(Above Photo Credit: Laurence Crossman-Emms)

The Rhino in Rocklands, South Africa. (Photo Credit: Quartzite Boulders)

Rocklands has few rivals as a bouldering destination. The spectacularly craggy landscape of orange rocks has an almost prehistoric feel under the South African sun. Located in the Cederberg Mountains about three hours north of Cape Town, Rocklands lies in the Cape Floral Region. This biodiversity hotspot is one of the six recognised floral kingdoms of the world. This vegetation is known as "fynbos" and is famous for its heady aromas and its fabulous flowers. Not surprisingly, Rocklands also supports a lot of animal life, from leopards and aardvarks to snakes, tortoises, and plenty of interesting insects.
​
Of the thousands of boulder problems in Rocklands, The Rhino (V8/7B+) is perhaps the most dramatic. This impossibly narrow blade of quartzitic sandstone juts out more than twenty feet into fresh air with apparently nothing to hold it up. And from its best angle, it looks a lot like a Rhino.

The aesthetic of the line is pure. It’s a narrow roof that is climbed with a mixture of compression, crimps and hooks, to a top out on The Rhino’s nose. The landing isn’t great so it needs a pile of pads and dose of commitment.

The Rhino from the other side - Rocklands, South Africa. (Photo Credit: Ian Shersby)

I was already seduced by the line and the beautiful location. After trying a few of the moves, I was encouraged enough to contemplate The Rhino as a long-term project - the downsides being that it’s 6000 miles from where I live and in a wild area that’s mostly too hot to climb in the summer. Standing underneath it, I complained to my partner that I just couldn’t see how I would ever get enough time to project it.
​
“Couldn’t we make a replica of it?” she suggested.

Several weeks later we were still talking about this idea. So, we started to look more seriously at what it might actually take to build a replica. We realised that we actually had access to some of the expertise and equipment that would be needed. With a background in marine surveying and construction, we knew that building an artificial boulder could draw on boat building technology. A variety of different materials would be needed to construct it, as the weight could only be a small fraction of the Rocklands Rhino because we also wanted our Rhino to be mobile!

Above: Click to enlarge photos and see captions.

It took a year to figure out how an artificial Rhino might take form, and we discussed how this replica could be shared with the climbing community through climbing gyms. If we were to "take it on the road," it was clear from the outset that it would need to do a lot more than the original boulder - an identical copy of the whole rock simply wouldn’t be enough. So, we re-imagined and redesigned The Rhino to get as much out of it as possible. It had to be super-accessible but at the same time safe and familiar to climbers and gym staff. This meant easily transportable and with a strong appeal to a wide range of indoor climbers. The result is the GymRhino! It climbs like the Rocklands Rhino but it meets the safety standards required for the gym and it’s easy to maintain.

It took a further year to design and then two years to build GymRhino. The project was very much a collaborative effort which reflects the expertise we had to bring together to make it happen - there was a lot of collective head scratching.

The initial challenge was to develop a full 3D model of The Rhino.

​Scanning technologies have developed rapidly, but even so, an accurate representation of a large, complex object like The Rhino is difficult and requires specialised equipment.

The GymRhino spec also called for it to be packaged so it could be transported between venues to reach as many climbers as possible. This required creating a shipping container that fits the GymRhino and it's landing mats, combined with some parts that fold.

The GymRhino while under construction. (Photo Credit: Quartzite Boulders)

The upper structure folds away like a tent. The nose section hinges and stows alongside the main body in the container (inspired by the nose loading door on the old 747 cargo planes!). The rock at the base is removed in two halves and then the entire structure is lowered using and electric motor to drop it 1.5m (5 feet). ​

As with any artificial climbing structure, it’s all about the holds. To make holds that are nearly identical to the original rock we partnered with Didak’s Climbing Holds​ in Spain. GymRhino holds are state-of-the-art and are made in the same way as the best modern gym holds.

​3D printing was used extensively on GymRhino for both the holds and the outer shell of the boulder. As a relatively immature technology, 3D printing still has a long way to go in terms of cost and speed, but it integrates well with 3D scanning and modeling. Today, 3D printed climbing holds are in their infancy but this will eventually become an important technology for indoor climbing.

