The 9 summits of SA

I hear both Seweweekspoort and Murch Point are usually underestimated. Thats why I allocated 10 hours to getting to the top of Seweweekspoort - and with the clock stopping on its summit it doesn't matter how long it takes to get back down...

OK, so I phoned my ex-cycling teammate who lived in the Rustenburg area who used to organize our training routes in the Magalies some years ago. He mentioned that the route up to Nooitgedacht Towers was on private land but access was usually not an issue, requiring just a phone call upfront. He could however not remember who was the owner, in any case this was 7+ years ago. I certainly don't recall much of this, as the final part of the road was spent mostly with nose over handlebars, heartrate at 165+.......

So, yesterday enroute back from projects I took the turnoff to Hekpoort from the R24 and followed the GPS coordinates for the towers. Decent enough road, about the last 11 km is passable dirt road.

However, at 5km to go I stopped at a gate for 'Ingwe Lodge'. I phoned up the owner to discuss access.

The owner sounds like a reasonable guy, but he will only allow access with prior arrangements, i.e. no impromptu arrangement to get up the road pass to the towers, like I tried yesterday. I do however understand this.

So, if anyone wants to go there as part of a 9 summits exercise, do call the owner beforehand and arrange a time that suits him too.

(I can PM his name and number to interested parties).

Thanks, those contact details would be a great help. The photo of what I will be up against is also a great help.

Thanks for going out of your way like that, it is really appreciated

Summary of the day 1 summits peaks for a speed record attempt:

Limpopo - not much info, but based on the government survey maps it looks like a 1km altitude gain in 3km hike (I managed to find one not very helpful photo so far - the good news is that this looks like a real peak, almost as big as Mafadi but without the surrounding Drakensberg Escarpment). There is an annual race which is 20km and only gains about 650m, but cutting off 14km will be better than having to gain 350m less in altitude.

Mpumulanga seems to have a dirt road to the summit, just a case of finding who owns the farm its on and arranging permission in advance.

RRankin has summed up North-West, sounds pretty easy if arranged in advance.

Gauteng has a road to right near the top - the Suikerbosrand map shows the road going right past Toringkop, you don't even need to cross a contour line.

All the above being said - that is still one hang of a tough day 1 for the hike, especially since my plan is to reach the Sentinel car park before the gates are closed on the same day as climbing all of the above! And then all that's left is 5 hiking peaks, lots of driving and 6 days to conquer the 5...

Iron Crown also has a public access forestry road to near the summit, around the back via the Wolkberg Pass.

Thanks RRankin. I sent you a PM.
If the border is correct as per google maps then I agree with your pic. Also take a pic at the top as well
edit:
From that, what I see, is the highest "peak" in the North West is west of MSP. Think it maybe Kumbagana.

intrepid wrote: In the Magaliesberg, land access is a big, big deal. So make sure you've obtained all the proper permission.

Absolutely. Things have changed (security wise) and one needs to respect boundaries.

Ghaz with a high-res DEM model would be like a kid in a candy store!

Imagine all the new Khulus...

Edit: Err... wrong thread. Sorry. This should be in the Khulus thread.

Ghaznavid, that route up that I showed can be done by car (the techs who occasionally work at the towers needs to do so quite often). One can even drive to close to the NW highpoint, about 150m from it. Easy peasy this one.

@Stijn: lol

@Intrepid: please elaborate, who did I need permission from in addition to the owner of the lodge?

Iron Crown

Ok, Google Earth proves to be useful yet again. The photo is oriented North. The road at the bottom is the only one shown on maps. The Iron Crown seems to be less than 100m from a road, so my estimates of it being a tough climb seem to be wrong!



It looks like the view should be really good, probably a peak worth hiking up some day...