The gateway to active adventure ...
The Western Cape Province, lying at the south-western extremity of the African continent, is a veritable mountaineers paradise ! The great fold mountain ranges, some running along a north south axis, and others along a east west axis, meet in a twisted geological knot some 75km from the city of Cape Town. Pressures on the earth's crust have crumpled these, mainly sedimentary, rock layers into jagged peaks up to 2400m above sea level. Hard, quartzitic, sandstone forms most of the boulders, crags and walls which abound in this region. An underlying granite batholith reveals itself here and there, offering a different style of climbing, while in the east limestone is exposed to the surface, creating walls dripping with tufas.The mountain slopes are rugged presenting the serious hill walker with a great challenge. Everywhere one finds the fynbos, the vegetation type so rich in diversity that the Western Cape floral kingdom is one of the great floral kingdoms of the world.
Complementing the mountains, is the ocean, with a cold current flowing northwards along the west coast, and a warmer current flowing westwards along the south coast. Glorious beaches, wild surf breaks, and good winds offer alternatives to climbing. In the Cape winter, mountain streams become challenging white water. Then, of-course, there is the wine ...
Jacob's Ladder, Table Mountain Spring flower display - Namaqualand
Majestic Table Mountain is the cradle of mountaineering in South Africa and its steep walls are well covered with classic arm pumping routes. For the less adventurous there are also many wonderful moderate grade routes weaving there way up improbable looking faces.
