What was meant to be a three-day hike to Springstygbeugel and exploration of the area, turned into a curtailed two-day trip for me in a surreal turn of events. Paul had invited some MCSA Stellenbosch members, completed and lodged the CapeNature safety forms for us to...
Cascades is a perennial summer outing on the Mountain Club’s calendar. Either members scramble up the gorge, skirting the waterfalls, or they abseil down the gorge through the waterfalls – often doing both in a single weekend. I have abseiled it before,...
Longtime hiking buddies, Kevin and Yolanda, invited me to join them on this ascent of Miaspoort to Huguenot Peak. We had not been out on an adventure together for some time, so the reunion was welcome. The climb from the old Du Toitskloof Pass road is quite strenuous....
When Paul suggested a lockdown escape to Cascades in Du Toitskloof, with a little abseiling involved, I thought it a decent idea. I knew that the MCSA often scrambled up it and abseiled down the next day. My conclusion was that if you can scramble up it, it...
Mountain man, Paul Verhoeven, has been the de facto custodian of my adventure bucket list, although he is unlikely to know this. It was he who pointed out the gaps in my admittedly-very-short list of abseil adventures, and insisted that the popular kloofing trips on...
Kevin had suggested a hike that has long been on our list: the Wemmershoek Traverse from Mont Rochelle above Franschhoek across the Wemmershoek mountains to the MCSA’s Agtertafelberg hut. When the designated weekend arrived heavy rain was forecast so departure was...
Thank you for visiting my outdoor blog. RalphPina.com documents my experiences over many years of appreciating, and adventuring in, Nature. It celebrates visual beauty, advocates minimal impact, reflects on humans’ relationship with our ecosphere, spans the planet but focuses on the wild diversity of southern Africa. Photos, videos and GPS maps of hiking, cycling, kayaking, abseiling, canoeing and windsurfing..
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