Guides — Travel

Since I could remember, I always had the dream of flying. When I was a little boy I used to tell my mom that I would be pilot one day, and when I turned 18 years old that dream became real as I obtained my Private Pilot’s license. Now 12 years have passed and my views have totally changed about flying, I know that when I was a kid I always wanted to fly, so I became a pilot, and then I discovered skydiving, and that totally changed my view of flying... I realized that this was the way I’ve always dreamt of, see flying a plane is fun, but it’s still a machine, and controlling the wind with your body and movement is just incomparable…

I’m lucky enough to have a few friends that live on the edge most days and spend their time jumping mountains all around South Africa, and also the main reason why I started skydiving. Becoming a wingsuit pilot takes years of experience, and to be honest most wingsuit jumpers make it look easy, I mean what could be so difficult than to just leap of a mountain? Well as I learned more and more about the sport I realized that it was going to take total dedication to get there, see Wingsuit Basejumping is like no other experience in the world, it’s the biggest game you will ever play on your own mind, convincing yourself that you have the skills and ability to do it while standing on the edge of the world and believing it, and it’s also not something just every person can go out and do, like to do a tandem skydive, you can go to you closest skydiving club and go experience that, but with wingsuit basejumping it takes hours of wingsuit skydiving first, and we all know that hours in skydiving can stretch to years depending on what dropzone you jump at.

So as you can clearly see it would take a few years to get there, but when you do, you taste the purest form of being alive as you can only imagine, and when you reached this point where you can actually fly off a mountain with your wingsuit, that’s when the mountain becomes a playground. I’ve seen wingsuit basejumpers mould the earth to do just what they want purely by flowing over it. The closer they fly, the more intense the experience becomes, this activity is called Wingsuit proximity flying, where basejumpers plan a line which will allow them to pass close to fixed objects or the ground at high speeds, and choosing the wrong line or miscalculating margins can result in serious injuries or death.

Jumping as much as you can is key, it’s almost like not exercising for 2 weeks, you become lazy and forget things, so the more you do it, the better that reaction response time will be when you really need it, and trust me when things go wrong, they go wrong super quick. After all, basejumping is the most dangerous activity in the world, unless you swim in lava everyday… ;)

Now for the good stuff! Click on the following link to see a video about a mission we did to the Drakensberg, we set out on an epic adventure to go basejump and speedfly Cleft Peak. In this video you will get a taste of what it’s like to Wingsuit Basejump. 

 Stay tuned to this blog post as I will be talking more about Speedflying and Basejumping in the upcoming weeks. 

“Have you hiked up Seweweekspoort Peak?...”. “No I haven’t! But I bumped into so many people who have either done it or are doing it, it’s not even funny…I am totally keen”. This is my favourite kind of friend; one who, in a heartbeat, will join me on any adventure. Three months later we still hadn’t planned much (or anything at all), but we were amped and ready to go. Our friend Martin had encouraged us to do the traverse (up to Seweweekspoort Peak, traverse along the side to Skull cave on Day 1 and then down via Towerkop on Day 2). What we gathered from the little bit of information that was available online, was that the northern approach is shorter, but more of a scramble. We decided on the southern approach due to convenient accommodation at Koedoeskloof near the base of Towerkop (at the western end of the traverse) and it would mean that we’d ascend and descend on the same side of the mountain.

I am on an eternal quest to find a balance between comfort and hiking/running light. This is what I packed for the 2 days. The heaviest items were food (1.5 kg) and water (3 l). The rest was a sleeping bag and liner, warm kit and sleeping clothes (a luxury which I prefer to carry) (1.5 kg). Weather forecasts indicated 0 degrees Celsius for the evening. The latest addition to my kit was a fiery pair of full length tights from Siren Polewear; perfect for the overgrown first part of the trail. Everything fitted nicely into my UltrAspire Epic pack.

As tends to happen with these group affairs, our numbers dwindled as the date drew nearer. Eventually, our motley little crew set off - Armand, Ghaleed, Jakob, Sabrina and I. One member in particular has built a long standing reputation for, well, you see…we spent the first part of our trip waiting for him, then finding out he would need to be picked up along the way, only to find that he was in fact waiting somewhere else, but at the same time was also busy buying some last minute items at Canal Walk. We eventually left Cape Town after 15:00 in peak Friday traffic. We then proceeded to look for this person at every garage stop after each of us had found our way back to the car. What a laugh.

We arrived at Koedoeskloof Country Lodge at 20:30. Ghaleed and I set up our nifty little solo tents and we all tucked into burgers from the on-site restaurant. It was a warm night and I was incredibly cosy inside my Vango tent. We were staying near our planned finish, so we needed a ride to the start (25 km away). We agreed to meet at 06:30, in order to catch a ride with the owner. Somehow there was a miscommunication and I was very confused when I saw Ghaleed head to the showers a few minutes before I went down to meet the others. He was just as surprised to see me all packed up. Turns out he thought we’d be meeting at 07:30. With some muttering under our breath, we piled into the minivan.

