On a mission with Mike in Du Toit’s Kloof, exploring and bolting big walls
On a mission with Mike in Du Toit’s Kloof, exploring and bolting big walls
Michael. Fuck man. You’re gone.
Before we ever spoke I used to see you and Jurie at the Neelsie climbing wall at Stellenbosch. This was back in 2005. One of those times, I was climbing there alone when the two of you arrived. I think you were talking loudly to one another about some Geology test that you had written, complaining about how difficult it was. At some point I turned to you and asked: “why don’t you just study?”, to which both of you responded with silence and a dirty look - what a hillarious and unlikely start for a friendship, with both you and Jurie. In retrospect I think that the directness of our first interaction was an essential foundation for our friendship. Reflecting on our friendship I see all the domains of action and experience that we shared, exploring together, and that we each explored in our own ways, learning from one another along the way.
In the mountains our lives had their largest overlap. In climbing, kloofing, bolting, and exploring. I think the first trip we went on together was a sport climbing mission to Oudtshoorn. Unio, Pete, Narny, Danie, Cobus, and Ben were also there. We stayed at the campsite further away from the crag, put up a slackline, climbed, listened to trance, and drank. You and Pete were trying Paws, the classic 7b, and I was trying Johnny Rotten, the short and powerful 7b+. I remember watching you climb, run it out, and take huge falls as if it was nothing, and thinking to myself, “this guy has a different risk tolerance than me, he just goes for it”. I seem to remember that we went to Gouritsmond on the way back home. You practically downed a bottle of Cane, then you and Jurie drove to the nearby town, toppled the car on an embankment, pushed it back onto its wheels, and drove it back to Gouritsmond, safe and sound. We had plenty of chances to die in our 20s, but miraculously none of them ever materialised.
From the climbing we did together at Montagu, I remember that you belayed me on Hypoxia (the short overhanging 7c+) - I tried it many times, and you were always willing to belay me. We’d drive through from Stellenbosh for the day whenever studies, weather and other pursuits allowed. And that we did the 2006 Rock Rally together, in the rain. I also recall wild times at the campsite.
Mike after a long day of climbing at Montagu