chossclimbers

Go back to Lekker Time.
Go back to South Africa.

Next day, up extra early – well, Ross was up extra early to pack things up while we were still sleeping off another hangover – for a drive back to Cape Town and our first taste of Table Mountain. We parked in some suburban sprawl and headed up a vegetated slope with menacing “no trespassing” signs; if they can’t keep invasive species from overrunning their private land, they don’t deserve to own it. The goal was a 12 pitch ridge climb called Slangolie Frontal on one of the Apostles Buttresses (Slangolie Buttress) which are part of Table Mountain. I have to say that we were pretty worked on what would turn out to be our final day of climbing. We dragged ourselves up the initial pitches and found some sections (esp. the vegetated ones) considerably harder and sketchier than the route rating would suggest.

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Nevertheless the views and the ambiance were quite nice – dominated by the turquoise Atlantic and Lion’s Head formation with a piece of suburban Cape Town around its base. Then the sun came around and started baking us. Our pace slowed and we really wanted to be off the climb. We met Ross up top and, after a bit of a shady break and lunch, started our hike back down. The mountain-top Apostles Trail hike was probably the highlight of the day and once again we made frequent stops to admire the overwhelming quantity of flora (did I mention Ross’s impressive botanical knowledge?) – every hill top, every dip would offer up something different and apparently unique to that very specific small area. Back to the same guest house that we stayed in earlier and once again shocking the proprietor with our appearance and smell.

Photos

Go to Cape Town.
Go back to South Africa.