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.
Hi Ralph,
your doing some awesome stuff and glad to see someone who knows the Cape mountains well, especially Jonkershoek. I’ve checked your site a couple of times regarding route information, thanks a lot.
Hey, I recently hiked from Stellenbosch to Somerset-West following the rim of the mountains. It was scorching in December, but worth it. We slept one night on top, behind Suurberg.
All the best and maybe one day we meet in the mountains.
Cheers
Willem
Walked this route today, indeed some parts like the ledge at the arch was rather intimidating but never beyond my abilities. Not a route if you don’t like hights, but the GPS track (once converted to Garmin route was actually very handy. Thanks!