Situation At Pinnacle Gorge

[Derek Marshall]

Good news!

The farmers, Mr & Mrs Rudman, have converted an old sleeping quarters into accomodation. Very nice! At the entrance to Pinnacle Gorge about 100m from the tanks. R100 per person per night for the first 3 people. R50 per person per night there after. That is quite reasonable. includes fridge, bedding, hot shower & fire wood.

Camping at the usule spot is still on. But it is going to cost a bit more than before. Prepare yourself for R20 to R30 per person per night. This is what you would expect to pay any where in SA. No haggling over price...please.


These developments do mean that access has become way more secure.

The Buffalo Bastards will be the first to occupy the cottage..thats this week end. Join us for a cold beer.

[Eric de Beer]

Wish I could. Have a drink on me! Miss the EC outdoors! Even a shower, well I`ll be!

[DBez]

Move over bru , EC is not too far from PTA .

[morne]

Sounds like a nice place to stay.Is the honeymoonsuite available for this weekend?Do u get little chocolates put on the bottom of your bed at night?
Must i bring my own gown or will they supply me with one.
If the room service takes longer then 20 min does the food become free(i dont like waiting).Does the bar fridge cater for the kids e.g. Green cooldrink and smartie clowns? I need a guide for the weekend to the gorge so i'm glad Derick will be there.Will our guide pack the picknick basket for me and the kids or should i bring one along.
Derick do u do the spa treatments aswell and if so could u send me a pricelist(a facial would be nice).

[Marshall]

The climbers were the first to use the accomodation. It is really nice to have a hot shower in the evenings. But nothing beats camping out in the Gorge. Which is what we did this week end. It was totaly awesome. Lots of water in the stream. Opened 9 more routes.

The farmer is now charging R25 per day to camp & climb. Please be prepared for this. Remember: this is just North of Uitenhage & is thus not one of those places in the world where bartering is acceptable. Just pay the money...its not that much. Please don't ask the farmer's wife too many questions about this...just pay.

[Jakkie]

Hi there, does any one have contact details for the owners of the farm????
I'm planning a trip, with the essential luxuries for my honeymoon at the end of the month. We are traveling from CT to Harrysmith, Drakensberg, Hodgeback Knysna and then back to CT. So if any of you guys have some cool, user friendly sport crags with nice places to stay please make yourselves heard.
Thanks

[Marshall]

Pinnacle is totally awesome, but not really a sport venue. There are about 16 sport lines...scattered aver a fairly wide area. about 300 trad lines with potential for another 300. Think Lost World(Montagu), but much bigger & jip it's way better. Has a +-50m needle. Well off the beaten track.

Will check if the farmer wants his number posted.

[DBez]

Don't think there should be a problem for phoning the farmer . The farm and climbing spot was sort of softly introduced in an article way back in the SA Mountain Magazine (probably 2 issues ago) with permission from the farmer's spouse . Well , that was before the recent increase also...

[Chris F]

Can someone tell me where Pinnacle Gorge actually is? I have been out of touch with developments in SA.

[DBez]

Pinnacle Gorge is in the Eastern Cape , closest to Steytlerville in the Karoo . Great venue with enough sport and trad routes .

[DBez]

Please note that from 1st January 2007 the camping fees at Pinnacle Gorge have been increased to R50 per person per day . The farmer will be putting up a longdrop also for the campers on the west side of the stream , close to the camp site of course .

[Marshall]

50 bucks is steep. There are about 20 other gorges in the same range. It is time to explore.

[Marshall]

If the prices on the first post still stand, it could be cheaper to stay in the cottage.

[The Jimmy]

Im with Derek we can go explore the other gorges. The owners keep putting up the price for the most rediculous reasons whenever they get the feeling. Like now with the longdrop : you still have to carry in your own backpack up the gorge with everything in it that you gonna use, then grovel around in the dirt to find a place to sleep, but it least now you can sh** like a king in the shiny new longdrop that the owner wants to build right next to the stream, by the sound of it. Makes a lot of sense

[Mr Mono]

What about a pooper scooper or those tubes they used in big walling.

Cool thing is that with a long drop you can dos in there if you have a rainy weekend.No more 3 people in two man tent stuff(sorry guy's).

[DBez]

Maybe we can merge with S&R and ask them to drop us off overnight in the gorge . For pickups we can walk over onto the ridge towards the west and wait for another helicopter . This way both of us can gain by this wonderful experience ...another way I also imagine is maybe coming in undercover from the main road and doing zigzags all over and underneath the trees so that no one can see us .
Well , let the new year begin and we'll have to go and do a bit of TRC at the farmer's house . With good planning and negotiations we can arrange something for us as climbers , even if its with some sort of card system or being referred by another one . Darn ! We probably giving them 99% of the income they're earning on the gorge .