Fad Called “Rock Climbing” Jumps into the News
By Rocky Thompson on August 9th, 2011
Photo by Ram Sripracha
They carry mattresses on their backs, and in bars they are the ones gesticulating like crazed semaphore operators.
I don’t know much about South Africa, but based on the lead for this Reuters article I can infer that South Africans are more familiar with semaphore operators than rock climbers. And that strikes me as odd. Then again, perhaps the South African rock climbing community feels the same way about the U.S. after reading this lead from The New York Times last week:
Two large black mattresses bounced along the coastline, pausing every so often in front of large rocks and the glimmering sea view.
Yes, the fringe sport known as “bouldering” has caught the attention of the mass media. Expect someone to bring an actual mattress to your local spot within weeks.
Tags: bouldering, Climbing
[...] Via The Goat comes another example of bouldering being covered by more mainstream media sources, this time it’s Reuters writing about the bouldering in Rocklands, South Africa: “The whole climbing thing has caught us a bit by surprise,” said Thys Kruger, owner of De Pakhuys outside Clanwilliam, one of a half dozen farms offering no-frills accommodation for climbers. [...]