Cockscomb mountain in the Groot Winterhoek range of the Easten Cape has a rich historic drape that envelops its shoulders, not unlike the frequent cloud and mist that swirls around its summit as exhibited on Wednesday evening when we arrived at Pinnacle Cottage, our appropriately named base camp.
Its rich historical tapestry mainly concerns its first ascent which has several claims but the most verified account being that of Dr William Atherstone in 1849.
The mountain can also lay claim to being the sixth most prominent peak in South Africa (see note below). This undoubtedly adds to the amazing spectacle from which it derives its name but makes it stand out, literally head and shoulders, above anything else in the vicinity and visible from so far away.
Due to its prominence the mountain seems to create its own microclimate and acts like a magnet, drawing the weather towards it off the sea courtesy of either an Easterly or a Southerly wind.
It was for this reason that our original schedule had to be torn up and the meet inserted into the middle of the week at quite short notice, on the one day in a 10-day period, which would apparently provide weather that would make it worth the while.
Wednesday evening – the Cockscomb summit enveloped with clouds
Thursday morning – clear as a bell.
L-R: Ed Kay-Shuttleworth (Meet Leader), Werner Frei (Moral Support), Dennis Lange (Route finding)
Breakfast cave
(Photo: Dennis Lange)
Looking East across the kloof from our breakfast cave
The downside to a clear sky was the temperature on the chosen day was forecast to be 26 degrees at the summit by midafternoon. To combat this our small group had decided to synchronise alarms for 0330 and to be moving by 0415. A short twenty-minute recce was undertaken the evening prior to ensure we didn’t flounder around in the early morning darkness locating the first stage of the trail which is notoriously difficult to locate and follow, even in daylight.
Our day on Cockscomb was 11 ½ hours but did include an hour pause on the way up, 60 minutes at the top and a 30-minute detour on the return. The summit is recorded as being 1752 meters above sea level and our climb was measured as 1253 meters.
The first hour is spent following a fence line. If you can’t find the gate, which we predictably missed in the darkness, you find yourself repeatedly having to cross one fence after another either by going over or under. It’s not very enjoyable, but at the beginning of the day the enthusiasm outweighs the inconvenience. Not so on the way down, with the complete absence of shade and rocks that are clearly related to marbles! Fortunately, we did find the gate on the way back!
There is then a succession of hills that one follows upwards before finally arriving at the main ridge that leads towards the summit. It is at this point that things start to get interesting. The trail contours along the top of the kloof beneath vertical cliffs just below the ridge line. There is a nice cave along the trail that offers respite from the heat and where we spent a good hour eating our breakfast and generally preparing for what lay ahead.
From here it was a short climb to the saddle, and this is where it gets really interesting. The saddle is located at a height of approx. 1300 meters and the final slope towers with the summit 450 meters above, reached by scrambling straight up a near vertical rock face.
The final 450 meters – the left-hand peak is considerably lower than the picture suggests. The picture on the right gives better perspective
If what has gone before, as far as the saddle, is the prelude the main act now awaits. The saddle is often the end point for many aspirant Cockscomb conquerors. There is a nearby cave that belongs to the Eastern cape section where many spend a night before tackling the final 450 meters.
I climbed this mountain 5 ½ years ago and remembered the last section as nothing more than “quite a challenge”.
My thought process as I climbed this final section yesterday went something like:
“How can I possibly have forgotten this”? “Why am I doing it again”? “Why did I organize this meet and subject fellow members and friends to this experience”? “What has happened to my memory over the last 5 years”?
By the time we reached the top 90 minutes later the only answer, that I found reasonably acceptable, was that my brain had erased the previous experience in its entirety. Some sort of memory trauma erasure had taken place.
The final 450 meters – the left-hand peak is considerably lower than the picture suggests. The picture on the right gives better perspective.
The Summit – at last!
(Photo’s: Dennis Lange)
As we all know descending is often far worse than ascending and my lengthy 60-minute rest on the summit was dominated by concern about the coming descent.
As it turned out, the descent was a comparative breeze and by the end of it I was jokingly discussing getting up again at 4am the next day and doing the whole thing again!
So, to answer the puzzle and the question that ran through my mind on yesterday’s ascent I can only assume that an enjoyable and pleasant descent overshadowed the prior ascent to the extent that it was completely erased from memory.
Our continued descent yesterday will not be erased so easily. As we reached the saddle beneath the summit the wind all but disappeared and we scurried into the T’Nunqua cave for ten minutes relief from the heat. The journey down from the ridge was fully exposed to the heat, not to mention the underfoot marbles.
Welcome relief from the heat near the saddle after descent from the summit
We arrived back at Pinnacle Cottage, foot sore, and consumed copious quantities of iced water.
Note: Prominence – quite a difficult concept to explain but here are two different descriptions- The prominence of a peak is the height of the peak’s summit above the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit. If you flood the earth till that mountain becomes the highest point on its own island, how high would the summit be above sea level.
Meet Leader ~ Ed Kay-Shuttleworth