The weekend of 9 – 11 March saw Greg leading a climbing meet at Pinnacle Gorge and me doing the hiking option up Cockscomb.
Ed and Charles opted to leave Knysna at some ungodly hour on Saturday for a 7 am start. They would have been on time but for one misdirection into the farmer’s homestead road.
The 5 hikers on the day were Greg and Janet Moore, Ed Shuttleworth, Charles Smith and Cheryl Devine (leader).
The trek starts from the cottage, where there are several tracks leading up to a break in the rock band, near the crest of the hill. The path then follows the farmer’s fence for some way. The path is rocky but easy to follow, with the very impressive Pinnacle Gorge on your left. At some stage you cross over the fence and the walk from then on is forever upward. After about two hours of steady plodding you traverse around to the left, to a rising traverse line up to the base of the summit peak.
It was never Janet’s intention to do the scramble to the summit, so she waited in the shade, for our safe return.
To reach the summit you follow a fairly well-marked trail that weaves in and out of rock bands. At times the scramble is over very exposed areas and you must have a good head for heights. There is not much respite for the weary on the way up and like all summits, is very illusive. As I puffed and panted my way up, I said to Greg, who was bouncing along, “I think we are nearly there” and he looks at his GPS and says “nope, another 200 m to go”. I hate modern technology!!!
The return journey was uneventful and a refreshing swim near the cottage ended a great trek.
The tech savvy have supplied the info below:
Start: 513 m @ 07h35
Janet stopped @ 1161 m @ 10h00
Base of climb @ 1328 m @ 11h00
Summit 1747 m @ 12h30
Descent done in 3 hr 32 min
Distance covered: 5.7 km
Average moving speed: 2.2 km/h
The social aspect of all meets must not be forgotten, so thanks to all who joined in and made it a fantastic weekend.
Cheryl Devine – meet leader