It is about 1700 m of ascent from the start to the peak over a distance of approximately 13 km. Although someone was nice enough to set out white tape marking, the first part of the hike, involved some serious bundu bashing, leg scraping and blood drawing. Long pants/tights are recommended. 

My SUUNTO Ambit Peak came in really handy because I had stored the POIs beforehand and I could easily get an indication of how far we were from various checkpoints. We used a combination of a really handy route description, two SUUNTOs, and a cellphone with a mapping app. Team work!

Soon after we passed the rain gauge, Jakob realised that this hike was not going to be the type which culminated in dumplings and wine at the top; which is apparently what they do in his home town (Prague). Armand volunteered to go back down with him and we continued up to the cave. Ghaleed hung back and ate his lunch, while Sabrina and I pushed on. 

It was incredibly cold at the cave. We pulled on everything we had while we waited. Armand had pretty much run back up and it wasn’t long before he was at the cave.  As we were about to leave for the summit, Ghaleed said that he would not be continuing with us, but that he would spend the night in the cave. Oh dear. I recalled people often saying that you should never split up on the mountain. Alas, for the second time that day, we left a member behind and pushed on, checking contours and coordinates every so often (all too often).

The rest of the route was incredible. The views were fantastic and we chatted away as we hopped, skipped and boulder climbed to the top.

After reaching the peak there were no more cairns and the weather looked ominous; the makings of a true adventure. 

It was 17:00 and we had only covered 500 m in the hour after leaving the peak, because we first went along the ridgeline, reaching an impenetrable “bowl” and then dropped back down. We knew that we had to follow a generally westward direction, but my SUUNTO said we had 8 km to go and it all looked like boulder hopping on a slope. It was frustrating, because I knew that other people had done this before. I love technical trail, but decided I wasn’t having fun, we were low on water, and it seemed unlikely that we would reach Skull Cave before sunset. I told the rest that I was opting out. Someone mentioned burgers, beer, wine and sleeping in a warm bed, so we agreed to venture down the northern side of the mountain.

I peered over the side of a ravine and declared that there was no way we were going down that way. Armand had other ideas. Look at this face!

Possibly due to his lack of water (he had earlier jumped straight into a muddy mess), he exclaimed that it would be the “pudding to our main meal”. He may have been trying to recall a different saying. It could only be a mad man (or a thirsty man) who would think this ravine was a good idea. Nonetheless, Sabrina and I bounded down the slope.

Fortunately, for all of us, it turned out to be the best decision of the day! It was absolutely beautiful and it made our aborted mission all worth it.

We stepped out of the gorge, giddy with laughter and satisfied with our successful kloofing mission.

We picked up signal for only an instant and Armand contacted Jakob. He would come and fetch us. We dropped a pin (iPhone perks) and started moving again. 

Just as the sun was setting we approached a cluster of old houses straight out of a scene from “The Hills have Eyes”. A herd of cows spread out in a straight line started walking towards us, moo-ing loudly. We walked fast. They walked faster. We started trotting and soon they were running towards us. We raced around a bend and ran up to the main road. Flipping heck, what was this place?! Convinced that we were at risk of never picking up signal again, we ran up the road nearer to where we previously had signal, and it worked. It was dark by then, but Jakob was on his way racing through Seweweekspoort and soon we were on our way back to Koedoeskloof. What a day.

We picked Ghaleed up the next morning and he looked mostly unscathed by his night in the wild. He even had photos of the fire he had made.

A week later, Martin and some of our other friends managed to do the traverse in 5 days. Knowing what a challenge it is, I am now even more keen to go back.

The following POIs for the Southern approach to the peak are suggested:

Possibly leave cars at the farmer’s house: -33.480324, 21.383443 (call Mr. Gerrit Nel on 028-5611628 to get permission to do the hike)
Start of the trial: -33.466652, 21.374454
Hut1: -33.436390, 21.368547
Raingauge: -33.422211, 21.369461
Cave1: -33.403519, 21.369314 (*There is water here in the back of the cave)
Seweweekpoort Peak: -33.398270, 21.367773

The most useful site that we found for route information: https://sites.google.com/site/towerkopinfo/nearby-hiking-routes/seweweekspoort-peak-to-towerkop-traverse

Eight hours in the mountains, licking rocks, drinking from streams and swimming in dams – that was one helluva LSD…

Earthing or grounding is a practice which claims to provide health benefits as a result of being in direct physical contact with the ground. When you head out onto Table Mountain for an 8 hour LSD, you are sure to get grounded.

