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Hike Table Mountain

Name: Hike Table Mountain
Address: 32 Higgo Crescent, Higgovale, Cape Town, 8001, ZA
Telephone: +27836831876
Price range: $
Rating: 4.9

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Hike Table Mountain

We are a team of qualified, knowledgeable and highly experienced mountain guides
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Hike Table Mountain is an owner-operated guiding company specializing in hikes on Table Mountain and the Cape Peninsula. We are accredited and highly-experienced mountain guides with an intimate knowledge of Table Mountain and the surrounding peaks. As the only guiding company that offers hikes and scrambles up every single route on Table Mountain, we can best tailor hikes to suit your interests, level of fitness and experience, and sense of adventure.

05/03/2023

More praise for Lines of Least Resistance, this time from author and prominent SA mountaineer Tony Lourens. A glowing review akin to an accolade…

“Lines of Least Resistance is an extraordinary book. A companion that will take you on an unforgettable voyage of discovery. A journey that captures the burning spirit of Table Mountain and all its quirky moods, and also gives you an insight into the lives and courage of those early pioneers.

Riaan must’ve had the time of his life exploring all these routes and documenting them in meticulous style, to eventually produce this impeccable body of work. It is beautifully written and the attention to detail is evidence that Riaan spent many research hours poring over journals, books and papers, leaving no moss covered stone unturned.

Lines of Least Resistance looks and feels like a book infused with history and wonderful tales. The layout and binding does the book proud and the cover image exudes the very essence as a ‘mountain for all seasons’!

Any person who has even the slightest interest in Table Mountain should own this book, and the first thing you must do is bury your nose in the pages and inhale deeply. It smells exactly as it should!”

Available

Check out for the full review.

16/02/2023

Two more reviews for LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE:

“If you like me have ‘caught the Mountain Spirit’ and find that your happiest moment are up far on our beautiful mountain crests and traverses, you will be enchanted by Riaan’s book ‘Lines of Least Resistance’. He weaves a web of stories past and present bringing places and people you have and haven’t yet climbed or met into vivid frame. This will have you looking afresh when hiking at the ravines and buttresses you thought you knew. It will lure you deeper into the beauty and mystery that is Table Mountain. Such is a gifted storyteller who can captivate, enthral and set you dreaming. Riaan’s storytelling is wonderfully descriptive & intimate. His sense of humor is like those precise cairns laid by past mountaineers which pop up in exactly the right place and the right time. I loved this book. It is for everyone who loves mountains and hiking. Riaan takes you along on his magical carpet ride. I feel like I know Table Mountain so much more now, thank you Riaan and Johan Jansen for all your endeavours, skill and slog.”

And:

“My sons and I have been hiking Table Mountain the last two years and we have hiked a total of 840km on that incredible beautiful mountain. I really thought we knew the mountain until I got hold of your book. All I can say is, thank you for an AMAZING Book. You opened my eyes and I now see this mountain in a total different perspective! I can’t wait to go out and explore all these new paths.”

12/02/2023

Ropes course on Hout Bay Corner. Next course: 8 April. Learn how to provide rope safety on scrambling routes. Topics include: knots, anchors, belaying, group assessment, knowing when to rope, situational awareness, fear of heights. Duration: about 6 hours. Cost: R1200. Only 4 spaces available. To confirm, email [email protected]

21/01/2023

Delightful morning on Left Face ‘B’ leading a route-finding course. Next course: 4 March. Cost: R800. Duration: 5 to 6 hours. For more information or to book a spot, email [email protected]

18/01/2023

More praise for LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE:

“I highly recommend Riaan’s book. Not just for hikers. This book is way more than a guide. The writing is beautiful. While reading it you imagine yourself in the forest, on the mountain. Riaan’s words flow from his pen. You can read this book for a love of reading as much as a love of hiking. Non hikers can explore the mountain through his descriptions.”

“I am loving this beautifully crafted book by Riaan Vorster of Hike Table Mountain. Very well researched, it offers deep insight into the origin of, and stories behind, the many 'ways' up our beloved Table Mountain, ways which we often take for granted. Lovingly written down through the most beautiful use of language, and offered to us as a gift to treasure. I can definitely recommend it tripple over!”

Photo: Woodhead Buttress on the Twelve Apostles. Slangolie Gully, the most dangerous route in the book, visible on its lower left side.

08/01/2023

BOOK LAUNCH! The official launch for Lines of Least Resistance will be held at Exclusive Books Waterfront on 8 February, 6.30pm for 7pm. RSVP: [email protected]

Photo: View across to Corridor Buttress from midway up Oude Kraal Ravine (Direct), a forgotten route recently unearthed from oblivion.

05/12/2022

LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE Book Tour - Part Three

In October 1912, Ken Cameron along with two friends gave the stately Corridor Buttress its first route. The trio ascended the north face, picking the line of least resistance to arrive on the buttress’ prow-like summit at the edge of space. Their route overlooked Corridor Ravine and went on record as Corridor Face.

