Cathedral Peak area

Cathedral Peak Hotel hired me to train Daniel, one of their new mountain guides and to give the two existing guides a short refresher course.

Daniel was trained so that he can guide hotels guests up to the summit of Cathedral Peak and the other shorter walks near the hotel. I trained him in emergency protocols in KZ-N, river crossing with and without the use of a rope, safe guarding clients on steep terrain with a rope, mountain hazards such as lightning and veld fires.

Daniel will at a later stage be assessed against the National Qualifications Standards (NQF).

Gavin Raubenheimer

For more information on guided hiking and climbing and other courses please visit our website on:  http://www.peakhigh.co.za/ or contact Gavin on: gavin@peakhigh.co.za

Kranskop Panorama

It was like a return to a sacred place! ……….. Kranskop in the Free State near the little town of Memel. Climbers had lost access to this amazing rock venue some 12 years ago. Now climbers are allowed back on the crags as long as the correct permission is obtained. I had only been to Kranskop once before in the late 90′s and just loved the place. Now I was back with a bunch of Mountain Club mates to relive the old memories.

Gavin on Lunatic Fringe

We arrived on the Friday late afternoon and 4 of us dropped our kit at the base camp cottage and headed off for a fast ascent of some classic lines before and a little after dark. I managed to quickly do Brain Drain (15) and Bruce Sobey did Lunatic Fringe (13) – both 5 star routes.

Hannelie leading Longinquos

Saturday we were back up at the crags early with the whole group of some 12 people. I set off with Bruce and Allard Welter for the classic Retina, a 3-pitch route which ends up in a huge hole through the mountain. The other parties set out on different routes and also had a great time.

Bruce Tomalin bouldering

Kranskop is a lone mesa type mountain which rises out of the Free State plains. The crags are formed from Free State sandstone and are about 50m – 70m in height. The climbing is all traditional in style and consists of long evenly graded routes of great quality.

Gavin Raubenheimer

(Photos by Gavin Raubenheimer, Hannelie Morris and Bruce Tomalin)

For more info on guided rock climbing please visit our website on:http://www.peakhigh.co.za/rockclimb.php or contact Gavin on: gavin@peakhigh.co.za

View from the top of the Escarpment.

Peak High Mountaineering gave a Basic Mountain Walking Leader course to 12 students from Rhodes University Mountain Club over the August 8 long weekend. The course was held at Hogsback on part of the stunning Amatola hiking trail. The group spent one night in a nearby backpackers and then were in the mountains for the next 3 days and 2 nights. The first night was spent in tents followed by a night in a log cabin. Hogsback turned out to be an ideal place for this level of course, which is aimed at being able to lead groups at low altitude on well marked trails.  There was also lots of time for some good hiking and swimming in the rivers. On the final night, light snow fell on the Amatola Mountains making for an exciting final day while climbing the main mountain of Hogsback.

Gavin Raubenheimer

For more information on guided hiking and climbing and other courses please visit our website on:  http://www.peakhigh.co.za/ or contact Gavin on: gavin@peakhigh.co.za

The winter seems to be coming to an end as we have had no cold fronts to speak of for over 3 weeks. The ice that was there in the last few weeks, should still be climbable but is unlikely to have improved much. Most areas have quite likely started to melt and collapse. No snow has fallen either.

This coming long weekend 7-9 August is going to be about the last time this season that anything will be climbable.

Gavin Raubenheimer

For more info on guided ice climbing, please visit our website: http://www.peakhigh.co.za/ice.php or contact me on: gavin@peakhigh.co.za

The rock climbing routes vary in grade from 14 – 29, both Sport climbing and Traditional Climbing. The Trad routes are exceptional. I rate Crackaddiction (17 Trad) as one of my all time favourite routes and it is definitely a classic not to be missed – just make sure you have enough big cams and hexes…

Technica, Steminator and Jailbird are some of the great Trad routes, with chains at the top.

For more info on guided rock climbing please visit our website on: http://www.peakhigh.co.za/rockclimb.php or contact Gavin on: gavin@peakhigh.co.za

We set off in perfect weather from Garden Castle road-head and took the easy walk up to Pillar Cave Annex.  That night the wind came up, and it howled all night long and was still blowing at 8am the next morning. We set off up Mashia Pass and luckily the wind ebbed away during the next 3 or so hours. The two younger members found the going a bit tough and turned back after a short while. I then carried on with the parents and we arrived at the top of the pass and later the summit in perfect, windless conditions.

Rhino Peak stands at 3056 meters and is the most popular hike in the southern Drakensberg.  It can be climbed in one day from the road-head or the trip can be split by a night in the cave. From the road-head to the summit and back is about an 8 hour round trip. Most of the walking is on a good path. The only place where it is rough going is in the last kilometer at the top of the Mashai Pass. Here the path is steep and loose in places and some care needs to be taken.

Rhino Peak from the little Berg.

Gavin Raubenheimer

For more information on guided hikes in the Drakensberg, please visit our website on:http://www.peakhigh.co.za/trek.php or email me on: gavin@peakhigh.co.za

Life returns to normal after the World Cup! Here at Peak High most of the working time has been spent running courses or various types. There has also been the usual amount of social rock and ice climbing. Hannelie and I have been working on some hard sport routes in Umgeni Valley area and we also spent a great weekend Trad and Sport climbing at White Umfolozi.

Gavin leading Hallucination (22) at Monteseel

Colin McCoy has recently been made an Assistant Rescue Organiser for the rescue team operating in the Drakensberg.

Colin and I also spent a few days climbing some good ice at Bokong (Lesotho) and at Sani Pass recently.