It was also the first time that I’d be meeting Donnie, and a long run was the perfect way to get to know someone.

Tammy, Donnie and I started from a dark Newlands Forest at 5am. A few short-cuts across the trails and we hit the boarded area of the Contour Path.

The plan was to climb Newlands Ravine, rejoin the Contour Path below Devil’s Peak (via the Saddle) and then run over to India Venster. After India Venster, we would then run to Maclear’s Beacon, follow Smuts Track to the Hely-Hutchinson Reservoir, descend via Skeleton Gorge and then back via the Contour Path to the car park at Newlands Forest. In a nutshell, klap every landmark on Table Mountain – I’m gonna need to pack my power bank 

I’m sure when I logged the route via the @SafetyMountain group there were a few head shakes lol

 The sun was rising when we hit Newlands Ravine with pinks, yellows and blues streaking across the sky.

We had exchanged the initial pleasantries by the time we reached the top. On the way down from the Saddle is when Donnie started breaking out his stories of events and races past – aka the good stuff

Although the trail running community in Cape Town is relatively large, the numbers of experienced runners who’ve done the longer distance events are low. The stories from Donnie were welcomed as you don’t often run with people who can share details from races as well as valuable training tips.

The scrambling sections on the India Venster route are not the simplest. So when you see a barefooted hiker making their way to Kloof Corner Ridge via the same route (that you just managed to psyche yourself up for) then your definition for hardcore quickly gets re-evaluated!

He introduced himself as Phakamisa and regularly hikes barefooted. Ascribing to the Earthing school of thought, he believes in the idea of regular separation from our reliance on digital devices and heads to the mountain as a retreat. I’m sure our paths will cross again

After tagging Maclear’s Beacon, we followed Smuts Track to the dams. I’m not sure if we could blame prolonged exposure to the sun, but while breaking on Smuts Track, the question came up of “What the rocks would taste like”…

Now at this point the weird alarm should’ve been going off in my head, but maybe the long run was playing some tricks on my better judgement. Before I knew it, I was joining the others in some rock tasting – face-palm moment lol

And… It tasted like dirt. No surprises there lol

With my own Earthing initiation now complete (I was so sure that I was being Punk’d), we took an extended break at the Hely-Hutchinson Reservoir including a swim and some snacks.

A tricky descent down Skeleton Gorge (I slipped and cut my left thumb), then a quick run back to Newlands Forest along the Contour Path and we were back at the car park.

Trail running, wise men, mountain obsession and only a cut on my left thumb as the cost. I was now Earthed 

If you’ve spent some time getting completely engrossed in the mountains, please share your experiences in the comments section below.

The sun was up and my cats and I were safely tucked away in bed. I had overslept. In an attempt to not be so hard on myself anymore, I shrugged it off.  I had packed the night before and was super chuffed to see 9 kg of gear (minus the cats) squeeze into my Adidas backpack. I had been shopping around for a suitable pack, but hadn't yet found "the one".

I was pretty nervous as I pushed my bike outside and waited for my Garmin 310XT watch to pick up satellites. I would be on my own, cycling 70 km from Malmesbury to Secret Falls (www.secret-falls-tulbagh.com/), north of Tulbagh, for the weekend and fingers crossed I wouldn’t forget anything major or have any issues with my bike. I still didn't feel comfortable dealing with punctures, broken chains and the like.

The first kilometer was a happy descent, but as soon as I hit level ground and started pedalling, panic set it – sitting on a seat with 9 kg on my back was not a good idea and no amount of anti-chafe would relieve me from the effects of a point load applied to the seat. I would just have to suck it up.

It was tough going up Bothmaskloof Pass out of Malmesbury to Riebeek Kasteel, but I was enjoying the familiarity of the Swartland farmland that I had become accustomed to during the past few months of living out here in the sticks.

At the top of the pass a group of riders who I recognised from the Malmesbury Cycling Club passed me and we had a quick chat. It immediately lifted my spirits. They went down a steep gravel section but I was still familiarising myself with riding with a pack, so I opted for the road down the pass into the beautiful valley.

Earlier in the week a colleague had convinced me that after Riebeek Kasteel it was pretty much flat riding to Tulbagh, but it seems it was only an illusion created by sitting in the driver's seat of a car. The feeling of freedom while cycling through the countryside was indescribable. Carrying everything I needed in my backpack, I just wanted to keep going. And then I hit Nuwekloof Pass just before Tulbagh. 

I distracted myself by studying the pass and looking over to the old road beneath the railway line. It helped and pretty soon I was flying down the other side.

