No mountain is too high for adventurers
Visibility was down to less than five metres and the wind threatened to throw everyone off course.
MBOMBELA – Adventure seekers of Taylor Environmental Slackpacking and Backpacking Trails reached new heights in recently when they achieved a year-long desire of summitting Mpumalanga’s highest peak, Mount Anderson, at an altitude of 2 284,1 metres.
After an aborted attempt in good conditions earlier in the year, this second effort by Riana Adams, Amy Taylor, Gavin Wingrave, Elaine Taylor and Llew Taylor started out in relatively unpleasant conditions with two serious storms at Stables Hut on the Fanie Botha Trail the night before and blustery and misty weather at the start of the climb.
Visibility was down to less than five metres and the wind threatened to throw everyone off course. An off-trail hill-slope path was negotiated, a rocky saddle was traversed, an old stock path followed, a firebreak crossed and the ascent of two kilometres was made in a little over an hour.
All the while there was no sign of this famous matriarch of the Lowveld section of the Drakensberg Range as the group headed into what was generally the right direction.
Fitness levels were tested as the final, steep climb presented itself. With about 10 metres to go to the still-shrouded summit, the dense mass of clouds miraculously opened, as if the grand old lady was opening the curtains to welcome the travellers home.
Wedged between a cairn and the confirming beacon, they rested, tucked into a hiker’s breakfast snack and sat staring at the amazing 360-degree view. There was Maritzbos Hut, a tiny speck in the distance, the Long Tom Pass to the west and the rest of the province in a beautiful early-morning haze.
Dancing in celebration in the wind in this subalpine grassy paradise and wedged between rocks for protection were beautiful yellow false gerberas, among a host of others. In the nearby distance were the white-tailed gnus, Burchell’s zebras, blesbok and eland of the Hartebeesvlakte.
“It certainly was a privilege to have been given the opportunity to be in this restricted-access area of the region,” said the climbers.
Finally, it was time to say goodbye to the old lady, and it was with pride at the fulfilment of this desire to meet her that the group banked the memories in their minds and commenced the descent and the long haul back to the Stables Hut.
