Sands of Time - SPEED RECORD

[Hilton]

All a good laugh!

Bonezz and Skull did well to do the route in 24 minutes. Congrats guys!

Yesterday Guy and I did the route a few times to get the thing sorted. It wasn't an onsight kind of affair. And we had both done the route several times before.

Hann we did some time trials in both formats. Nothing spectacular.

Our trad submission: we tradded the route in 1 hour 34 mins.
Guy led the first pitch (one nut and one cam before the tenuous section and then one cam higher up). Stance off a tree.
I led the vertical pitch with some slings and two cams to get to the stance where I placed a cam to the right of the bolt anchors then continued with the long traverse dyke with two sideways cams each biting on two lobes. I didn't stop at the next stance as there is nothing there. I continued another 4 or 5 metres to two little parapet-shaped horns. By hanging below them I could keep slings over them. Guy came up and led the top pitch with no gear (as it's not possible to place any natural gear).

Our time was nothing to write home about but we were trying to keep it controlled and safe. It's not entirely safe to trad and I definitely wouldn't recommend it. It would be a lot safer though to use the bolted belay stances, especially for that top pitch which has a fall-potential of 40 to 50 metres onto two slings that are a bit scary.

For our sport-climbing submission: we did the route in 7 min 56 seconds

[Old Smelly]

Loads of respect to you guys!

Just hope everyone hears your warning. What a cool approach to the route though...

[Uwe]

Barbara and I ascended Sands Of Time on trad gear on the 27th Dec. in under 1 ½ hours. We had 3 nice stances, the first one as you said is off a tree, second one on 3 cams to the right (as you said), third one on 1 excellent nut and one ok-ish RP. Last pitch has one piece of gear where you don’t need it any more.
It was fun which is most important and I’d be happy to share Hann’s case with him and you
(here are some pics: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bb8wyzei554gngg/8SknjcZvF4)

[Turtle]

Hi guys

IMHO these are the sends of the year. Doing that last pitch free(basically) takes some mangos.... Well done, Hilton, Guy, Uwe and Barbara!!!

Wow!

As for the warning: I will not attempt this. One of the great things about climbing is: don't bite off what you can't chew... I know my limits!

[Hilton]

Awesome! Well done Uwe and Brenda! Thanks Smelly and Jacques!

If Guy could have slimied out the front door of Amazon an hour earlier this afternoon we could have given it a good New Year's Eve go. We felt we could trad the route in 45 minutes now. We didn't think much of our trad time but we did think our sport-simul effort was pretty quick. There too we could lop a bit of time off it - maybe 20 or 30 seconds. We had the rope get caught in the trees and that took about 20 seconds to sort out and we had trad draws that turned upside down (instead of quickdraws that sit still). Anyways, it was hell for leather and we were sucking air at the top. Since Jeremy mentioned 8 mins we had to pip that.

Uwe and Brenda you guys probably get the FTA (First Trad Ascent) or greenpoint and we probably get the "FTA-Without-Emergency-Catchers"!

Thanks Hann - it was fun (But now I'm over Sands of Time!)
p.s. Uwe, can I take you up on that climbing trip - but not Apollo?

[SNORT]

By far, in the South African context, the most outstanding speed achievement is 5 routes at Blouberg in under 24 hours by Kevin Smith and George Mallory. That is the equivalent of the Nose and Half Dome in a day but it takes around 90minutes of bush wacking to get from the top to the bottom. Go try 3 routes in 24 hours....... It is hard enough...

[Old Smelly]

Sounds like a challenge for Hector & Andrew Porter from the King under the mountain Come on guys!

[Hann]

Guy, Hilton, Uwe and Barbara,

Aka: the demi gods

Seems the prize goes to Uwe and Barbara.

Uwe, Barbara
Feel like coming to Stellies to claim you prize?
I could have it delivered in Cape Town.
Just send me the address.
Jack Daniels and Windoek Lager?

Guy, Hilton,
Probably only fair to offer you a bottle of Jack as consolation prize for a valiant effort!
Same thing concerning the logistics.

I could wrap it and have it displayed at City Rock until you collection, with the gyms permission naturally.
Jaak? Please?

(Oh. No nat.geo.wild photo does Zanzibar justice. Take climbing shoes though: i'm sure many or the exposed subterranean island coral/limestone will be mighty climbable at low tide.)

[BAbycoat]

Is Guy even old enough to drink ? isn't it illegal to give booze to minors?

[sKuLL]

Guy, Hilton.

Very much congratulations on your time!
And thank you.
We too felt that simul-climbing was needed to push it to the next level.
Out of interest how much rope did you fix between you?

Uwe and Barbara included, pretty decent head taking it down all natural!!





Peace..

[Hilton]

Hann:

Thanks for kind offer Hann. No need though. Maybe one day we can have a beer together.
I can concur regarding Zanzibar. My brother Dave and I enjoyed it while we basked in the warm glow of a climbing success. Another sort-of speed record thing, when we climbed Mt Kenya in a day. Christmas Day 1994.

BAbycoat:

Guy's quite an old fella. Eighteen. It's very disappointing. He's bringing the average age of our climbing partnership up into middle-aged territory.

sKull:

We used a 28m single rope, not because of any great design but because a buddy put a hole more-or-less in the middle of a 50m rope. I would say it's more or less the right length on that route.