Andy, Robert, Anton and Justine missed the pic but joined for the day.
Climbing community do-gooders arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed (and well caffeinated) at the Table Mountain Aerial Cable Way early on Saturday morning to beat the crowds to the top, and collect litter on the ledges around the upper cable car station including its walkways and lookout points. These areas are out of reach for the regular crew who work for the Cable Way, but are part of a casual approach for members of the Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA) and trad climbing community.
Megan Beaumont and Michelle Lopes of the Cape Town section of the MCSA arranged with the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway for the 2026 version of the clean up. An event which has happened many times in the past and has always left the mountain looking fresher and cleaner. Twenty-five volunteers huddled in the cool breeze for a photo before spreading out over the area to wow tourists with their antics, jumping over the railings and bannisters, abseiling down to hard to access ledges and generally looking impressive as they filled bags with trash, hats, and an assortment of goodies that get blown around the mountain.
Over sixty kilograms of trash were collected, a number which doesn’t quite give a sense of how many chip packets and empty soda bottles were picked up. As you can see in the pictures, many trash bags were filled and deposited in a small skip which was taken down via the cable car at the end of the day.
The day was supported by the MCSA who provided a variety of exciting prizes (nut keys, carabiners and blocks of chalk), Ram Mountaineering who provided Nikwax for cleaning and waterproofing outdoor clothing, CityROCK who sponsored day pass vouchers for the climbing gym and Mountain Mail Order gear store vouchers. Lunch was provided by the Cableway and the cleaning portion of the day wrapped up around noon.
An afternoon of climbing had been planned but due to the incoming weather many people (wisely) elected to zoot down in the cable car before it closed due to the wind. Myself and Ollie decided to stay and climb, a plan which was further delayed when we met Josh and Aiden at the Tea cave and had a bit of a faf and a chinwag.
Ollie did a fine lead of Oddshouters first pitch out the cave, I headed up the fine crack of Last Three Inches, stancing just below the offwidth (which Ollie was leading when it started raining). He pulled through and we jumped onto Atlantic Crag (it was as wet as any ocean could hope to be) for a dash to the top. The rain came and went as we sorted gear and hiked down Platteklip, passing some Search and Rescue team members shepherding the stragglers who, like us, had missed the last cable car.
All in all, a fine day out and much better adventure than sitting at home on the couch in front of the TV! See you at the next one!
