SA Hiking holiday Nov-Dec 2006

Having driven down on Friday morning for a two and a half week holiday, I was eager to start on the planned ascent of Ribbok kop, the highest point in Golden Gate. I’ve seen this peak from the east now twice and twice decided not to try and climb it from that side as there were uncrossable rock bands. So the other option was to ascend from the western end. The ridge from the west is guarded by Snow hill from which another ridge extends almost all the way to the road. This was my main aim for the first hiking day.

Day 1 (25 November): I spent the night at Glen Reenen and started hiking early on Saturday. I drove over to the Stables just before the gate and left my car there. I followed the road higher up the hill but I wanted to be on the ridge on the opposite side, so I walked over a field and picked up the road that runs towards a private property. As soon as I saw the house I walked off the road, crossed the little stream and started walking up the hill towards Swartkop. It was a cool morning with some mist on the high peaks and I enjoyed the hike. Finally getting to the top of the first rise, I saw Swartkop in the distance. I had to climb a game fence to get onto the ridge leading up to Swartkop. A cool breeze was blowing but it was still warm enough to keep my jacket inside my bag. There was a little scramble to get to the top of Swartkop but from there I had a fantastic view of the ridge leading towards Snow hill. After a quick photo I was off again, first down climbing to the saddle south of Swartkop and then carrying on. Skipping out on the hills along the way, I contoured as far as was possible until I was on the final ridge leading up to Snow hill. Approaching, I noticed that the last little bit of the ridge was a steep, exposed rock section and I sincerely hoped that the fencing I’ve been walking next to, ran all the way to the top, providing some hand holds. Although there were a few tricky bits, the scramble wasn’t that bad and soon I stood on top of Snow hill. To the west I saw the spectacular summit of Angle’s wing, looking more like a rock climb than a scramble. After the photo and co-ordinate was taken I moved towards the east to get down Snow hill and up Ribbok kop. However, I soon discovered that the rock bands on Snow hill wouldn’t allow me to get down on the ridge. Scrambling down a short section I had to traverse back west across the entire face of Snow hill, doing some really scary step-overs on flaky basalt until I got back to the ridge I climbed up on. I then descended onto the broad grass slope running the entire face of both Snow hill and Ribbok kop and traversed back east again. Having wasted some time and seeing even more rock bands on the western face of Ribbok kop I pretty much gave up climbing it. However, picking up a semi-decent rhebok trail I soon stood on the slopes of Ribbok kop, below a steep grass gully that seemed to run all the way up. I decided to give it a go but was stopped about 100m higher up by a small but overhanging boulder, chocked in the gully. I then gave up completely but noticed that a grass ramp on the eastern side of the gully might in future hold the key to gaining access to the top of Ribbok kop. Back on the rhebok trail I dropped fast into the valley and finally got onto the actual Ribbok hiking trail. Three km downstream I got to the overnight hut where I rested a bit before tackling the final 3km back to the car. I got back to the car at around 15:30 and had a leisurely afternoon around the camp.

Day 2 (26 November): When I woke up, everything was covered in heavy mist and a strong wind was still blowing. I figured the mist would eventually clear up and had a quick breakfast before walking up towards Wodehouse peak. I had no intention of going towards the Sentinel and walking the long, gradual way around, but rather hoped to pick up the steep descent trail by walking around the Mushroom rocks. This I did, but once around the rocks the path started going downhill and I decided to go my own way. However, the going got a bit steep, up some thickly vegetated slopes until just below the next rock band where I picked up the path again. From here on the walking was pretty easy although the rain and dew through the night made walking very wet. Very soon I was on the grass ridge leading through the first rock band and soon after I stood on top of the saddle where the small meteorological station is. Form here I was able to see Wodehouse peak and made a beeline ascent of it, standing on top in about 1,5 hours out of Glen Reenen camp. I took some photos and then made my way back the same way, but instead of walking around the Mushroom rocks, I walked straight down to the road and then back to Glen Reenen. Back at camp, I packed up and left for Monk’s Cowl.

At Monk's Cowl I set up camp and proceeded to wait for the rest of our rescue team as we were due for a week's training in the area. They only arrived very late at night after the majority of the team went out on a call in the Magaliesberg earlier in the day. On the Monday morning we drove through to Dragon Peaks where we met the Airforce personnel and started planning the week's training. Throughout the week we did numerous sessions consisting of hoisting, personnel trooping and dropline practice in the Hospitaalspruit, Twins cave and Ntonjelana pass areas. At the end of the week, on Friday afternoon after training, a bunch of us got dropped off by helicopter high in Rockeries pass to do a short 3-day hike back to Cathedral Peak area.

