight, don‟t take the left fork, many first time visitors make the mistake of going left which leads in completely the wrong direction!

The expensive toll gate just before Boven can be fairly easily avoided by turning off (right) at Machadodorp, approximately 15 kilometres before Boven. Drive into Machadodorp then take the tar road towards Badplaas (signed) for approx 13 kms, then turn left towards „Nkmomati Mine‟. After 3.2 kms turn left onto a gravel road signed Waterval Boven. Keep on this, keeping left at the fork at 6.5 kms, the road leads past the Tranquilitas Adventure farm and the Wonderland crags and after another 8 kilometres or so into Boven town, about 10-15 minutes later than if you had gone through the toll. If it‟s been raining very heavily this road can be unpassable in a normal car, however it dries very quickly (within a few hours).

Once in Boven, Roc „n Rope Adventures is easily found, on the opposite corner is the Shamrock Arms pub. Stop in and say “howzit” and get directions, either to the Climbers‟ Lodge or to Tranquilitas. While in town pick up some beer and some cheap (but excellent) steak and boerewors from the butcher (Slaghuis), be sure to ask for the climbers‟ discount.

There are a couple of shuttle-bus services that leave/return to Joburg once a day. At the time of writing „Jereh‟ will drop you off at roc and rope. Contact them on 082 378 3614; they will soon have a website. The other service is the Lowveld Link

8

(www.lowveldlink.com) but they only drop at the Boven turn off from the N4 but its only 1-2 kms from there to Roc and Rope. Expect to pay between R 300 and 400 return.

Approach:

As for the Left Wing, continue another 50 metres or so until a huge slightly detached 4 metre high block is reached. The big orange left-facing wall of Heart of China is an obvious landmark.

		Route	Grade	Style	Popularity	Selected ascents
1		Endless October Starts at the left end of the ledge/block. Brilliant. FA: Grant Murray, 1992	24	Sport 9
2		Sweet Cousin Cocaine From the right of the block climb past a bouldery lower section then a finish on huge jugs. Superb. FA: Gary Lotter, 1991	25	Sport 10
3		Night of the Toast The obvious crackline on the left of The Theatre, just right of Sweet Cousin Cocaine. FA: Stewart Middlemiss, 1991	23	Trad
4		Bikini Red Stunning! Better than Lotters? In the middle of the face. Name written at base. The first bolt is very high but the climbing is super easy. Don‟t stray left at the top, just trust those feet and go! FA: Mike Hislop, 1992	27	Sport 9
5		Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator Climbs the scoop 5m right of BIKINI RED. Very poorly protected. FA: Mike Hislop, 1992	16	Trad
6		Stage Fright Climbs the arete to the choss above FA: Clive Curson, 1992	20	Trad
7		Centre Stage This is the leftmost route on the right wall of The Theatre. Climbs the corner. Fight your way through the choss at the top and avoid killing people below. FA: Clive Curson, 1992	18	Trad
8		Into the Night We Slide Just to the right of the major dihedral in The Theatre, a few metres left of HEART OF CHINA. Sparse gear. FA: Stewart Middlemiss, 1991	23	Trad
9		Heart of China CLASSIC!! Up the middle of the big left facing orange wall, via a leftwards trending line of cracks and jugs. One of the best trad lines at The Restaurant. FA: Darryl Margetts & Martin Seegers, 1991		Trad
10		Kindered Spirits At the right end of the ledge, climb up a few moves, and right around the corner to under a roof (awkward 2nd clip out left). Opened at 25! FA: Grant Murray, 1992	26	Sport 9

2. Index by grade

Grade		Stars	Name	Style
16			Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator	Trad
18			Centre Stage	Trad
20			Stage Fright	Trad
23			Into the Night We Slide	Trad
			Night of the Toast	Trad
24			Endless October	Sport 9
25			Sweet Cousin Cocaine	Sport 10
26			Kindered Spirits	Sport 9
27			Bikini Red	Sport 9
?			Heart of China	Trad