Herzlia student scales walls to top climber position

Ten-year-old Herzlia student Luke Heinrich became the top South African climber in the Under-11 category in the recent Western Cape climbing competition. He won two bronze medals at the two-day competition on 3 and 4 August, with two international climbers winning the gold and silver medals.

“I was happy to get bronze because there were two completely insane climbers who I had to compete against,” he says.

The winning climber, an American, was exceptional, says Luke’s climbing enthusiast dad, Glen. “He probably competed about four age categories higher, and he destroyed everybody. I’m pretty certain the kid will go to the Olympics. He is from an American family living here.”

The Canadian climber who came second was in Cape Town with his parents on holiday. “He’s a competitive climber in Canada, and he just entered the competition because his family was here,” says Glen, who climbs with Luke every week.

Luke competed in top rope and lead climbing events at CityROCK climbing gym in Paarden Eiland, Cape Town, on the first day.

“Top rope is when you climb a route with a harness and rope which is attached to the top of the route, and someone belays you,” Luke says. “Lead climbing is when you climb up the route, attaching your rope as you go along to a kind of clip called quickdraws.”

These two climbs of different routes were each about 50m high. “The higher up they reach, the more points they get,” Glen says. “You have a rope to support you in case you fall.”

The second day was at Bloc 11 climbing gym in Paarden Eiland for the bouldering competition, in which “they do six different shorter climbs with difficult problems to work out and no ropes”, according to Glen. “Those climbs probably go to about 4m off the ground. If you fall, you fall onto soft mats.”

Luke got the highest score in each event to seal two third-place finishes.

He became aware of the Western Cape climbing competition through his climbing schools. “I decided to compete for the first time at the end of last year. I’ve now done three provincial competitions in both top rope and bouldering. I’ve been lucky enough to reach the podium in almost every one,” he says.

Climbing has been part of Luke’s life since he was four. “Back then, my dad would occasionally take me to climb on the mountain when I was five, and he would sometimes take me to CityROCK. One day, when I was eight and a half, I woke up and wanted to climb. I had so much fun that I asked my mom if I could start climbing lessons, and she arranged it for me.”

“The sport has many parts to it,” Luke says about his love for climbing. “In general, I enjoy problem solving and before you climb a route you need to ‘read’ the route and work out what to do. The sport needs strength, skill, and patience. In bouldering, when you project by working on a route that’s hard for you, it can be social. The sport also takes you to magnificent places.”

Climbing takes you into big nature, says Glen. “You can go climb in areas like Silvermine, Paarl, and Cederberg. You can go overseas to places like Thailand, Italy, and Spain, all with beautiful climbing all around.”

Glen, whose mother used to climb, started climbing around the age of 19, and it was his major sport at university. He trained at the University of Cape Town’s sports centre. “There was no such thing as a CityROCK climbing gym or anything like that back then,” he reminisces. “I climbed a lot around Cape Town and on the rocks in Montagu. I even went on trips overseas to climb in Thailand and a couple of other places.”

Whether climbing on real rocks is good practice for climbing walls is a “chicken-and-egg” situation, Glen says. “Some people train indoors in the climbing gym so they can climb on real rocks outdoors, whereas for others, it’s all about the competition and indoor climbing. The outdoor and indoor climbs reinforce each other.”

Luke attends two coached lessons a week, at CityROCK for longer routes and Block 11 for bouldering. He also participates in water polo, swimming, and cross-country athletics, and plays the piano.

Glen describes climbing with Luke as “great quality time together”. He says climbing is one of the fastest-growing sports. “Climbing gyms are now national. The sport has become a lot more popular and a lot more mainstream. A number of schools, such as Bishops in Cape Town, offer it as a sport.”

Glen says it was phenomenal to watch Olympic climbers competing in Paris last month. “As somebody who does climb, it’s not hard to appreciate how difficult climbing is.” He may have the privilege of watching his son at the Games in the future.

“I would love to attend the Olympics if I’m good enough one day,” Luke says. “I really enjoyed watching Olympic climbers.”