Ep 46 - Getting my feet off the Table... the hard way - Table Mountain 4K walking tour and descent

Описание: Table Mountain is the flat-topped iconic landmark making the city of Cape Town in South Africa one of the most scenic in the world. The near vertical wall that makes up it's slopes most of the way around makes for some breathtaking views.

Getting your feet onto the Table is easy enough, as there is a gondola. The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway takes passengers from about 300 metres above sea level, to the plateau at the top of the mountain, at 1,067 metres. Almost all of the tourists use this to get back down. There are a few hiking trails that find their way down, the route taken here was not one of them...

Known only to a few locals, the Kloof Corner Ridge route is by far the most scenic, and probably dangerous, way down. The third set of chains past the Kloof Window, seen in the opening title snippet, is a little difficult to locate, and includes some death exposure. A 27cm wide crack that you must enter under this exposure, and traverse, means that some climbing experience, and a skinny backpack, are most desirable here.

After exploring the Table top, we'll start down the “This is not an easy way down” India Venster trail at the back, off the difficult side of the Platteklip Gorge ("Flat Stone Gorge"). Following a scenic ledge around the Table to face Cape Town again we break away from the trail and out onto the splendid and airy Kloof Corner Ridge. This is where the route finding, scrambling, and fun begins in earnest.

Table Mountain owes its table-top flatness to the fact that it is a syncline mountain, meaning that it was once the floor of a valley, the that has been weathered away over the millennia. It now offers an unusually rich biodiversity.

The flat top of the mountain is often covered by orographic clouds, formed when a southeasterly wind is directed up the mountain's slopes into colder air, where the moisture condenses to form the so-called "table cloth" of cloud. Legend attributes this phenomenon to a smoking contest between the Devil and a local pirate called Van Hunks.

Table Mountain is the only terrestrial feature to give its name to a constellation: Mensa, meaning The Table, named by the French astronomer Nicolas de Lacaille during his stay at the Cape in the mid-18th century.

Here are some key moments:

1:00 – Looking up at the Table from Cape Town
2:02 – The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway will do the ~800 meters of vertical gain for us today
4:07 – Starting a complete tour of Table Mountain top
5:32 – Nice first view of Cape Town from up top
10:26 – A friendly Redwinged Starling enjoying the view with me
12:26 – The hiking trail down the Platteklip Gorge
18:28 – Starting down the India Venster trail, the difficult side of the Platteklip Gorge
21:31 – Epic sign!
27:30 – Scenic ledge walk starts with great view and rock formations
33:43 – So many flowers along the way
36:15 – Under the cable car
36:45 – Leaving the trail, onto Kloof Corner Ridge
42:17 – Scenic and airy ridge walk
43:07 – Super fun first chain, with a stunning view and death exposure
47:25 – A ledge and a crack
50:43 – The cairn marks the awesome route, because there are very few footprints, and no people at all
55:02 – Either an Agama lizard or a Black Girdled Lizard with mating colours, not sure which
1:00:03 – Time to put the camera onto the hat again... gonna need both hands here
1:03:01 – The second chain
1:25:10 – Bolted anchor near the third chain... with cryptic instructions
1:26:15 – The third chain
1:32:45 – The reward! No, not the tree... the coffee... with 9 hours of jet-lag! ; )

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