Fred Nicole on Amandla 8C, ROCKLANDS

ClimbAndMore: In the 1990s your favourite bouldering region abroad was Hueco Tanks. It seems that in recent years there has been another one - Rocklands. How would you compare these two regions: the atmosphere, the rock, their potential and so on?

Fred Nicole: Rockland and Hueco are two places I really like. Even if they are very different from each other, unfortunately there are some similarities concerning rules, too. Rockland is also a nature reserve with very restricted access. Climbers should be very respectful of the rules if we don't want to see the same tough restrictions as in Hueco!

Last August you finally climbed your long-standing project Amandla which had been your main bouldering goal for 4 visits in Rocklands. Were there many lines which had been your projects for such a long time? Or was this one special?

During these four visits (over 2 years) I climbed lots of other things (up to 8c - like Golden Shadow). But it's true that I regularly tried Amandla. Often the weather was too hot for those small edges. When I finally made it, it was great satisfaction to complete such a beautiful line! There are some lines that took me long to be done. I spent a lot of time on the sit-down of Back Eagle (8c), too; unfortunately, after an edge broke the original line is not there anymore.

You worked on Amandla for such a long time. Was it more about breaking phisical barriers or more a mental thing?

The crux move was so strange for me that it's hard to say. It was probably a mental and a physical problem - a little bit more mental ;-)

Do you do any specific preparation before coming back to your long-standing projects like Amandla? I know that you rather climb than train, but I mean doing problems with similar moves or holds… Or do you just come back, more experienced and stronger than before, and try it again?

I have no system. Every climbing day is different but I try to climb very regularly in different styles. If I couldn't do it my way (without training) I would probably train more specifically.