Sani Pass:Simon Larson on Banana Split

In May, Colin guided the first ever commercial trip of the Drakensberg Grand Traverse. This is a 12 day hike from Monte-Aux-Sources in the North to Bushman’s Nek in the South. He had 3 doctors as clients, who were doing the hike as a fund raising expedition for the rural hospital they work in, in Limpopo Province. Colin was assisted by Adrian Clarke from the Amphitheatre Backpackers Lodge. The trek went off with out a hitch and in almost perfect weather. It was the first time Colin or Adrian had walked the entire route.

Colin and party at Sani Pass with 3 days to go!

Scheduled Trips and Courses for the rest of 2010

• Single Pitch Assessments                  3 August 2010             Monteseel
• Basic Mountain Walking Course         23-26 August 2010       Cathedral Peak
• Basic Mountain Walking Course         8-11 November 2010    Cobham
• Advanced Mountain Walking Course   8-13 November 2010    Cobham

On the 18^th of September Peak High will be operating the belay systems for the Monte-Aux-Sources Challenge Ultra Marathon. This is the safety system used for getting runners up the chain-ladders at Monte-Aux-Sources. If you are running the race, we hope to see you and have good run.

If you want to see more of what has been going on and more information on courses and trips please visit out Blog: http://peakhigh.co.za/blog/

We hope you have a great second half of 2010.

Regards

Gavin, Colin and Hannelie

Peak High Mountaineering
Tel:   +27 (0) 33 343 3168
Fax:  +27 (0) 33 343 3168

Gavin Raubenheimer:

Cell: +27 (0) 82 990 5876

The other good news is that after a long saga, Gavin has at long last received his updated guiding qualification. It took 10 years! This has lead to Peak High being able to offer National Qualification Network (NQF) assessments and training in the very near future. A few things still need to be put in place for this to come about, but all should be done soon. We will send out more info on this as soon as all the admin work is sorted out.

Aires, Pedro and Lars at "Slanghoek Afgronde"

Hannelie Morris took the plunge and went on her first guiding and instructing trip outside of KwaZulu-Natal. It was a great opportunity to take 3 European clients hiking in the Kromrivier mountains in the Western Cape. Perfect weather, great pools to swim in and the amazing Slanghoek “afgronde” made the trip very special. Two of these clients then continued with Hannelie to hike and climb in the Cederberg Mountains. The hike up to Tafelberg was quite tough with climbing equipment, ropes and three days of food, but the clients were most impressed with Spout cave and the sunset from the Spout cave veranda. The climbing was great, but unfortunately the weather came in and they had to come down a day early. The clients then had the opportunity to practise leading Trad on the very popular classic “Fraser’s Variation to Arrow Buttress” on Table Mountain in Cape Town.
In February Gavin and Hannelie guided Steve van Coller up the Angus-Leppan Route on Sentinel. They then traversed south (with the aid of two porters) along the escarpment to Ifidi Cave. Ifidi Cave was then the base-camp for climbing the north and south Ifidi Pinnicles. On the second day Steve’s sister and partner also joined the group at the cave.

On the day when the climbing was due to happen the clouds rolled in (typical summer weather) and caused the entire area to become very wet and soggy. The north pinnacle, which is far harder was not even contemplated. The party fixed a rope and abseil down to the start of the easier south pinnacle. Alas this was even too dangerous in the wet, and party returned home without bagging either of the “Ifidi Pins”.

The course which has proven very popular this year is the Advanced Mountain Walking Leader Course. This is a certified course for advanced hiking and easy mountaineering. Two courses have been held already with another scheduled for November. The course is over 6 days and entails advanced navigation and easy rope-work for scrambling and river-crossing along with a host of other skills.

Hannelie practising map reading skills.

Colin McCoy will be leading a 10 day guided hike of the famous Grand Traverse from the most northerly point of the Drakensberg to the it’s most southerly peak. This is probably the first time this trek has been guided commercially.

Courses for the rest of 2010:

• Ice Climbing Course: Peak High will be conducting our popular Beginner ice course on the 1-3 July and 1-3 August. This will be at Sani Pass and is a must for all people who want to get to grips with this fascinating type of climbing.
• Rock Climbing Leader & Rock Climbing Instructor Course and/or assessments: Venue Monteseel, KwaZulu-Natal from 6-10 September.
• Basic and Advanced Mountain Walking Leader. Course and/ or Assessments from 8-12 November.

AMWL course in the Southern Berg.

Peak High staff news:
Our congratulations to Hannelie, who in March was elected President of the Mountain Club SA, KwaZulu-Natal Section! The Club’s first female President!!

Lastly Hannelie and Gavin and another friend will be attempting to climb the North Peak of the Saddle on the last weekend in April. This is one of the Drakensberg’s more serious rock climbs.
Regards the Peak High Team

Peak High Mountaineering
Tel:   +27 (0) 33 343 3168
Fax:  +27 (0) 33 343 3168

Gavin Raubenheimer:
Cell: +27 (0) 82 990 5876

Conditions here were reasonable over the weekend of 17-18 July. No snow has fallen in the area and so there is ice, but now snow melt into the system. The routes in the # 1 Gully were all nicely formed, while all the other gullies were patchy. The main Lepoqua Falls were formed but we melting fast and huge pieces were coming off the entire time.

Sani Pass:

Remains okay and climbable.

Giant’s Castle:

It seems no one has been there this winter. It would probably be ok and I would think that Makaza, Tight Hands.. and the Main Loteni Coulior are all in fair condition.

Giant’s Castle did get light snow last week, which would have helped to make things fatter.

Southern Drakensberg:

The snow-fall of last week turned out to be very light in the southern Berg and so most gully routes will not be formed at all.

The pictures of Bokong area between 16 and 18 July:

Gavin Raubenheimer

For more info on guided ice climbing, please visit our website: http://www.peakhigh.co.za/ice.php or contact me on: gavin@peakhigh.co.za