In This Issue
Apollo Lift-off – Climbing and exploring on Apollo and Luna Peaks, Cederberg
words by ANT HALL photo by RICHARD BEHNE The Cederberg is full of special places, splashed liberally with deep orange, sky blue, the wild wind (and the occasional leopard), and it evokes a Tolkienesque type of imagination in anyone willing to explore. Recent fires and closures have prompted many of us to stray from the …
Who’s your (grand) Daddy? – The history of rock climbing
words & Photo MATTHEW HOLT Rock climbing started in June 1886, at least according to the English, who claim to have invented most sports they no longer win at. By then most major peaks in the Alps had been conquered, but – so the argument goes – any technical climbing was purely from necessity, with …
South Africa in the Olympic Games
By TONY LOURENS It doesn’t matter what one thinks of climbing being part of the Olympic Games, or the format, which lumped all three disciplines (speed climbing, bouldering and lead climbing) in one pot, or indeed the scoring system, which was confounding at the best of times. The fact is, it happened. And South Africa …
June – August 2021
Read the editorial and check out the contents of the latest issue. With up-to-date news coverage, training articles, gear reviews, celebrity profiles, technical tips covering a wide variety of subjects, event reports, big glossy pics and enthralling articles. [su_heading]SA Mountain Editorial – Issue 77[/su_heading] Trad is Rad Is it just me, or is there a …
Forever Young – A climber’s passion and the first South African ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney
words by CHRIS LOMAX pic by GREG LACEY It all started in 1973 when I reached high school at age 13. The school of my dreams. What better than attending a school that is just a stone’s throw away from the forests and rock of Table Mountain? The South African College School (SACS) had an …
Germinator – climbing with children
words by GOSIA LIPINSKA pic by GARRRETH BIRD I wake up to yelling. It’s my almost one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. It’s time for her 5 am feed, except it’s 2 am. We’re trying to get out of the pattern of early-middle-of-the-night feeds (can you imagine classifying different parts of the middle of the night?!). I go to …
Crack of Idiots – the story behind the route
words by BILL TUCKER pic by ANDY WOOD You know it’s gonna be exciting when going back to repeat a route you opened 17 years ago. With butterflies in our stomachs, Lizanne and I organised an overnight for our 10-year-old, sorted the gear and packs after a romantic dinner for two, and set our alarms …
Pirate of the Caribbean
by MATTHEW HOLT Great mountaineers have great projects: think Nims Purja and all 14 Himalayan giants in seven months; Ueli Steck and the 82 major peaks in the Alps in one summer; Matt Holt and the three highest mountains in the Caribbean. The Caribbean? I hear you ask. Well, although this sprawling sickle of over …
March – May 2021
Read the editorial and check out the contents of the latest issue. With up-to-date news coverage, training articles, gear reviews, celebrity profiles, technical tips covering a wide variety of subjects, event reports, big glossy pics and enthralling articles. [su_heading]SA Mountain Editorial – Issue 76[/su_heading] The Loss of a Friend and Climbing Bro here do you …
Fernwood for the People
An extraordinary adventure in the middle of a city. By Hilton Daviespic by Dan Manners With a cord around the little pine tree protruding over the edge, we leaned out over the 350-metre overhanging wall that is Fernwood Face, and started down on our first abseil. Our next abseil was off a prickly Cliffortia ruscifolia …