In contrast to my previous post, this is a more focussed piece actually about the climbing/area.
Wow Prow is it is undoubtedly a specialist crag. With a total of 8 routes there’s not a lot to go at, but what it does have is good and hard – very hard in fact (with the exception of two routes). As a result it makes for a crag that is inevitably going to give you a tough time, because unless you’re good (i.e. Kilian Fischuber, see the video below) then you’re probably not going to get much done!
Whilst I don’t want to sound down about Wow Prow, there are several harsh realities to climbing there that you have to get your head around – realities that are even harsher when you’ve come from somewhere such as Waterfall Boven. First and foremost, you’ve got to get used to the early mornings. The crag comes into the sun in the early afternoon you’ve got to be up/out at a respectably hour in order to make the most of the day. Next up, a bit of a repetition of what was mentioned earlier, but everything is HARD. In Boven I was flashing 7b+ and getting up 7c pretty rapidly; at Wow Prow the 7b+/7c – Rage Against the Machine – took me a whole week. Add into the mix a greater level of heat, sharper rock, general fatigue from trying hard for 3 weeks (this was the final week of my trip), and all-in-all Wow Prow probably got the better of our whole team psychologically.
That said, it’s a hell of a crag and deserved of it’s name – as proved by the pictures below. If you ever get the chance, go (but heed my warnings)!
You can download the guidebook from ClimbZA.
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