Day 1 (1 December): Having done dropline helicopter training in the morning, ten of us, including two air force pilots, were dropped of by an Oryx high in Rockeries pass (2300m) with the intention of hiking through to Orange peel gap to get picked up again. Initially we were hoping to do Nguza pass but a low cloud base and poor visibility prevented Rob from giving the pilots accurate directions. But Rockeries pass was close enough and as soon as we were dropped we had some snacks and started hiking up the pass. It was around 16:00. I enjoyed my walking and made good progress up the pass. Although there was plenty cloud around, the mist cleared slightly as we neared the top and made for some really good photography. We summitted at 17:30 and carried on around the spur towards the south to find a place to sleep. Just after 6pm we found a semi decent spot, pitched tents and started dinner. I shared my tent with Steve Johnson and we decided to share food and stove as well. Just after dinner the cloud got a bit heavier and a few spots of rain chased us into the tents for the night.

Day 2 (2 December): We got up reasonably early and although there was still some cloud around, it promised to be a pretty good day weather-wise. A little breeze helped to dry the tents and with some clever staging and good acting by Gert and Dean while they were taking their tent down, got an awesome picture of Gert and Dean doing some tent flying! We left before 8am and walked around a dome towards the top of Nguza pass. Here we had a break for some photographs and then started the long trek up the valley towards Ntonjelana pass. Dean decided to walk on the escarpment edge and we agreed to meet him at the top of Ntonjelana pass. Everyone kept to their own pace up the valley but at the top we regrouped and walked together to climb through the usual rock band and then met up with Dean and had lunch at the pass. After lunch the weather got slightly ominous and we packed up quickly to head for Twins cave. I got ahead on the way to Twins cave, quickly found the descent route and was at the cave long before the others. All of us were in the cave by 15:00 and we lazed around for the rest of the afternoon. With sunset, mist started coming up the valley and eventually entered the cave so that we couldn’t see from the one side to the other. As it got dark we had a magic display of fireflies all around us in the grass and inside the cave and we all sat outside and watched. Later-on, Dean created an artificial fire by lighting some benzene in the bottom of a cut-open tin, floating in a pot of water to keep the benzene cool. Soon however, our eyes were drooping and we headed for bed.

Day 3 (3 December): I rose at 04:45 to go and see the sunrise. Andy, Putch, Catherine and I walked around to the saddle of the Twins with the Mitre and from there saw the most spectacular sunrise over Cathkin. With cameras clicking away it was well after dawn before we returned to the cave for breakfast. We left at around 07:30 and despite some strong winds, walked fast around the Bell traverse. We had a few awkward manoeuvres to do but all went well. When we noticed some high level lenticular clouds, Putch said we should call in the helicopter sooner rather than later. After calling back to base he had to negotiate with the colonel and we almost did not get a lift home but then take-off was scheduled for 13:00 and we breathed a sigh of relief. We still had to traverse across the face of Bell and Cathedral but that went quickly and then came the arduous climb up Bugger gully. Rob and I got to the other side first, picked a good landing zone for the helicopter and then walked back up Bugger gully to help the others. Graham and Catherine were both suffering a bit from sunstroke – Rob took Cath’s pack and I Graham’s. When we were all safely below Bugger gully I fashioned some shade for Cath and Graham and then we all had a spot to eat. The Oryx showed up just after 13:00 but they had some trouble getting the helicopter down in the strong winds. But eventually we were all inside and it was a bumpy ride back to Dragon peaks. Back at the base I had a quick swim, a long shower and then said goodbye to all before leaving for Cape Town.

In Cape Town I stayed with my parents for the week, birding around Rietvlei and Helderberg nature Reserve and ascending all the summits of Helderberg and also Pic-sans-Nom and Guardian Peak in the Jonkershoek mountains on my own. Dad and I then went for the big one - a frontal ascent of the Jonkershoek Twins. We had an early start driving through Stellenbosch to get into Jonkershoek. There were no indications of where to go so we fumbled up the forestry tracks until we found a suitable place to park the car. We then climbed steadily through patches of pine plantation until we reached a firebreak on some fynbos slopes that led towards the bottom of the Twins. In the kloof at the bottom, the going was hard, with lots of scrambling and thick vegetation. We exited onto a braod grass ramp sloping to the right up the south face but soon realized we made a mistake - we were too low down still and had to backtrack. Much higher up we found the ramp we were supposed to on and walked up it to the bottom of a very steep and scary looking gully. We scrambled and climbed solo up this with me constantly amazed by my Dad's persistence. We reached top of the gully eventually and then had to make a horrendous traverse over 70 degree grass slopes to the saddle at the summit of the kloof. This bit scared the hell out of me as we didn't have any protection whatsoever and a fall would've been fatal. We managed to reach the saddle without incident but it was now already 3pm and we had a long way back. We decided not to climb the actual Twins summits as the ascent was all about this spectacular route we took. We made our way to the north and then west but ran into nasty rock bands that took a long time to negotiate. Walking through head-high fynbos we eventually came upon a path going down a steep gully north of the Twins and we started the descent. The path was good but Dad's knee was starting to hurt. Still, he walked down stubbornly and we reached the car just after 7pm - a 13-hour day in the mountains and one of the most memorable ever!