Alright, here are a few pictures of Table Mountain......
My partner Henk wasn't up for carrying a camera, nor letting me snap pictures of him while belaying him (go figure). So I shot what I could, when I could.
The approach trail is setup for adventure hiking...scrambling and aiding up steep sections.
Like I said before, the route was only 5.8, but it was a pain for me to figure out the placements on lead for the 1st time. You couldn't place a piece high above you since all the placements were horizontal. There were cool sling placements.
Standard disclaimer...
this is a bad sign..they call it the white table cloth...FING windy
Yep, they make it easy...
Yes, the chains are to help you get up the trail. Henk said this hardware was new...
Henk following on the 2nd official pitch (we soloed the offical 1st)
The next pitch (our 2nd) was the crux and the money pitch. I climbed up an akward slot (5.
. After that I went up to a horizontal rail. The rope drag was soo bad on the traverse that I had to reverse it and use my 10ft cordalette as a runner.
Picture for reference.
After the traverse I went straight up on the most amazing rock. The holds were great and my gear was getting lighter.
Finnally I reached a dish/ ledge. After setting up a 5 point equalized belay..I looked to my left and saw an old fixed pin and a hex placement, Fudge!
Me starting the final 3rd pitch. Notice how steep the rock is...verticle.
The 3rd pitch was sweet. Steep climbing to a overhaning roof slot. Placed a cam and pulled through the roof.
Henk topping out. Notice the clouds.
Sadly, Henk had trouble getting out my orange alien and he had to leave it. Oddly, I found a #2 camalot on the final top-out. So I came even. Gear is super pricy down there so I tolk Henk it was cool. Mind you the sun was sinking and for me to f** around would waste precious daylight.
Proof that I didn't take the cable car to the top....
After topping out we had to high tail it accross table mtn to a decent trail. At the top Henk reminded me that table mtn was classified as "Apline terrain" yep sure was. Then the fun really began as we had to walk down step after step after switchbacks. Henk had mentioned something about mindless switchbacks...he was right.
We got back to the car and the sun had set. The wind was crazy. Later on that night there was thunder, lightning and hail....all the while the wind howled.
