This meet was in the planning even before Covid-19 descended upon us like a giant octopus. After we gained
our freedom again, it was on the meet sheet for the second weekend of October, only to be cancelled due to bad
weather. But while the popular Cederberg hike was taking place, six members gathered at Kruisrivier Guest farm
to explore more of the Swartberg’s Kangoberg area.

Leading the excursion was the bergbok, aka Derek Odendaal, accompanied by Jacomi Odendaal, Clive Louw,
Elna van der Walt, Hugh Sussens and Dennis Lange (from Cape Town). A first exploration hike was done in this
area in October 2019, but the dramatic Kangoberg high valley lured the bergbok back for more exploration. The
group set off from Kruisrivier and hiked into the mountains, up the slopes to a height of about 1000m and
traversed west to the lower entrance of the Kangoberg valley. Tents were pitched for the next two nights.

The next morning the group started out with only day packs, up a ridge towards the high slopes of the beautiful
and rough Kangoberg valley. The vegetation made the going a bit slow and different exploration routes were
considered. Higher up it became clearer where one could go up further, and where probably not. We decided to
follow a rough ridge towards the west, which might lead us to the interesting pinnacle high up on the watershed
between two prominent peaks with high cliffs.

Clive became already fascinated with this pinnacle during our first visit to the area, and he was now very keen to
reach it. We aptly named it Clive’s Pinnacle. We also saw quite an impressive cave gaping at us from higher up
the slope.

We were suddenly stopped when our ridge became a knife edge with risky cliffs. We had to go back some way, but we saw a clear alternative route to the pinnacle. Only Clive and Hugh had the energy to ascend about 300 m more to reach it. The rest of us started going down again. We were satisfied with what we have seen so far. The two high explorers eventually reached the pinnacle.

The next day we traversed to the east along the slopes to explore a bit more of the next valley and side kloofs. Possible future exploration routes were noted and when going down again, we saw many waterfalls in two very steep ravines to the east of the main stream. In the end it was a worthwhile exploration and the dramatic Swartberg scenery did not disappoint.

Derek Odendaal – meet leader