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I was one of the lucky few that had been given the chance to participate
on the The British Mountaineering Council/Kwa Zulu Natal-Mountain
Club of South Africa Meet. Our team of eight was a broad mix of
British nationals, Irish, Welsh, Scots and English - four men, four
women, somewhere between the age range of twenty one and fifty odd.
Over the next eight days, together with our South African hosts,
we would explore numerous climbing venues within the Kwa Zulu Natal
(Kingdom of the Zulus) region. The area contains many crags within
fairly close proximity to the east-coast city of Durban and the
formidable (and terrifying!) mountains of the Drakensberg.
The Meet was a resounding success, both from a climbing point of
view, witnessing a new culture, and meeting and exchanging ideas
with our many hosts, all of whom went out of there way to ensure
that we had a great time. It wouldn't be an understatement to say
that they truly spoilt us and made visiting this part of South Africa
a truly memorable experience…in more ways than one!
3rd May
Eight Brits getting to know each other hang around in Durban airport
looking conspicuous with oversized packs piled high on airport trolleys.
Then walks in Gavin Raubenheimer, the President of the KZN-MCSA
along with another club member, Dylan. They greet us and we're whisked
off in two large four-wheel drives to our abode for the night. This
turns out to be a beautiful open-plan house, set in a jungle garden
with pool and patio. The owners, Alli and Mervyn Gans, make us very
welcome and lay on a fantastic barbecue. In the warm, muggy night
air, the crickets sing, meat sizzles and beer flows as we relax
into our new surroundings and meet some of our hosts for the coming
days before finally hitting the sack at 2.30am.
4th May
No time for recuperating - we're up at 6.30am! Already the temperature
is soaring as we head up to a beautiful area called White Umfolozi
River, three hours north of Durban. Between dozing off, I peer out
the car window, trying to catch a glimpse of the Zulu way of life.
We pass numerous townships scattered with tiny, turquoise blue box
houses and little thatched huts - homes to whole families. Endless
fields of sugar cane roll by. A car is a rare commodity for the
Zulu and so the main roads are lined with men, women and children
walking and hitching - going about their simple lives. Their bright,
smart dress sense belies the poverty they endure. A group of monkeys
swing around playfully on the wires of a telegraph pole.
I doze off again and wake as we trundle down the dirt road towards
Umfolozi. Our rustic hut sits in an idyllic spot overlooking the
orange crags, formed by the river carving out a gorge through three
billion year old Pongola Quartzites. It's a stunning spot and as
we unpack our kit, Gavin is already allocating us a host for the
day. In the height of the mid day sun we are soon discovering the
delights (and frights) of climbing at Umfolozi. The rock is somewhat
reminiscent of the Pass of Ballater in Scotland, extremely compact
in parts and with sweaty palms, the friction of this smooth water
worn rock feels a little intimidating. A swim cools me down and
just as I'm beginning to settle into the style of climbing, darkness
falls suddenly. We feel our way back along the riverside in pitch
darkness, arriving back at camp to the smell of burning wood and
crack open some beers.
5th May
Woke up next to the campfire embers, covered in heavy dew. As I
struggle to open my eyes, Kate is already packed and raring to go…it's
only 7.30am! I'm teamed up with host, Steve Cooke, a colourful character,
who after his whisky drinking session of last night was pleased
that I was having a slow start too.
After yesterday's cragging exploits, we began to realise that
the grading system in Umfolozi was a little sporadic. Grade 16 should
equate to about British VS but HVS, E1, or even E2 some would argue,
seemed to be the order of the day! Steve had a twinkle in the eye
and after a pumpy little warm-up (grade 16 of course), suggested
we do a new line. With so few activists in South Africa new lines
were still ripe for the picking on many of the cliffs we visited.
Steve chose a line and launched up through a line of aloe vera bushes
and tufts of grass, tossing them unceremoniously over his shoulder
as he went. Amongst the shrubbery a reasonable line of cracks appeared
and I joined him, grinning, at a large tree. As I set off up my
pitch an eagle flew by overhead and a blood-curdling scream echoed
through the gorge. This turned out to be the voice of Kate as she
flew 30 feet through the air when a hold came away on Day Tripper
(17). Luckily, she had missed the deck by a few feet! Back on the
second pitch, I decided to follow a delightful fig tree root and
then a short, clean finger crack to the top.
Later I teamed up with the younger Dave of the team who had spied
the long rising traverse above the beach called Aqua-Trad. Gavin
Peckham, our host and local new route activist was keen to hear
what grade we thought the line was (it got 16 of course). The rock
felt like marble - no friction at all and much to the amusement
of the onlookers, Dave plunged into the river, not once but twice!
With soaking wet shoes and sweaty hands he went on to climb (or
slip) his way along the traverse with a show of true determination!
(It was a grade 18 we reckoned). Later a few of us finished up a
couple of the gorge's short sport climbs, which now glowed orange
in the evening light.
6th May
I awoke a day older and teamed up with Martin who had spied a diagonal
crack line waiting to be climbed. After a short bushwhack through
the thorns and succulents, we reached the base of what looked liked
a reasonable first pitch. I wove up through a line of aloes to a
ledge from where Martin gained the second pitch, a rising diagonal
crack on good rock. We felt it was a worthwhile route and named
it Sweet 16, in memory of all those 16's we'd done over the last
few days!
Back in the main gorge everyone seemed to be having fun and some
good climbs were being ticked off. Dave Rogers added another new
line and Kate made the second ascent of his route from yesterday
- thinking it more like E2 than HVS. We packed up early - sad to
leave our rustic home of the last few days and the many great hosts
we had met here. But back in Durban we enjoyed a terrific Thai meal,
and as birthday girl, I was presented with a wonderful cake saying,
"Happy Birthday from the MCSA - BMC Meet 2002" - very touching.
Unfortunately I couldn't take it home so we all tucked in!
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