Black Diamond
Tradathon 2024
26 October 2024
Everything You Need to know
What is the tradathon?
The Black Diamond Tradathon is Africa’s only trad rock climbing festival. Here are a couple of things you should know about it:
- It’s a roaming festival exposing climbers to different crags yearly.
- It’s free!
- It’s an opportunity for sport climbers to try out trad climbing
- It’s a non-competitive event where everyone celebrates climbing, each other and our county’s beautiful wild places.
This Year's Tradathon Venue
This year the classic event is being held in the amazing Wolfberg cracks in the magnificent Cederberg
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2.5 hours away from Cape Town and only 1 hour away from the famous Rocklands.
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We will be staying at Sanddrif on the lawn under shady trees on the river bank. This site has 2 ablution blocks, Braai facilities (bring your own braai grid) and electrical power points.
There will be additional camping available at kliphuis campsite down the road. At Kliphuis you will be camping under old oak trees – no lawn. There will be 1 Ablution block, Braai facilities (bring your own braai grid) and electrical power points.
The Tradathon is free!
Yes, you heard that right. The Black Diamond Tradathon is free and here is why:
As a brand, we aim to give back to the climbing community, to get climbers together once a year to enjoy the pleasures, challenges and comradery that traditional climbing offers.
The Black Diamond Tradathon has always been a free event.
All payments for guides, accommodation, and food go directly to the providers, and we don’t take any cut. 100% of the fees paid by participants go directly to the people providing the services.
How to get into trad
Placing gear, building anchors, self-rescue, hauling…. The list goes on. Trad has a very high barrier of entry… and without someone to help you over the barrier, getting into this amazing sport is very hard.
There are a couple of ways to get into the sport:
1: You hire a guide.
2: You make friends with a trad climber. (find a mentor)
3: You attend a workshop at the Black Diamond Tradathon!
Finding a Mentor
Are you a budding trad climber looking for a mentor? It’s not as easy as sliding into someone’s DMs on Instagram, but it’s not impossible either!
The key to finding a trad mentor is building a good reputation for yourself in the climbing world. Train hard, chat with local climbers, and make sure you have a solid reputation as a reliable belay partner. Trust is crucial in trad climbing, and having a good reputation can make all the difference.
Once you’re confident in your skills, approach a trad climber at your local gym or sport crag. If your skills and reputation impress them, you just might have found yourself a mentor! *Remember, the trad climbing community is small, and everything is about references.
But wait! THERE IS A SHORT CUT!
At the Black Diamond Tradathon you can start with a workshop and then you will get to spend three days in close proximity to most of South Africa’s trad climbers. The perfect place to find yourself a TRAD mentor and before you know it you will be on track to achieving your trad climbing goals.
Sign up for the tradathon and get 15% off all the gear in the the Essential Trad gear Category
Dinner and Raffle
Workshops
The Tradathon History
The Black Diamond Tradathon was first conceptualized in 2012 by Simon Larsen of RAM Mountaineering with the main goal to get climbers together once a year to enjoy the pleasures, challenges and comradery that traditional climbing offers.
The Tradathon is Africa’s only roaming climbing festival and it has moved around a lot. Here are the places we have hosted our festival:
Table Mountain
2012 + 2016
Magaliesberg
2013
Monteseel
2014
Wolfberg
2015 + 2024
Mhlabathini
2017
Boven
2018
Rooiberg
2019
karbonaaitjies-kraal
2021
