Best biggish walls the Cape has to offer?

[gwrightjhb]

A few weekend warriors from Gauteng are planning a trip to the Western Cape in April and while we're there we'd like to get a taste of the big wall climbing on offer. Table mountains obviously on the list, Yellowwood and Wolfberg too. Klein Winterhoek was discussed but a member of our group recently spent some time there and said that the walk in was one of the worst thing he's done in his life.

Any suggestions on where we can go outside of the above? Best climbing, water availability, sub 3 hour walk ins?

Some context - we've got 8 climbing days, an off road vehicle, a local and intermediate skill levels.

[Nic Le Maitre]

Duiwelskloof behind Boschendal certainly fits the bill. Massive wall, short, easy walk. Hutchinson Buttress is there too. Hilton and crew have been posting about it lately.

There's also the north face of Du Toit's peak (North by North West, Renaissance) and the south face of the Witteberg (Exposure in F).

Big stuff in Jonkershoek too, on 1st Ridge/Cathedral Peak (Reverence, Scimitar Ridge, Pisa), the Pieke/Twins (West Wall is good).

Tafelberg walk in can be less than 3h if you walk a decent pace (water may/may not be an issue).

Krakadouw might be a bit far.

[ant]

Did you say Big Wall, nice walk-in and best climbing all in the same sentence?

[Nic Le Maitre]

Depends on your definition of big I guess.

[gwrightjhb]

Did you say Big Wall, nice walk-in and best climbing all in the same sentence?

Im an optimist more than a realist...

[gwrightjhb]

Duiwelskloof behind Boschendal certainly fits the bill. Massive wall, short, easy walk. Hutchinson Buttress is there too. Hilton and crew have been posting about it lately.

There's also the north face of Du Toit's peak (North by North West, Renaissance) and the south face of the Witteberg (Exposure in F).

Big stuff in Jonkershoek too, on 1st Ridge/Cathedral Peak (Reverence, Scimitar Ridge, Pisa), the Pieke/Twins (West Wall is good).

Tafelberg walk in can be less than 3h if you walk a decent pace (water may/may not be an issue).

Krakadouw might be a bit far.

Cheers, thanks for the detailed response.

[Thermophage]

There's a really really big unnaturally smooth for Cederberg wall on the walk up to the Sandfontein arch on Citrusdal side of the mountains. Holy hell it's beautiful. Don't recall the name, but have heard it has been climbed.
I would gauge the walk in to be about hour from memory, maybe 1.5 with a full pack.
However not sure regarding access/etc.

[mokganjetsi]

Kogman's buttress at Montagu looks more alpine than "wall"and is pretty tame compared to the walls mentioned, but has some excellent routes of 5 pitches or longer (trad routes up to 8 pitches i think). easy access for the scale of things.

[gwrightjhb]

Spoiled for choice down there. Thanks for all the help.

[SNORT]

Nothing beats Yellowwood amphitheatre for presence, consistency, adventure and difficulty..... Go check it out on the WIKI. And it works for day trips.

There is a link up one can do at Yellowwood that features 580m of roped climbing. One can do Time Flies 280m, then walk 10 minutes right to Terrific Time 240m and then finish up on the top two pitches of Timerity another 60m. Total 580m. 18 Pitches If you include the easy pitches on the approach that are grade 15 or so then it comes to over 700m of climbing and 20 pitches.

Could be quite a feat to onsight it as the climbing includes at least 2 grade 23 pitches and a couple of 22's and then very little really easy climbing.

[SNORT]

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