Rocklands

One of the world's best bouldering areas, truly phenomenal. Whether walking from your lodging to the Plateau areas or venturing into the pass, Rocklands contains seemingly infinite rock and quality climbs.

Peak season is June - August though you can climb outside this window as well. Summers are very hot and not pleasant to climb during. Most travelers to the area stay in one of the lodging options east of the pass, or in the nearest town of Clanwilliam. Cape Town is the closest major airport.

Todd Skinner was one of the first climbers to spend significant time in the Cederburg Range in the 1990s, but the area has seen massive amounts of development ever since by about every great boulderer you can name due to its overwhelming number of boulders. It is also special for being in the fynbos biome of the Western Cape region, a biologically unique area on the whole earth. In August, the area experiences significant blooms of its over 9,000 plant species, so take heed to the plants you see as you are climbing - about 6,200 of the species in the Cederburg are unique to the area. There are also many animals which will be foreign to most climbers.

Humans have lived in the Western Cape region for nearly a million years. The first peoples of this area are a collection of groups jointly referred to as the San, whose impacts can be seen today in the rock art in the area. Since these early days, the area has changed hands to other indigenous groups and eventually to Europeans. In the modern day, South Africa experienced a severe apartheid from which the country is still working to recover.