Climbing Jonkershoek’s Twin Peaks (“Die Pieke“) is one of the outdoor experiences in the Jonkershoek mountains. On this occasion I went with the mountain club (MCSA) on the “uitstappie“. An uitstappie is one of those wonderfully euphemistic, Afrikaans terms that could mean anything from a stroll in the park to a mission. A Twin Peaks uitstappie tends to lean towards the “mission” end of the continuum even though our route up Langrivierkloof and down Nerinakloof is the easiest of the routes. There are steep scrambles and some bits around Vensterkloof that could test your head for heights. The round trip will take you the best part of a day and will thoroughly challenge your fitness levels as you go through 1200m over a 15 km hike from and back to the reserve gate.


3D map of Twin Peaks climb. If you can’t see the map, download the kmz file and view on Google Earth, or see the Google Map below.

Stellenbosch MCSA outings often feature a number of ladies of … mature ages, shall we say. One of my climbing companions was 76 years of age – remarkable and inspirational. The photos below were taken on this particular hike. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy. Click on the photos to view them in a larger size.

Look south from the peaks

View south
Are we really going down there?