Hot Rock Update

STICK THE DICK, STICK THE DICK. This was all that was going trough my mind as I jumped. There I was at 5000 ft picking up speed to terminal velocity. The plane by now was tiny, My arch (body positioning to keep you stable in the air, hence the stick the dick as this forces you to put your pelvis forward and thus arch.) was stable and everything went silent and calm about me. Now travelling at 130mph I was face down to the ground. 6 thousand, 7 thousand, I was counting to 10 and on ten I was to pull the chute. Suddenly I was speeding up again, from the video my arms had come slightly back and I was now starting to track through the sky at alarming speed (190mph). Not really liking this new pace of falling I forced my arms back in front of me again. 8 thousand, grab thousand, pull thousand. three seconds later I was under the orange canopy circling down to the airport another 3000 ft below me. The enormous deep red sun was just finishing its plunge into the Atlantic ocean and everything below me had turned a deep purple. 12 jumps under my belt it should only be another 10 until I have done loops, 360s and will have my licence.I am having problems remembering when I last wrote to you, I hope that it was about climbing above Crocodile infested rivers (please tell me if I still need to tell you this story I have told him…(ed.)Who knows, but I definitely remember not telling you about grade 5+ rapids we rafted on the Zambezi. The company we used were in two minds as the water level was still too high and the top section of the river was BIG. But they gave us the same treatment so many other people do that Hot Rock meet along the way; “WE think you lot are crazy enough to do it, you will be the first this year.” So that was that, 14 Hot Rockers had an amazing day being thrown around the Zambezi on its 24 named rapids. They then saw it a good idea to throw us out of the raft onto boards and send us down the remaining rapids powered by the kick of our legs. The size of the water was not my concern. We had already that day seen 4 large crocs sunbathing by the banks of the river. They said that they didn?t hurt humans.Travelling into Namibia we drove south to the great big lump of granite known as Spitzkoppe. The summit is at 1700m with a 500m face dropping down to the desert floor. The climbing it on bolts and trad, with some fantastic routes. The area is a paradise for slab climbers, but often you find yourself on your tip toes padding up on friction 12m above your last bit of gear!! The area is also welcoming for the avid chimney and off-width climber. The scabs on my knees and elbows are just starting to drop off from a battle I had with a crack that swallowed me up six pitches up the main wall. Cuts were tended to while sitting on top of one of the many boulders around the camp, sipping on a glass of SA red while the rock around me turned from yellow to orange to red and finaly finished of the display on a bright pink before falling under the shadow of night.Swakopmund had been great to us. Quad biking, sand boarding (going at 80kmph 4mm from the ground)and sky diving. We had been there for four days in total but now we are on the out skirts of Windhoek climbing at a 60m sandstone crag, as long as we skirt around the routes being host to the vindictive african bees everything should be good to enter South Africa on the 16th.Take Care, Dave

QuellePlanetFear