Fifty something kilometers from home I arrived in Tulbagh with cramping legs. I swallowed 5 Cramp-Eaze capsules. All I wanted to do was sit down. So I stopped for breakfast at the very first place I saw – The Patriot Restaurant at De Oude Herberg in Church Street. They make delicious omelettes and the best freshly squeezed GREEN (as opposed to browny gold) apple juice. It seemed to do the trick and the cramps abated.

At this point I thought I only had a few more kilometers to go and then a little hill up to Secret Falls. It turned out I would go on to do another 20 km and gain a further 600 m of elevation, to give a total of 1100 m of ascent for the day (Nothing phenomenal, but way more than the little bits of riding I had done in the past). Thank goodness I didn't realise it at the time.

From the entrance gate at Secret Falls it’s a 4 km cycle to the campsite. The first section passes through fruit orchards with giant, tempting, tasty looking pears. If you are in a car, you need to leave your vehicle at approximately halfway and jump into a friend’s 4x4 or carry your camping gear for 2 km, which includes a brutal climb near the end. 

This picture really doesn't do the climb justice and it almost looks like a downhill! The whole experience was pretty traumatic; I had no idea how far to go before reaching the campsite and it was never where I thought it was. There were always more gates to go through. The feeling was akin to running the end of a trail race with poor route markers when you are already exhausted and you want to strangle the race organiser, cry and lie down on the ground all at the same time. 70 km later I pulled into the campsite on the slopes of the Winterhoek West Mountains.

It was all worth it. Secret Falls was the most beautiful camp site that I had ever seen, with picturesque views for miles over the valley and a pool from which to take it all in. With only 9 campsites, they are currently fully booked until May 2016 (keep an eye on their website for cancellations).

The owners take no nonsense and state upfront that they only want campers who don’t moan and groan about things. They also ask that you take your rubbish home with you. The vibe was really chilled and quiet with awesome people. I was invited to have dinner and breakfast the following morning. I declined because I needed to lighten my own load, but I had great conversations with other adventurous outdoorsy people. Travelling solo has always been a positive experience.

There are four trails on the property. After arriving at the campsite I did the short 30 min out and back Waterfall trail. The waterfall was only trickling this time of year, but the trail is nice and foresty. You can link up with the much longer Baboon trail that loops down to the cottages and back up to the campsites. I had accidently hauled my bike up part of the steepest section of the Baboon trail when I took a wrong turn from the dam on my way up. It was too much for me for one day, but without a bike I imagine it's a lovely hike. 

Setting up camp was so much fun and my Vango solo tent was a lot bigger than I expected and really easy to set up. 

It was a cool night, but I was nice and toasty inside my First Ascent Down Sleeping bag wearing my Vivolicious tech tights (www.vivolicious.co.za). I usually don’t take expiry dates too seriously because most things tend to last a lot longer than stated on the packaging. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for my pink salmon in a sachet that expired in June 2014. It was an epic fail, but I polished off some mushroom risotto which I cooked on my CampingGaz cooker and drifted off to sleep while reading a book about the history of Tulbagh.

The next morning, after watching the sunrise over a cup of coffee I set off along the Leopard trail to the waterfall. From the Leopard trail you can continue along a longer trail to the top of the mountain. I would be coming back later in April to do the route with some friends, so I just wanted a little taster. It looked good and I’m looking forward to getting to the top of the mountain.

I broke camp and was again amazed at how everything could fit into one little backpack. It didn’t seem like I needed much else. Having an entire house filled with so many things suddenly felt very unnecessary.

The Red-E 4500 MAH Powerbank that I had received for Christmas came in really handy. I charged my Samsung S6 once fully and while packing up, I realised that there was a USB port from which I could charge my watch while cycling.

I took it easy on the ride back home and reflected on the adventure…the fear that I had in the beginning and the freedom of venturing out on my own and riding off into the unknown. It was all just brilliant. I often struggle to explain it to most people, but when I speak to other solo adventurers their eyes light up in mutual understanding. To celebrate…and because I simply could not sit on that saddle for one more minute...I stopped for pancakes (salmon, cream cheese and pesto) in Riebeek Kasteel.

My seat had become a fiery furnace and it got incredibly tough towards the end. Tough in the way that I had become accustomed to during endurance events. When your body doesn’t really want to play along, but your mind is so determined that it will absolutely not consider giving up. It’s in that space where I thrive - when the going isn’t necessarily fast, but I feel incredibly alive and acutely aware of the fight within me. It’s moments like this when I am most grateful for the life that I have.

After 2 hours of riding into a headwind and 6 km from home I pulled off and sat down on the side of the road slowly eating my M&Ms. I had been saving them for a possible moment of despair and the mouthfuls of nutty-chocolateyness made me feel much better. I headed up the long climb, reluctantly accepting the reality that my weekend adventure had come to an end.

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