by TEODOR ILIEV
pic by ANDREW COURT
I first met Andy Court and Nic van Doesburgh a few years ago at the battered and ramshackle UCT climbing gym in Cape Town. Stomping ground for broke-ass students.
We shared a common interest in the world of terrifying big-wall climbing and weep-with-laughter at each other’s dirty humour. And in the ensuing years, we kept each other alive and humble on many an adventure.
June 2019: The three of us woke up on the side of a French highway just one hour’s drive from the Côte d’Azur Airport. The result of a two-week dirtbag road trip through southern France. We gambled our comfort for experience. Our bodies, meagre with hunger, we ate like peasants. Yet we profited from a high mileage of world-class rock climbing in the Verdon Gorge and Ceuse. Holding fast, the promised land of drinking yoghurt and sweet pastries was only a short plane flight away. We hit the road and in no time flat, we were on our way to Bulgaria.
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