22. Chris starting up pitch 3.


23. Chris on Pitch 3 enjoying giddy exposure approaching the nose.


24. It kept going, on steep rock but with superb holds all the way to  the top.


25. On the 14th we snatched one last climb before flying home.  Chris on Staircase.


26. The tourists pay to be frightened out of their lives on a 100 metre  free abseil going down past us as we climbed.


27. Cloud brimming over Table Mouintain.


28. A final drink on top of Table Mountain before the long flight home.

South Africa is a great place to climb.  Most of the climbing is a very hard steep sand stone that is more like Quartzite. There is also some granite crags that tend to be hard and scary. The climbing is a mixture of trad and sport, but they keep the trad crags clear of bolts and the areas are well defined.

There are some good guide books available once you get out there.  The Mountain Club of South Africa are very helpful.

        Phone:  +27 (0)21 465 3412
        Fax     +27 (0)21 461 8456

        Email   mcsacapetown@iafrica.com
        Web     www.cap.mcsa.org.za

Living is relatively cheap both for accommodation and car hire.






15. Walking up to Arrow Buttress, just above the bottom cable car station.  Andy Nixon, with whom I climbed that day, in the foreground.


16. Myself in action, on Frazer's Variation of Arrowhead Buttress -  Grade 12 - about severe.

17. Andy and I on top of the climb.


18. View of Cape Town from the climbs.


19. On the 13th we cheated and got the cable car to the top and abseiled  into the climbs.


20. I climbed with Mike Scott, who was one of the party that made the first ascent of the huge and very steep East Face of the Central Tower of Paine.  It was a remarkable achievement and at the time one of the hardest and longest rock climbs in the Greater ranges of the  World.  I had of course made the first ascent of the Central Tower with Don Whillans just ten years before. We climbed Africa Crag, which goes up to the ledge on the left hand side of the picture and then goes up and left across the wall in shadow onto the nose in the sun to the top.


21. Mike in action on Africa Crag.
Brilliant climbing in South Africa cntd...

14. Table Mountain with the suburbs of Cape Town in the foreground – what other major city has such a superb peak with so much good climbing, so close? The Cable car is on the left hand end of the peak, where most of the best climbing can be found.  Lions Head Peak is on the right and has some good climbs on the other side.