Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk is a 5 pitch climb on the sandstone opposite Sleeping Beauty cave in the Garden Castle area. The hike in takes less than 2 hours. The cave is a good spot to use as a base.

I climbed this route on Saturday 4 July with Hallam Payne and Kerinne Harvey.
We climbed the route in 5 hours as we were a party of 3 which included a relatively inexperienced climber. Two climbers on a single rope, swapping leads could take less than three hours.
The climbing is almost all on-angle slab type climbing, with one short awkward (two or three moves) section through flaky rock, a worm-hole and three traverses.

View of climb from Sleeping Beauty cave.


What follows in bold italics is parts the RD as it appears on the MCSA – KZN website with my account and pictures in between.

RD can be found at
kzn.mcsa.org.za/climbing/route-guides/drakensberg-rds/rhino#TOC-JACK-AND-THE-BEANSTALK-F3-

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK (F3)
Opening Party: Anthony van Tonder, Bugs Sprouse and Ian Bailey.
Date: 5 May 2013.

Picture in the RD.


From the cave walk slightly up and left for about 200m to the base of the route. From the bottom of the rock slab scramble up about 8m to a vegetated ledge and place a big Cam in the crack in the corner on the left to belay.

Note the climber reaching the ledge at the start of the climb.


1. 47m F2. Climb up the ramp for 47m, passing 4 bolts and a large flake where a Cam can be placed (between the 3rd and 4th bolts), to a comfortable grassy ledge. (Some of the bolts are in hollows and not easily seen from below). Belay from a piton at the right hand end of the grass about 4m from the corner.

The ledge at the start of the climb.


A view up P1.



Other than the 4 bolts, I think we placed 2 or three pieces of gear on this pitch. There is a spot or two where you rely purely on friction for hands and feet – sometimes at the same time.

The ledge at the top of Pitch 1.



The single piton used for belaying.



2. 20m F2. This is a short pitch. Continue up past a bolt to an overhanging section. There is another bolt above this overhang in the yellow rock near the corner on the left. Pull up onto the yellow rock under the corner roof and climb up, over and down onto a large vegetated ledge to belay from cracks between some large blocks using Cams.

The next two pictures show pitch 2. The pic with the climber shows her entering the overhanging section. As seen in the pic you climb left up through some horrible flaky rock to avoid the overhanging block. The second picture shows the same view without the climber. Note the distance to the first bolt. Much of the climb had this issue. The pitch ends on the other side of the block where the rope disappears from view.




The stance at the top of P2.

3. 30m F3. Climb up to a bolt on the left above a horizontal scooped out foot rail. If using twin ropes, clip only one rope to this bolt. Traverse easily right along this foot rail using nice under-clings for about 8m to another bolt and clip the other rope here. (If using a single rope do not clip the bolt on the left, but proceed straight to the bolt on the right). Pull up into the hollow above the small overhang using small but very good positive finger and toe holds. (Be careful not to let your left rope snag under the overhang as you pull up). Continue straight up excellent rock with nice nodules and pockets to a bolt. Then climb up diagonally right to a very big flake where a small Cam can be placed. Climb up the flake to a large conspicuous yellow block balancing against the face and squeeze through the worm hole left of the block. Use a long sling around the pinch-point between the block and the face to belay. (A bolt on the traverse at the start of the next pitch can be used to backup the belay if so desired).

I took the lead for this pitch and although I took gear up with me, I only clipped the bolts. Again it is some distance to the first bolt and the 8m traverse is quite fun. In the pic below I have climbed to the ledge and am going to be reaching left for the first clip.



The quality of the next pic is not great but does illustrate the traverse quite nicely. The second bolt is still a bit further on around the corner.



The climb then continues as indicated in the RD to an interesting worm hole that you have to squeeze through. The block with the yellow rope in the picture below forms the left side of the worm-hole , with the worm hole blocked by Hallams legs.



4. 35m F3. Passing a bolt, traverse delicately right on very small holds for 4m to a small tree (crux). Climb easily up the slab on the right passing a bolt to a big ledge. Step across the gap then climb up another slab past another bolt to a level vegetated area under the roof in the corner. Belay from a sling around a pinch point under a block on the right.

We climbed the traverse of the fourth pitch as a separate pitch so that we could belay Kerinne over the traverse whilst still having eyes on her. This traverse is the crux and is pictured below. There are very small hand and foot holds and after the first bolt there is a slightly dodgy micro-cam placement.



After the traverse I lead the rest of the pitch, again only using the bolts as I was feeling pretty good on the slabby rock.

A grassy scramble after the traverse.


Kerinne nearing the top of Pitch 4.

5. 30m E. Traverse out to the right by walking along a groove in the huge slab, pass a bolt and then climb up diagonally right and continue across a rocky spine into a water runnel. There is an excellent Cam placement at the top of the spine just before you cross over into the water runnel. Straddle the wet bit in the centre and climb up the water runnel to a block at the top. Stem up to reach good handholds on top of the block and exit left . Use a long sling around a pointy block on the right to belay.

The last pitch is really easy scrambling, with some minor technical moves required.

The traverse out onto Pitch 5.


A picture showing Kerinne climbing past the first bolt and Hallam belaying from the top.



6. Descent: Walk about 100m to the right to a vegetated gully which descends parallel to the climb. Walk and scramble down this gully to the bottom. It is also possible to take an easier but longer route down by walking further up the valley.

We did not take the above scramble down as it is very vegetated. Instead we walked to the end of the ridge and found a way down with minor scrambling. This brought us out into the narrow valley above Sleeping Beauty cave and a short walk back.

Comments: This is one of very few established routes on Drakensberg Cave Sandstone, (two others being The Monk nearby, and The Dassie in the Mnweni area). This route can be climbed using no more than a selection of Cams, 6 quick-draws, and a few slings, including a long sling. Nuts and Hexes are of no use. As there is a lot of friction climbing, proper climbing shoes with sticky rubber soles are necessary. Generally stay away from the pale coloured rock in the corner on the left which is more sheltered from the weather and has some loose flaky bits on the surface. The dark rock to the right is much better. This route provides very pleasant climbing, has probably the easiest and shortest walk-in of any Drakensberg route and has a convenient cave to camp in as well.

Tri-cams are also useful for the pockets found in this sandstone.

Well done guys and nice to have more info on a route not terribly well known.

Ah! We were wondering who left all that chalk!
"Follow the chalk" was a phrase used more than once on our climb!