Tag Archives: climbing
Everest Basecamp Part 4: Kongma La and EBC
I had enjoyed my time around Ama Dablam and below the slopes of the legendary Lhotse South Face, but it was time to tackle the first pass of the trip, Kongma La. Acclimatisation had gone really well, and with the 5550m summit of Chukhung Ri done, I was confident that Kongma La was doable. Both […]
Everest Basecamp Part 2: Ama Dablam Basecamp
I woke up and took a look out my window. Kongde Ri was calmly waiting on the other side of the glass, across a deep valley. The scale of these mountains takes some getting used to! The usual first view of Everest had not provided a view the previous day, but I knew I would […]
Marakele
One of my ongoing projects is to attempt to climb all 24 mountains in South Africa with at least 1000m topographic prominence. The list contains 18 Western Cape peaks, 3 Eastern Cape Peaks and 3 Limpopo peaks. The closest peak to my house is the high point at Marakele National Park. The official Government Survey […]
Makoaneng
Much like most of my writeups, this one starts with me studying a map late on a Saturday night in October 2015. I had been looking at a list of peaks above 3400m in Lesotho – with nothing above 3300m on the Middle and Western Ridges, these peaks are generally shown on the Geoseries Hiking […]
Mauritius hiking
While generally not considered a hiking destination, Mauritius actually has a reasonable number of established hiking routes. The weather tends to be hot, and routes don’t have usable water – but with most hikes being reasonably short, this isn’t an issue if you are prepared. While tourists are rarely found on hiking routes, every hike […]
Simonsberg
At 1399m, Simonsberg may not be one of South Africa’s higher mountains – but it is one of only 24 in the country with 1000m topographic prominence. It is also a definite contender for SA’s most beautiful mountain. It is also one of very few mountains that I consider to be genuinely freestanding. I had […]
Camel/Organ Pipes day hike
There are seven Drakensberg passes that I have rated five stars in terms of quality – four of which are at Didima. So when I am asked what my favourite Drakensberg region is, I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone when I respond Didima. With work sending me to Pietermaritzburg for a […]
Mount Hanang (Tanzania)
Anyone who reads my blog from time to time will likely have noticed my obsession with topographic prominence. There are just over 1500 ultra prominence mountains (a mountain with at least 1500m topographic prominence) on earth. The number depends on the list you refer to, with most of the higher counts being based on lists […]
Mount Meru (Tanzania)
In March 2015 I ticked off a bucket list item by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Even at the time, it was far from the most difficult mountain I had ever climbed – but it was meaningful for personal reasons. I had been told about how some people use Mount Meru for acclimatisation, but I used Tsepeng […]
December 2021 Cape Trip day 7: Seweweekspoort
I checked out of El Yolo fairly early – I wanted to explore the area a bit. Leaving El Yolo was an interesting experience – from one perspective it had been a really great place to stay, but from another, I can’t see why I’d ever go back there. There was one thing I wanted […]
Ghaznavid Hiking 
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