Creaking Heights 6c / V4

Creaking Heights is a boulder problem at the Roadside sector near Pakhuis Pass in Rocklands, South Africa. It climbs a left-facing flake and seam up the middle of a tall boulder, starting at head height and running through progressively thinner holds before reaching a jug just below a short slab finish. The crux sits high, around two-thirds to three-quarters of the way up, though the landing beneath it is relatively flat, and the line is considered one of the sector's must-do classics, the kind of line that shows up on most visiting climbers' tick lists despite Rocklands being better known for its harder, more powerful testpieces.

History

Nic Sellers is credited with the first ascent. Beyond that, little published history exists for the problem; it is treated in guidebooks and databases mainly as a standout line at Roadside rather than a climb with a documented controversy or grade dispute. Sources differ slightly on its exact grade, with some databases listing it as Font 6B (V4) and others as 6C, though all agree it sits in the V4 to V5 range and is graded well below the area's hardest testpieces.

On film

Climbing The World's BEST Boulders | ft. Jorg Verhoeven & Katha Saurwein (2017) is a short film from Louder Than Eleven following Jorg Verhoeven, Katha Saurwein and Jon Glassberg through Rocklands. Creaking Heights appears among a run of problems the group climbs during the edit, used to show the technical, balance-driven side of Rocklands bouldering in contrast to the area's harder, more powerful lines.