New rock climbing guidebooks for South Africa
The area around Cape Town offers a significant number of good sport climbing areas, with routes to suit climbers of all abilities. The 2 best sport climbing areas are at Montagu and the Cederberg Mountains (where the World famous Rocklands bouldering is also located).
Situated 180km east of Cape Town is Montagu, one of the best sport climbing areas in South Africa, with many different crags located along the Keisie River. There are over 600 sport routes here that are predominantly one pitch long though there are some multi-pitch routes as well. The climbing at Montagu is very varied and ranges from slabs and vertical walls to super-steep overhangs. There are routes across the whole grade range (F3 to F8c+), with the climbing on excellent hard sandstone rock. Montagu has exceptional weather (with very little rain), and it normally has perfect conditions for climbing as the crags face multiple directions so the sun or shade can always be found. The Montagu Rock Climbing Guidebook describes 602 sport routes as well as 109 trad routes.
Situated 250km north of Cape Town the Cederberg Mountains offer some excellent sport climbing in a wild, rugged, and remote setting. The good quality sandstone rock offers a variety of features from big jugs, rough nubbins, protruding gargoyles, thin crimps, rails, cracks, edges, and undercuts. There is everything from slabs to vertical walls, to very steep overhanging pump fests, and roofs. Scattered across over 65 crags there are over 430 sport routes from F4b to F9a, with the bulk of the routes in the F5 to F7c grade range. The best time to climb in the Cederberg Mountains is from March to November. The Cederberg Rock Climbing Guidebook covers 436 sport routes.