Tucked away on the unfrequented slopes of the southern Apostles lies Oudekraal Ravine, a gem of a route few people know about or bother with. The ravine itself is short and present little challenge, but it’s the approach and the setting that make the route worthwhile. To enjoy the route, you shouldn’t be in a rush to get to the top of the mountain, as the approach
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Monthly Archives January 2015
The nature of views and the views of nature when hiking Table Mountain – 22 January 2015
I’ve found that there are mainly 5 motivations to hiking Table Mountain: views, nature, exercise, adventure and achievement – in no particular order of importance. Rarely is it only a single motivation that impels a person to leg it up the mountain, but rather combinations of motivations. An interesting exercise is to rate (out of 10) how important each motivation is to you. For the majority, views rank
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Photo of the week – January week #3: Table Mountain traverses
Several Table Mountain hiking routes involves traverses to circumvent sheer cliffs, link up with adjacent routes or access a different side / part of the mountain. Most of them involve exposure to heights, some more than others, and a few touching on the extreme. If you have a good head for heights and a solid sense of adventure, then structuring your Table Mountain hike to
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Hiking Table Mountain via the Grotto-Fountain-Cairn Traverse – 16 January 2015
Table Mountain hikes vary greatly in terms of views, topography, flora, difficulty and mood or atmosphere. The easiest route involves nothing more than rock steps, the hardest anything but rock steps: scree, bush, scrambling, exposure to heights and any combination of these. Weighing in as arguably the most challenging Table Mountain hiking route, the Grotto-Fountain-Cairn (GFC) Traverse offers all kinds of terrain, much of it
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Scrambling and exposure to heights when hiking Table Mountain – 7 January 2015
The term ‘scrambling’ has nothing to do with eggs. While most people define it as clambering more or less horizontally over boulders with the occasional use of the hands, in South Africa its meaning borders on climbing. While some would define easy scrambling as steep hiking, and others hard scrambling as easy rock-climbing, it’s worth remembering that describing a route or portion thereof as a scramble
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Table Mountain is bigger and wilder than you think – 3 January 2015
Most people view Table Mountain from the city / north side, not realizing that there’s a lot more mountain behind the famous tabletop façade. In fact, the celebrated “Table” constitutes only about 5% of the surface area of the Table Mountain massif. But if you drive around to the east side, where the Botanical Gardens are located, and to the west side past Camps Bay, you
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Photo of the week – January week #2: Hiking Table Mountain off-the-beaten track
If I have to choose a favourite hiking area on Table Mountain, it’s the Southern Apostles. It might not have the height of the famous tabletop summit and its adjacent peaks, but amply compensates in the way of nature, solitude and views. Stretching from the vicinity of Slangolie Buttress to Judas Peak and Llandudno Corner, it offers much for those with a sense of adventure, an
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Photo of the week – January week #1: Table Mountain hikes above Hout Bay
Table Mountain hikes lead up all sides of the mountain, offering different views and landscapes. With a plateau-like summit that measures 2.4 by about 6.4 kilometres, the views are diverse and ever-changing. With the famous and iconic tabletop summit drawing most people, few are aware of the superb views from the southern end of the 12 Apostles (a chain of peaks extending behind Table Mountain and
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