Devil's Peak Blockhouse Ridge

Route Description: 

The climb may be approached from Rhodes memorial and then ascending Mowbray Ridge above the King's Blockhouse to reach the 580m contour. Most people will probably do the climb starting from the parking under the Bluegum trees on the eastern end of Table Mountain road. Then the ridge can be accessed from the Devil's Peak 580m traverse via the Zig-Zag path to the Saddle.

A popular variation is to take the lower 460m contour off the Saddle Zig Zags and then ascend the bottom part of Oppelskop Ridge to the 580m contour which is then taken to get across to the bottom of Blockhouse Ridge.

The pictorial route description in our slideshow shows the climb starting from the 580m contour well around the left corner of the ridge off a short Zig Zag on the path, OR start at a cairn/beacon near the corner of the ridge. (A popular guidebook describes starting well before this a short way left of a high smooth cliff above the path but this currently has more bush and the ascent up the first cliff is not obvious) 

Unfortunately after the fire the prickly Gorse bush is sprouting prolifically and the first easy gully is a bit dirty. Once on the ridge proper, the scrambling is more enjoyable. The very top section of the ridge heading towards the Minor Peak can be followed all the way to intersect with the top of the Mowbray Ridge route and the Minor summit. A shorter way is to traverse the grassy ledge on the right of the 'Window" rocks directly across to the Nek.

Note on the descent: From the Minor summit the Friends of Table Mountain team have re-opened a path through the burnt Protea bushes down to the top contour. Or do a round trip via descending Mowbray ridge and then using one of the contour paths to return to your start.

NB slides 17/18/19 show a chockstone at the head of the second gully which was awkward to surmount BUT this chockstone and the supporting pillar have fallen away. The spot where it used to be is currently (Dec 2024) a bit dirty and the move up requires a long step left onto a good footledge but with an exposed move round the corner, so take care.