Canadian Paul McSorley on Wild New Africa Route Team
Canadian Paul McSorley is one of the country’s most experienced international climbers and he has just completed a new route in South Africa with three other climbers.
The team consisted of German climbers Ines Papert and Joseph Pfnur and Slovenian Luka Lindic.
Their new route is a 13-pitch ED1 7b+ (about 5.12) that they climbed on gear. They named their bolt-less line Ruby Supernova and it climbs in the Du Toits Kloof Mountains.
It them two days in the middle of June to complete the difficult free-climb up the solid quartzite wall.
According to UKclimbing.com, the climbers started by repeating he 550-metre Private Universe ED1 7a A1, which has been freed and was established in 2002 by a South African team using 100 bolts.
Private Universe climbs a section of wall that was said to be one of the last great problems in the country by South African alpinist Dave Cheesmond, who eventually moved to Canada to make a number of historically important first ascents there.
After their first ascent, they spent time touring around South Africa, including sending boulders in Rocklands and climbing on Table Mountain.