​Many GymRhino climbers might never get the opportunity to visit Rocklands. Others might project GymRhino before going to Rocklands. Since perhaps only one percent of gym goers can climb an outdoor V8, we produced sets of downgraded holds so more climbers can experience the sequence of the original. The downgraded holds are brightly coloured so there’s no confusing them with the V8s.​

VIDEO (21-seconds): Setting up the GymRhino

There are 23 holds on GymRhino, same as the Rocklands Rhino. Each hold has a rectangular aperture in GymRhino's surface into which it is bolted. All the holds fit flush with the surrounding "rock." About 15 of these holds have downgrades, and some of them have two levels of downgrades. (Making downgrades of all the holds wasn't necessary as some of the V8 holds are jugs anyway). To downgrade a hold, just remove the two mounting bolts and swap it out for the downgrade. V8 holds are grey or orange to match the natural rock, green represents approximately V5, and yellow is used for V2/V3.

GymRhino used 3D modeling to mimic the real holds of the Rhino boulder problem located in Rocklands, South Africa. (Photo Credit: Quartzite Boulders)

Downgraded holds so a wide-range of climbers can enjoy the GymRhino experience. (Photo Credit: Quartzite Boulders)

The Rhinometer is displayed alongside GymRhino to indicate the current grade (Image Credit: Quartzite Boulders)

Producing a downgradable boulder was something of a gamble because nothing like it had been tried before. For this we relied on the skill of master hold shaper Didac Casanovas, founder of Didak’s Climbing Holds. In many ways, the "original grade" holds were the easiest to produce, being essentially digital copies of parts of the Rocklands Rhino. On the other hand, for the downgraded holds, each one had to be reshaped to increase friction or to make the contact more positive. This could not change the essential character of the sequence, though. At the same time the downgraded hold still had to fit the shape of the surrounding rock.

We’re very pleased that the feedback from climbers on downgrading The Rhino has been entirely positive. This feature has been used to set a realistic grade for bouldering classes and to help specific climbers work part of the sequence. Mixing the holds allows aspects be changed, for example to make the crux easier for kids. The hold sets get cycled fairly frequently as the swap out only takes a few minutes with a cordless drill.

Above (Click on the images to enlarge): Climbers experiencing the GymRhino (Photo Credit: Laurence Crossman-Emms)

GymRhino was launched recently at one of the UK’s best climbing gyms, Boardroom Climbing. The public reception has been amazing. This is a gym product, not a real boulder, and yet climbers spend hours and even days projecting it like they were outdoors at a crag. It’s been a big hit with kids as well. This was a surprise as the Rocklands Rhino, as far as we know, has never been climbed by a child. With the hard landing of the Rocklands Rhino replaced by gym matting, climbers often use more creative, playful beta on GymRhino. The commitment and psyche of the Rocklands Rhino are traded for accessibility and safety. Perhaps unsurprisingly, GymRhino has a similar physical presence to the Rocklands Rhino. It’s the same size, so you have to crank your head backwards to look up at it from below. When it rains, it gets wet and dries out just like the Rocklands original.

Quartzite Boulders is the company behind GymRhino. Quartzite welcomes suggestions for future gym boulders, as the possibilities are limited only by imagination! In the meantime, GymRhino will be touring the UK and then Europe later in 2023. Quartzite is working with the Rocklands Partnership, the organisation which manages bouldering in Rocklands. We’re excited to be helping to support local initiatives with GymRhino by telling the story of The Rhino and Rocklands. GymRhino will also be used as a platform to promote responsible bouldering and conservation work in Rocklands.

The GymRhino Team (from Left to Right): Murray - Fabrication & Assembly; Kathy - 3D Designer; Rio - Artistic Design & Media; James - Concept Design & Project Manager; Ellie - Social Media. Team members not in photo: Pete - Engineering Design; Gemma - Marketing. (Photo Credit: Laurence Crossman-Emms)

Website: www.quartziteboulders.com
​Instagram: @quartzite_boulders​
TikTok: @quartziteboulders​
Facebook: @Quartzite Boulders​