Introduction to the Cape Mountains

“There is probably no more spectacular place in the world than Cape Town and Table Mountain” Sir Edmund Hillary

The Cape mountains are in two main categories:

  • Table Mountain and the Peninsula down to Cape Point

  • The 30 to 40 ranges of the Cape country mountains

Mountain Meanders has (or will have when it is complete!) about 100 routes in each category with grades varying from easy walks to adventurous scrambles. For more information about Mountain Meanders and other resources see:

Table Mountain is unique in that it is a mountain in a city, or perhaps more accurately, the city surrounds a mountainous national park. All the routes on Table Mountain are within 15-30 minutes drive from the city centre, and many within 5-10 minutes. This is a remarkable blessing for the inhabitants who use the mountain daily as their recreational playground, but has its pitfalls for the unwary as its very accessibility belies the fact that this is a mountain with all a mountain’s inherent dangers.

Routes are by no means as obvious as they seem from a distance or on a map, and the weather can change in an instant with cold, wet, windy, misty conditions occurring at any time of the year. In a few hours a warm summer day can become lethal for the unwary. So this is a mountain that needs to be treated with respect and not as it may seem as a ‘tame city park’.

Cell phone access: There are many places on Table Mountain and Silvermine where there is no cell phone reception, so don't rely on this and think it is safe to walk alone. If there is an emergency and you do need to make a call, walk to the nearest 'edge' as there is reception at any point around the mountain where you can see the city below. In most places the nearest 'edge' is only 20-30 minutes walk away.

There are about 50 walking and scrambling routes up Table Mountain listed in Mountain Meanders but only about 20 of these are walks or easy scrambles – the remainder are moderate to difficult scrambles requiring a good head for heights and agility on rock (there are also over 600 rock climbs). If you are not familiar with rock scrambling, then please read the safety notes and grading system carefully and do an easy route first before trying anything more difficult. There are over 100 accidents a year on Table Mountain simply because it is so accessible and looks easy. Don’t be one of them!

“The most difficult way up a mountain, is to climb via a crag or sheer face and this is rock climbing. Walking is the most straight forward way up a mountain. The grey area in between the two is one of the purest and most exciting of all outdoor pursuits which you can enjoy. Scrambling is a very basic and probably the most dangerous form of mountaineering...

” www.snowdonia-adventures.co.uk

The remainder of the Peninsula including Silvermine, Hout Bay, Simonstown and Cape Point has another 50 or so routes, most of which are easy walking routes. While not as spectacular as the routes on Table Mountain there are many gems, much loved and well used by the locals. They are well worth exploring.

An extraordinary feature of Table Mountain is that although it is a mountain in a city, there are many parts where the city disappears and one feels as if one is in a wilderness, with no sign of human settlement. And although thousands use the mountain daily, on many routes you will meet few others - at any time of the year. The less common scrambling routes you will almost certainly have entirely to yourself – they are used by very few.

The Cape Country mountains are a totally different story! They run in a complex series of 40 different ranges in a broad swath from 200km north of Cape Town, 150km to the east and 100 km to the south east. While Table Mountain is only 1080m high, the country mountains range from 1500 to 2000m. While most Table Mountain routes can be walked comfortably in a day (and many in a half day), the country routes are nearly all much longer and most peaks are 9-12 hour walks, with many only accessible via overnight hiking. The additional 500 to 1000m in altitude makes the weather correspondingly more severe and snow can fall at any time of the year, including mid-summer. One can start the day in 30 deg heat and end it in sleet! Good all weather gear should be carried at all times.

So these are mountains that need to be approached with even more respect and most routes should not be attempted by the inexperienced and never by the ill equipped. Many areas are indeed wildernesses, even if only an hours drive from the city. With no cell phone reception in many places and a 4 to 5 hour walk out to get help, even a minor mishap such as a sprained ankle or missed route can lead to a night out in sub-zero temperatures. All parties on country routes should be equipped to survive a night out.

