By Brad Inggs Photo by Brendan Kuhnert
The Black Diamond Tradathon is an annual celebration of traditional climbing (trad) held at a different venue each year, and as such is a roving festival. Organised and run by Simon Larsen of RAM Mountaineering, the Tradathon was started in 2012. Simon’s vision is to foster a sense of history and belonging in the trad scene by getting beginners to rub shoulders with experienced climbers, at awesome venues, thus prolonging the tradition and ethics of this style of climbing.
hese sandstone cliffs, affectionately known as Monties, have been climbed on since the 1950s, and in the ’80s became the epicenter of hard climbing in South Africa. Some of the country’s hardest routes were put up at Monties. South Africa’s current climbing grade system was first instituted here, being adopted from the Australian system, after the old grading system could not cater for the ascending difficulty of climbs being attempted.
This was the event’s second visit to Monteseel, the first being in 2014. The Hacienda pub in the village served as Trad Central and Honey Trails just across the road from the village, opened their campsite and newly appointed ablutions to the climbers for a place to ‘dos’. Climbers from afar afield as the Western Cape, along with a strong contingent from the Gauteng region, started filtering into Monteseel on Friday afternoon, setting up camp at Honey Trails and congregating at The Hacienda for a meal and a few beers.
Saturday dawned bright and chilly, but soon warmed up into one of those brilliant KZN winter days. The 8 am briefing session at The Hacienda gave Simon the opportunity to welcome everyone, and served to orientate climbers new to the crags. New climbers were introduced to their instructors, who were offering courses on Leading Trad, Following on Trad, and Climbing Self Rescue. Old tradsters met up again with friends from across the country and they all set off for a day on the crags.
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