Leaving the shit for a climbers paradise
Trip Start
May 25, 2005
1
120
283
Trip End
Ongoing
Sentinel Hill, Royal Natal, Drakensburg,
South Africa
Saturday, July 8, 2006
The Royal Natal Drakensburg is one of them.
The mountains soar in to the distance.
The mist clings to the ridges, rippling across the horizon, as first the sun and later the moon catches the edges of paradise.
We stayed in a cave high up on the mountain side. You could tell many people had been there before. It had a homely and safe feel, but was ultimately wild.
The boys went to open up a new route to the summit of Sentinel peak. We watched avidly from below, hearing gasps and giggles echo off the rocks as they swung high upon the flaking granite.
We took a hike in to Lesotho, where we had a snowball fight and ate our lunch of tuna and crackers.
Water meant a climb to the top of the plains, up icy cold chain ladders and scrambling rocks, that didn't have the same evil camouflage as the first time. The icy was thick but the water and air gurgled its way to the falls below. It was pure and cold and tasted of life.
The smaller antelope also new of these watery treats; their tiny footprints giving away their secret enjoyment of one of lifes staples.
As they neared the top, we felt immense pride. To know two 'crazies' was an ultimate smile.
And the route down gave me time for the mountain and view. No matter how hard I tired, I could not place the landscape next to any I had known. It was grey and dusty and the only red was the smattering of vegetation on the other hillside - not like the South African dirt I have known.
Go to the Drakensburg and make it your home.
Dedicated to the boys who left their blood on those rocks.
