Full Moon on Lions Head

Last Thursday was the monthly hike up Lions Head for the full moon. Sammy, Matt, and I met up just after work equipped with 2 bottles of wine, cheese, crackers, and water for our sunset picnic. We hiked up along with many other people; there was actually a line formed behind the chains; little did we know that was just the beginning. We summitted around 7pm and claimed some rock on the sunset side of the top overlooking the Atlantic. After the sun dipped below the horizon, we continued chatting until a woman approached us to pass along word that the moon was rising. We moved to the other side (city side) and watched… the moon rise. I took a few pictures that do it no justice and made friends with a guy with a DSLR and tripod – hopefully he’ll be sharing his spoils with me via email… For now, here as overexposed attempt...

The hike down was absurd; imagine hundreds of people (one estimate was that there were 1000 people that went up that night) hiking down, single file, in the dark. Add in some cliffs, big steps, and some slippery roots to keep it interesting. With the moon so bright, you barely needed flashlights (especially with all the people and flashlights ahead and behind). We broke away from the group, with a large following I’ll add, and took the chains down saving probably 30 minutes. Quite an amazing experience. At work the following morning, a few people were talking about seeing all the lights coming down as if a string of Christmas lights had been wrapped around Lions Head.

As for the weekend, Saturday we went wine tasting in Stellenbosch (some things just don’t get old) and I now have a new favorite vineyard (okay, it at least ties with Waterford and the chocolate). Sunday morning I woke up early with a plan to go hiking but after looking at the map, I gave in to the little voices telling me to skip a day of the solo hikes.
Instead, I brought The Fountainhead to the Rhodes Memorial and read with a beautiful view of Cape Town and the wineland mountains. The rest of my day was split between groceries, a quick visit to the Groote Schuur Hospital (world's first heart transplant occurred here in1967), the climbing gym, and grilling ostrich for dinner with Grant. Another good weekend, but I’m definitely looking forward to my trip home and not feeling the safety issue as much.

But there’s always an upside. Just as I was packing up to leave work this evening, Garth called me to tell me he brought in an old surf board that I could use for the rest of my time in South Africa. It’s a little shorter (and with a sharp point) than anything I’ve ever ridden; if I can get my feet on that, it’ll be a success story!

Yanks = 5; South Africans = 3

The sunshine finally returned to Cape Town last Friday to kick off my weekend. Saturday morning, I woke up before sunrise for fishing on False Bay with JP. Being the only American, I had to represent; JP caught 2 and his friend from Pretoria caught 1 so the final score was: Yanks = 5; South Africans = 3! JP and I split the fish and I went home with the task of filleting and cooking them up. It's been years since I've filleted a fish and a sharp knife has been added to my shopping list. ELC's lessons are coming back more and more frequently...

After cooking and a quick tasting, I met up with a few med students on a rotation from the States and went out on Long Street, the vibey part of town, for a few drinks. Sunday morning was a lazy morning and I slept in the latest I have since returning to South Africa. (I can see Ana smiling!) The rest of the day included a bit of work, starting The Fountainhead on the beach, and a visit to the indoor climbing gym. I think I was asleep Sunday night by 9pm... 0verall a great weekend!

Dinner with Grant's Family at Jardine

The chef, George Jardine, was recently named Chef of the Year in South Africa.

beet and horseradish tartlet

west coast oysters presented on salt stacks (Mike was generous enough to let me try one)

springbock loin (I can't believe I ordered it, but it was amazing!)

My First Lead!! (and an incredible weekend)

Where do I even begin!?! Last Thursday started a little tough - nearly 15 hours in the office - but the ending couldn't have been better. At home, I walked in to the apartment where a glass of wine, cheese and grapes were waiting and were accompanied by a foot soak/massage and shoulder rub from Theresa. Then, they surprised me with grilling fresh vegetables on the grill and ostrich steaks. It was the perfect ending to a productive day. Friday was a big day at work but I managed to get out a little early and we kicked off the weekend with some rock climbing.

We drove to Silvermine (near Muizenberg) for some rock climbing - and my first lead!!!!! I've only climbed on a top-rope set up before where you only fall as far as small amount of slack in the rope and as much as the rope stretches (with a good belayer, of course). Lead climbing is where you are tied to one end of the rope and your belayer (below you) has the other end. When sport climbing, there are bolts in the wall that you clip your rope into as you climb. So, the distance of your fall can be much greater - however far above your last bolt (known as your run-out) is how far you can fall below that bolt. If you are 10 feet above your last bolt, you have a 20 foot fall coming if you come off the rock.

After a short hike in (and taking the first picture on this post), we repelled down a 5.8 climb and warmed up on that route. Then, we moved to a 5.7 and it was my first lead (with no falls, thank you). Then, in preparation for Saturday, we did a harder climb to test out my ability for more challenging climbs at Paarl. We went up a 5.10b and there was only one sticky place for me. I came off and was happy to not be leading :) We had to be out of the park by 7pm so we finished with a climb up the 5.8 (I led) and hiked back out. It was an amazing day.

On the way back to town, we stopped for dinner and halfway through, load shedding affected me for the first time. South Africa has been witness load shedding for the past few weeks but Cape Town had not been heavily impacted since I arrived. It appeared the entire city had its lights shut off (including suburbs - we were 30 minutes away and had no power). The wait staff had to go back through and ask what we ordered to handwrite the bill; the could not accept credit card; candles were lit down hallways and stairways to make it out of the building. Driving back the city was mostly black (allowing for incredible star gazing) with few stoplights working. At my building, the 'caretaker' was up with the garage door open (big relief) and we found some candles in my apartment so that we could repack and get situated. Check out this link for more info on the load shedding: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7208628.stm.

We woke up Saturday morning at 5:30am so we could get climbing at Paarl when the park opened and beat the heat of the day. Luckily we had electricity and brought our morning coffee in the car for the drive to Paarl. We were waiting when they opened the gates and went straight to Sands of Time, a 4-pitch climb that took the 3 of us 2 hours total. (The second and third pictures were taken from the top after writing in the summit book.) The hike down turned into a repel and as the sun was heating up, we found some shade for a break. While resting, I was eyeing up the Little Dutch Boy (the climb I'm on in these two pictures!). It's a 3-pitch endeavor that starts with a 5.10a climb. It's probably nearing the toughest climb I'd want to lead but I had the last two day's adrenaline going and I didn't think I could leave without giving it a shot. And, I made it! I only had a foot slip from a smear once and my hands had solid enough holds to keep me until could find a better hold for my foot. I cannot tell you how good I felt when I reached those anchors at the top of the first pitch. I also set the anchor independently for the first time and top belayed Peter up so he could take out my quick draws from the bolts and then we repelled down. It was another unbeatable day. I can't get over these pictures - another thanks to Peter and Theresa for taking me to this next level!

On Sunday, we had a 4:30am wake up call to go fishing but due to weather, we slept until 7. It was the first morning that I actually felt well-rested in a while. We met JP in Cape Town and drove out to Gordon's Bay (on False Bay) with a stop to fix the timing of his pick up along the way. He seriously took a wrench and adjusted so it would run cooler - I wish I could do that! The fishing was fun - caught 5 elf but only 2 were over the 30cm minimum for keeping. Theresa had a big one, but we never got it in the boat - next time!!