A story of ups and downs,
finding the path and
sending in style.
Climbing. Moving. Flowing over stone. Huge rocks towering like pinnacles into the sky, wait a second, that is a huge pinnacle towering into the sky! Are we gonna climb that thing? Chris’s words echo in the wind, mumbles of the sketchy ab off the tower and we decide to scramble up the side, skipping the first few pitches and the huge pinnacle with its compulsory abseil near the base of the route. It was Christmas morning after all and we were here for a good time, not a long time. We had plans: lunch at Brad’s, swimming pool, the works.
It was an epic time, I got to do a lot of the leading with Kieron and Jodie cruising on top ropes. We did most of the route, finishing after the most epic of pitches, described in the guide as one of the best for the grade in the peninsula. We bailed out left (facing downhill) and onsighted the descent, going down the Steenberg scramble (note, very scrambly). We made it to lunch a little late but life went on. Except every time I looked at that line I knew I wanted to go back and really send it in a good style. Jodie felt the same, and we chatted about it every now and then at braai’s and family get-togethers.
Winter pulled through and Jodie got married, spring arrived and one day out of the blue I got a voice note, “this is it bru, let’s go next week sometime”. Oh mercy, luckily I had Thursday and Friday off because I was working the weekend. “Okay, I’m down for Thursday.”
I arrived at Jodie’s place in Lakeside on Wednesday night with all my kit, slept in the spare room and woke up ready for action on Thursday morning. A banana and peanut butter smoothie for brekkie and we were out the door. A whopping five minute drive across the suburb saw us shouldering our packs under Boyes Drive with some traffic and bergies to dodge on the way to the base of the route.
The fire left the hillside a bit more open so we had a much better time getting to the base and this time we didn’t mess around. The official guide says to traverse in from the cave about 20m up and we skipped this, starting right at the bottom and adding an extra pitch. It was worth it because I got to booty a nice Metolius cam a couple of meters off the deck! Yippee. With the good vibes flowing I continued up, occasionally running out of rope a few meters before the “belay” because I had planned for an extra alpine style approach.
The traditional alpine style brings to mind moving fast and carrying light, we did that with only my extremely trimmed Beal Cobra 8.6mm as our lifeline. It’s probably about 40m long, perfect for short pitches but not that nice if you’re linking them together. “Okay Jodie, let’s just simul a few meters till I can build a stance” I shout into the abyss. Luckily she’s a gangsta and I’m able to move a little further up the hill to the ledge and can find some shade to belay.
We cruise. The top of the pinnacle brings epic views and a pause for some snacks and water. We scout the rap point (some old tatty cord, some stronger and newer slings, and rope with a biner we can’t open). Threading the rope, we begin the descent. Jodie is up first and it’s been a while since she’s abseiled of some janky tat and she hums and aaahhhs getting over the edge, I give some verbal encouragement and she commits, reaching the notch between the pillar and the ridge in a few seconds. I zip down shortly after and we’re back on the flow.
A few moments later I’m looking down on the tower and thinking how epic this route is. Easy climbing, moving fast, covering ground and enjoying the amazing day and weather. It looks so prominent from this perspective – hard to believe it gets lost when you look at the route from below.
The climbing is super chilled, mainly well featured rock with good protection. Because I felt confident we didn’t really look at the guide, I just picked lines that looked good and gunned it. This led us into some harder climbing, maybe 16 or 17 but I think that really added to the day, keeping the straight line up the center of the ridge and bringing some interesting climbing into the mix. The rock is the kind that keeps on giving. Great friction and cool moves keep the psych high and all too soon we were at the top.
This time we didn’t mess around, we switched into tekkies and gunned it for the summit. The scramble to the top is fun and moving feels really free after being roped up all morning. We hit the top and took some time to chill before the midday descent down the path between Lakeside Pinnacle and Muizenberg. To be honest, the hardest and hottest part of the day was the walk back to the car. Pounding pavement at 2pm on a scorcher is no one’s idea of fun.
The feeling of climbing with someone you trust, of having a goal and smashing it, of moving well over technical terrain is something that can hardly be expressed. It’s like a cool sip of water on a hot summer’s day, a refreshing breath of air. It’s what keeps the psych high, these pinnacle moments of life where we’re expressing our potential, our ability to move, to take risks and get away with it. They keep us sane on days we’re stuck behind the keyboard, fingers aching to touch rock again.