Cape Weather. What is the weather like for climbing? The long, warm, dry summers are superb for climbing, although some of the inland areas can get very hot (over 40 deg C at times.) But most of the summer there are cooling winds, so it is seldom too hot for too long. Some routes are impacted by the wind, but most days one can find sheltered routes. However, cold fronts that bring snow can occur at any time of the year (even mid summer) so it is necessary to be prepared for bad weather even in summer - especially in the country mountains. What about winter? The Cape has a reputation for having wet, miserable winters, a reputation promoted by the locals to keep the visitors away! Typically the winter weather consists of cold fronts sweeping through every 5 to 10 days bringing wet weather for a few days, but those who can be a bit flexible will find that between the fronts one is rewarded with beautiful cool, crisp, sunny days that make for perfect climbing weather.

Are there any “golden rules” to using the Cape Mountains? All the normal guidelines and precautions of any mountains obviously apply but there are some additional factors to consider:

The indigenous vegetation of the Cape Floral Kingdom, know as Fynbos, is a botantical wonder which adds a great deal of interest and enjoyment to walking the Cape Mountains. However, it has its hazards. Besides being bad for the environment, walking off path can be difficult, slow and exhausting. In a recent incident a tourist was stuck in thick bush in the Helderberg and it took the rescue services 7 hours to get to him – hacking their way through dense vegetation. In almost all cases the Table Mountain routes described in Mountain Meanders follow a path or faint track so if you are thrashing through the Fynbos, you are probably off route! Particular care should be taken in ravines and gullies as they can be especially dense and virtually impenetrable.

In common with many other climbing areas, the routes on Table Mountain (and many but not all Country routes) are marked with cairns. These can vary from large and obvious piles of rock to discrete small cairns of a couple of pebbles. These are useful route markers especially where the path is faint or non-existent. One needs to be aware, however, that cairns are also used to mark rock routes, so following a line of cairns may mean you are on a route, but not necessarily the right one! Some routes are close together and can even cross each other, so cairn-navigation needs to be undertaken with care.

One of the pitfalls to be careful of is the “blind end”. These arise on routes where there is a non-obvious change of direction which is missed by many. They walk on and then, realizing their error, turn back as a result of which the error path is walked twice as much as the correct path. If the path you are on runs out and you see no cairns, backtrack and look carefully for a turn off - don't blunder on through the Fynbos. Sometimes, but by no means always, these non-obvious changes of directions are marked by two cairns quite close together with the cairns lining up to indicate the new direction.

Mountaineers are rugged individualists and the “correct” placement of cairns is a subject of much debate. It is not unknown for a carefully placed line of cairns to be removed by another party – one man’s aid being another man’s eyesore! At times where the route seems obvious a line of cairns may seem superfluous, but when the mist is thick and visibility is down to a few metres, you will understand why they are so close together, so desist from removing them just because it is a clear sunny day.

A golden rule of the Cape Mountains (and most probably elsewhere) is never to come down an unmarked or unknown way, especially a ravine. They can start off looking easy but can end up in thick bush and impassable rock steps that cannot be seen from the top. Many rescues result from the unwary who push on down through thick bush, slither down a few rock bands, then reach an impossible barrier – and can’t get back up. Even if there is a path, it may well lead to the top of a rock climb or hard scramble, so the existence of a path is no guarantee that there is a way down. Even experienced locals will avoid coming down the more difficult scrambles. An enjoyable ascent can be difficult and dangerous to come down.

An innovation in Mountain Meanders is the provision of GPS tracks, both on the maps and as downloadable files which the user can put in their own GPS. GPSs are becoming increasingly popular and common in the mountains and they are useful, but it is important to note that many if not most scrambling routes cannot be followed with a GPS. Required reading for any mountain GPS user is the article GPSs in the mountains – the good, the bad and the ugly. See also the Safety Notes and related comments on GPS use. GPS's are an aid to navigation in the mountains and are no substitute for being able to read a map and follow a route description.

While Mountain Meanders provides detailed descriptions which should enable any competent climber to find their way, the websites listed on the safety pages have more detailed advice of what to do and not do in the Cape Mountains. If you are new to the Cape they are worth reading to help you safely enjoy the wonderful Cape mountains so that, like Sir Edmund Hilary, you too can say “There is probably no more spectacular place in the world than Cape Town and Table Mountain”.