teamed up with the notables sir shorti, the unintoxiable sheps, sipho, la belle iris etc. to go check out the new crags saturday past. given that it was a scorching dry dusty day and my first climbing in some weeks, this feedback might have to be turned down a notch or two..... but it is honest nonetheless.

it is quite a mission to get to the crags which are a bit spread out. R120 buys a cable car ticket and then some raps - we tied to 60m sport ropes together to get down in one go. its not just a simple hike to the base of the crags and a largish group will take some time on the raps.

the dust bowl area's base is at the bottom of a natural funnel and given the state of the rock should be avoided - rock the size of a halfbrick dislodged by climbers above hit the wall meters above my head and luckily shattered, showering me with pebbles. close call. we heard some more rock falls. routes looked okayish but we scedaddled because we felt the group sitting around at the base was an accident waiting to happen.

we bundu bashed to the top of the ten up area (don't bother to look for the tape indicating the "path") to rap off a diabolical position - the anchors are right above a manky assembly of rocks; with 3 people at the base of the rap i started gingerly but still manged to move a large rock with a gentle push of my foot - it luckily did not come out and i simply pulled the 2liter-bucket sized rock out and passed it to the top - definitely a lethal projectile for the guys at the base (helmet or no) had it come out. there are a few more of those nasties below the rap anchors. sorry guys - bad rap position; it should not be there!

the ten up area looked okayish again, but after a solid looking hold was simply pulled off, whizzing about 30cm past sipho's head, we decided that its not ayoba, called it a day and bailed.

overall the crag should come with a BIG RED LETTER WARNING of more loose rock than what you expect from even a newly developed area. don't even think of going without a helmet or with kids, non-climbers or animals.

appreciate the effort put in to develop but it is really a 2/10 area and not worth a repeat visit imho.

have to note that we did not get on any of the 5-star routes and that may change the view.

Alex and myself have been traveling on the highway quite a bit lately and have been scouting these places, on the opposite side of the mountain to the cable car crag it looks like there is a better crag, but if im wrong then I know choss is just a bit further. Anybody check it out yet or should we?

Ebert Nel

Mok, you're just jealous that you lot from under da mountain are not the only ones with a crag with a cable car that can take you to the top. Ours are even better because it is more expensive and we have bolts and you don't

Just be careful, a couple of years ago there was a big issue with someone bolting a line to the West of the Cable Car that got nasty (I'm sure there are accounts of it in the archives of the climb.co.za forum). It was a non-MCSA member but in the end the MCSA had to get lawyers involved to resolve the issue and keep it out of the courts. When one strays outside of the current arrangement with the land owner one must respect private property of other owners. Obtaining permission is the first thing in any scouting / crag development.

Unfortunately in the Magaliesberg developing a crag is very difficult because most of the mountain is cut up into a lot of little strips of land that cuts across crags and kloofs; many land owners do not know where their actual boundaries are; the access roads, top and bottom pieces are often different properties and many of the properties have absent landlords … again the guys down South have it easy … at least they have only one landlord (albeit a difficult one) to deal with.

Dean, as far as I can read from the topo - the cliffs to the *immediate* west of the cable car are closed to development because of the black eagles that nest there and at Choss (same pair apparently).

The crag you're talking about is quite a bit further west. But yes, routes were put up without permission, the landowner found out about it (from this site?). The owner was about to institute a civil claim against a certain Rob (not Trango Tower Rob) to recoup the cost of securing his property (more or less 8KM of fencing) after the RD was posted here. He was going to sue for meeeeeellions. 'Stru. Don't go there.

Hi

The area along south of the escarpment on that side of the dam is under the authority of the Hartebeespoort Dam Snake and Animal park. It would be advisable for the people who opened the area to check with them, their numbers are: park & booking 012 253 1162, administration 012 253 0195. The boss there is Jack Searle who takes strong exception to any unauthorised bolting. (His name spelling may be incorrect).

cool, whoever makes that mission, best of luck and let us know how it goes:) Sure the snake park will allow u to go if they know they can snake u on R20 each time u go:P

Ebert Nel
We building a bouldercave:D