This hike was squeezed in at fairly short notice mainly for Gillian’s benefit, before she returned to work in the UK. From ten days before the hike it was apparent that the weather was not going to play along, with promises of up to 70mm of much needed rain. The weather reports in the following days fluctuated considerably and eventually I decided that Sunday the 29th was too risky, but Saturday the 28th looked acceptable.
The undeterred hikers were Greg & Janet Moore, Mike & Hillary Appelgryn, Tony & Evie Bowen, Gillian Forbes and Ed & James Kay Shuttleworth.
The weather was pleasant for hiking with a high overcast and a stiff south-east breeze that had a bit of a bite.
The route follows the Attakwaskloof trail to a neck and then strikes straight up the ridge.
We stopped for refreshments in a perfect wind shadow with the next peak looming above.
And pushed on, down to all fours in places.
But then things deteriorated. By this point we had climbed nearly 800m and had about 160m of climb still to go, but we were just about to reach a point where we could easily descend down to the Attakwaskloof pass below, so better sense dictated that we take it.
As we looked back, we could see the clouds, preceding the rain later.
A very enjoyable hike of 12km and 800m climb.
Greg Moore – meet leader