Words Fiona McIntosh, pics Marianne Schwankhart, Shaen Adey

A couple of weeks ago I went to CityROCK climbing gym in Obz to watch Reel Rock 8, the annual tour of the world's greatest climbing and adventure films, the best which typically end up at the higher profile Banff Mountain Film Festival.

A young man at the back looked familiar. You know that irritating feeling when you can’t place someone. My climbing buddy had no such hesitation. "That’s Alex Honnold," she whispered. "What’s he doing here?" Unless you’re a rock climber you might not recognise the name – though Honnold has graced the cover of many an international magazine, including National Geographic. He’s probably the boldest rock climber on the planet, known for his audacious free solo (ropeless) climbs of the world’s most iconic rock climbing routes. In the US, where he appears in commercials for a range of products from Dewars Whisky to CitiBank, he’s almost a household name.

Watching Honnold climb is edgy and compelling. Without a rope there is no room for error: one slip and he’s tickets. This constant flirtation with death is what captivates and explains his widespread appeal. Yet Honnold comes over as a normal guy with an easy going, ‘no big deal’ approach that is totally beguiling. "Climbing these big walls by myself without a rope forces me to climb perfectly," he insists. "It's entirely mental. What it requires is just motivation, just the desire for it. There's no trick."

Insane. For me, for any climber, bumping into Alex Honnold is like bumping into Bono. He’s every bit as famous a rock star.

Next to him was a pretty blonde girl who I also couldn’t place. Robert Breyer, owner of CityROCK, solved the mystery as he introduced the Reel Rock Tour 8 showings. One of the four documentaries, called Spice Girl, features the exploits of Hazel Findlay, a diminutive 24-year-old Brit, renowned for terrifying technical ascents of big rock walls that would have many of the best male climbers quaking in their sticky shoes.

Findlay hails from the north of England and epitomises true grit. In Spice Girl she faces potential death falls as she clings onto the crumbling holds of a dizzyingly high and steep sea cliff in Wales. The best female ‘traditionalist’ climber in the world (protected only by the gear that she places in the rock), she matches determination and a cool head with incredible endurance – as we saw later in the documentary when she paired up with fellow Brit, Emily Harrington, to climb a 1,000m wall in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains - a 24 hour return trip from their overnight hut!

It turned out that the two superstars were here in southern Africa filming a movie called African Rock - a road trip with some of South Africa’s best rock jocks, designed to showcase the region’s stunning rock climbing. Documented by Fresh Air Crew, an award-winning South African adventure film production company, the duo headed north to Namibia to join South African big wall ace Alard Hufner on the magnificent granite dome of Spitzkoppe, known as the Matterhorn of Africa. Leaving the desolate Namib desert plains behind they then journeyed to Blouberg, deep in the tribal land of the Limpopo bushveld. Blouberg is relatively unknown, but is in fact South Africa’s biggest rock wall. Here Honnold joined Clinton Martinengo, one of our own rock stars, to make the first free ascent of ‘Dog of Thunder’ an incredible route up a gigantic 400m cliff face, with only credit-card-thin edges for holds.

From there the touring party headed to southern Africa’s climbing Mecca, the magnificent orange cliffs of Waterval Boven in Mpumalanga, where Honnold climbed some of the hardest routes in the country. The last stop on their southern African Rock Tour was the grand finale of the Western Cape where they took on the challenge of the intimidating, overhanging Yellowwood Amphitheatre in Du Toitskloof and the classic routes of Table Mountain.

Before making his surprise appearance at Rock Reel 8 Honnold had tourists and hikers looking on wide-eyed as, un-roped, he waltzed up one of the mountain’s most precipitous faces on a route appropriately named 'Roulette'.

"Table Mountain is absolutely perfect for soloing," he enthused. "The rock is bomber hard so unlikely to break, and if the route gets really tough you can always escape onto nearby easier lines. Best of all, unlike on some other big mountains, you can walk or take the cable car off the top so don’t have to carry a rope to abseil off."

It was inspiring stuff, a privilege to have been able to share a beer with two of my heroes and to hear them raving about the wonderful and varied climbing, the quality of southern African rock, the spectacular scenery and the diverse experiences that they had on their three-week tour.

In the post film Q&A session the woman sitting next to me put up her hand. "My name’s Carrie, I’m 55. Is that too old to start climbing?" she asked Findlay. "Absolutely not," came the positive reply. "Alex’s mum started climbing when she was in her late 50s." The next day I took Carrie to the Lakeside Pinnacle climbing area, kitted her out in a harness, chalk bag, helmet and climbing shoes and put her on a safety rope. Well out of her comfort zone on near vertical rock she struggled for the first couple of metres, shaking like a leaf before finally trusting the rope and getting to grips with the new sport. I don’t think she’ll be rushing to try it again soon, but she made it to the top and returned to the ground smiling and elated. The 'Spice Girl' certainly enlivened one Capetonian’s life.

There will be one more showing of Reel Rock 8 next Friday, 8 November, 7 pm at CityROCK Indoor Climbing Gym. Corner Collingwood & Anson, Observatory. 021-447 1326, [email protected] or www.cityrock.co.za

Want to try rock climbing? Visit www.nightjartravel.com/climbing for more detail on South Africa’s crags and climbing gyms.