Rock Climbing in the Western Cape

I have to admit, I'm not a very good rock climber. I'm the guy that exper­i­enced climbers take along in order to show off their skills and soon regret it. Invariably I'm the guy that gets stuck or injures myself and has to be helped and/or res­cued. But one doesn't have to be Stallone in Cliffhanger to recog­nize the gold­mine of rock climb­ing oppor­tun­it­ies that Cape Town offers.

Those com­ing from abroad will find rock climb­ing in the Western Cape extremely inex­pens­ive as well as very access­ible. Having entire crags and routes to them­selves also often pleas­antly sur­prises climbers vis­it­ing the Cape. Absent from queues and strangers, allow­ing them to exper­i­ence all its worth and beauty. Characterized by majestic moun­tain ranges and vast cliff faces, scattered with thou­sands of climb­ing routes, all within a few hours drive from each other, you don't need many more reas­ons to under­stand why the Western Cape has become the rock climb­ing hub of South Africa.

What is import­ant to note for for­eign climbers is that here routes are graded accord­ing to the Ewbank sys­tem, the same sys­tem used by Australia and New Zealand. The sys­tem grades routes by giv­ing each route a fig­ure between 1 and 34. This fig­ure rep­res­ents the dif­fi­culty of the hard­est indi­vidual move required by that spe­cific route. So get to know the sys­tem before you go bit­ing off more than you can chew.

There are spans of arti­fi­cial walls to climb within Cape Town itself. The most sig­ni­fic­ant of these being CityROCK, situ­ated in Observatory. Boasting over 450 square meters of climb­ing area, a boul­der­ing cave, a large top rope and lead climb­ing area, as well as Cape Towns premiere gear shop, CityROCK is an excel­lent start­ing point within the city.

It would also be advis­able to join the Cape Town sec­tion of the MCSA (Mountain Club of South Africa). With over 1200 mem­bers, this is a use­ful way to chat with climbers who have exper­i­enced the cape con­di­tions, and the MCSA will also be able to provide guides and any other neces­sary inform­a­tion regard­ing climb­ing in the Western Cape.

But only minutes from the city there are loads of easy to chal­len­ging climbs. After all, Cape Towns' most fam­ous land­mark just so hap­pens to be a 1086-meter tall moun­tain, littered with stun­ning cliff faces. Your chance to feel like that kid in the candy store. Table Mountain is a world her­it­age sight and there­fore bolt­ing is pro­hib­ited, lim­it­ing the moun­tain to trad routes only. However the high qual­ity sand­stone provides some great pos­it­ive edges and makes for an exhil­ar­at­ing climb, with the city bowl beneath you and the cable car for a easy and pleas­ur­able decent.

Cederberg is another great loc­a­tion for trad enthu­si­asts. Located two and a half hours north of Cape Town, Cederberg offers an excit­ing boul­der­ing area and argu­ably the best trad routes in the country.

Those in search of a the best sport climb­ing spots in the Western Cape will be far from dis­ap­poin­ted with Montagu and Oudtshoorn. Montagu is a fant­astic tour­ist des­tin­a­tion. Surrounded by vine­yards, orch­ids, and nat­ural springs, the unique rock form­a­tions make it one of the most desir­able climb­ing des­tin­a­tions in the Cape region. With over three hun­dred bolted routes at all grades, Montagu offers end­less excite­ment for both trad and sport climbers. And no more than a month has passed since the 2008 Montagu Rock Rally, mean­ing freshly chalked routes and flattened trails.

Oudtshoorn is the only lime­stone climb in the coun­try. Home to some of the most notori­ous climbs in the Cape, Oudtshoorn requires big moves between holds. Some of the most famed climbs to look out for are Phallic Mechanic (graded 24) and Sid Vicious (graded 27). And if you feel you have skill bey­ond any other, then chalk up and take on the coun­tries hard­est sport climb. Known as Street Fighter and graded at 34, we salute any man to suc­cess­ful com­plete this challenge.

With lit­er­ally thou­sands of routes in the Western Cape, it’s really just a ques­tion of find­ing the route that suits you. Speak to the people at the MCSA (Mountain Club South Africa); they are extremely help­ful in all aspects of climb­ing. Websites such as www.climbing.co.za are also extremely help­ful in provid­ing inform­a­tion on routes, grad­ing and guides. (For your accom­mod­a­tion require­ments, we recom­mend you try www.SA-Venues.com to find the per­fect place to stay!)

As long as you as you stick to the true spirit of climb­ing and leave no trace, pre­serving our moun­tains in their nat­ural beauty, then we can’t wait to have you exper­i­ence what can only be exper­i­enced on the rocks of the Western Cape.

Recommended con­tacts:
Mountain Club of South Africa
Website: http://www.climbing.co.za/
Telephone: +27 21 465 3412 (Cape Town) and +27 11 807 1310 (Johannesburg)