Join me for a circumambulation of Corridor Buttress (St Paul in Victorian times). We will follow in the footsteps of Cameron to the buttress’ airy and unfrequented summit. A visit to Frustration Maze might be in order before we drop down Oudekraal Ravine, located snug against Corridor’s cyclopean south face. Learn about the fascinating mountaineering history of a buttress that appalls and enthralls in equal measure. Fifteen spaces available on this penultimate book tour. Preference given to first-timers. Date: 14 January. Email [email protected] to book a spot. Signed copies of my book LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE will be available for purchase on completion of the hike. Cost: R450.

04/12/2022

A COURSE IN MOUNTAIN SENSE

The hallmark of a mountaineer is his route-finding ability.

Eager to explore new routes but unsure of your ability to find the way? Wary of venturing off the beaten track? Struggling to interpret Table Mountain’s deceptive terrain and complex topography? If so, then this course is for you. Join me on an instructional hike where we will examine the intricacies of route-finding.
- Assessing the lie of the land
- Reading the terrain
- Cairns: the full story
- Route-finding psychology
- Pitfalls
- The concept of a route as a line of least resistance
- Risk and danger
Ready to up your game in the mountains and acquire ‘a nose for a route’? This course will make you a safer and more confident hiker. Only 8 spaces available. Time / date: 5.30am on 21 January. Duration: about 6 hours. Cost: R750. Email [email protected] to confirm a spot.
My book LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE will be available for purchase on completion of the course.

17/11/2022

Mountaineering legend Mike Scott has just finished reading LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE and had this to say: “… thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating book.” “This is a delightful book of amusing anecdotes and fascinating historical facts.” “Great book, well written with excellent research …” “… a marvelous piece of historical detective work and shatters lots of myths and mystery around first ascents.”

Email [email protected] now to order your copy

05/11/2022

Join me on the second in a series of hikes to promote my new book LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE: Vignettes on Table Mountain’s 101 Hiking and Scrambling Routes. We will ascend Grotto Ravine (far right on the photo), a route that serves up wilderness and grandeur in equal measure. Vintage Table Mountain accessible to those with a good fitness level, sense of adventure and ability to deal with rugged terrain. Date: 3 December. Only 12 spaces available. Purchase the book (R450) to secure your spot. To confirm, email [email protected]

30/09/2022

From the story of a headless skeleton that inspired a route name to early mountaineers’ compulsions and customs in the opening of routes, LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE weaves a tapestry from Table Mountain’s 101 hiking and scrambling routes. Although a work of non-fiction, the book contains trace elements of fiction complete with a climactic end that marks the culmination of an unlikely friendship.

27/09/2022

To help promote my new book, LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE, I will be conducting a series of ‘book tours’ on Table Mountain. These will take the form of hikes and scrambles ranging from easy to challenging. First up is a circumambulation of Orange Kloof. Date: 5 November. Starting time: 5.30am. Duration: 3 to 4 hours. Difficulty: Easy. A permit has been obtained for 25 people; there are 22 spaces left. Join me for an insider’s scoop on the mountaineering history of this enchanting part of the mountain. Among other topics, I will be chatting about the inspiration behind the book as well as sharing the name origin and character of the routes in the Kloof. To confirm a spot - or order a copy of my book - email [email protected]. I am not on Facebook, so email any questions rather than commenting on FB.

23/09/2022

LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE - BLURB:

By the late 1880s, after more than two centuries of European presence at the Cape, only seven routes led up Table Mountain. Thousands had climbed to the summit, the majority via the gash in the face of the mountain known as Platteklip Gorge, yet vast tracts remained unexplored. Only with the advent of mountaineering in the early 1890s did climbers begin a systematic exploration in their quest for new routes.

Lines of Least Resistance tells the story of Table Mountain through its hiking and scrambling routes. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of the mountain, Riaan Vorster pays tribute to the early pioneers by examining their routes, clearing the sands of time from those which have slipped into oblivion. No two routes are alike; each possesses unique qualities that reveal something of the mountain’s character. Written from a personal as well as a historical perspective, the book takes the reader on a journey of discovery along the highways and byways of Table Mountain.

23/09/2022

Two years of eating, sleeping and breathing Table Mountain routes have culminated in a new book! LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE tells the story of Table Mountain through its 101 hiking and scrambling routes. Through a collection of vignettes, I explore the mountain like it has never been done before. The book adopts a fresh slant on the routes while introducing the reader to the pioneers who forged them. Sprinkled throughout are pearls of mountaineering wisdom as well as excursions along the byways of Table Mountain history. Available as a hardcover with dust jacket, the book is a must - and the ideal Christmas gift - for all hikers, climbers, history enthusiasts, Table Mountain devotees and armchair explorers. Essential reading for mountain guides and tour guides keen to broaden their knowledge base of Table Mountain Available end October. To order directly from the author, email [email protected]. Price: R450. Free delivery in the Cape Town CBD; R50 elsewhere on the Peninsula. Alternatively, watch this space for a list of Cape Town stockists.

21/08/2022

Drinking history. The Diamond Spring, a forgotten spring whose crystalline water inspired the name of Table Mountain’s second oldest route (c. 1770), the Diamond Spring Path, obsolete and overgrown already in the 1940s. For more history, insights and stories about Table Mountain’s 101 hiking and scrambling routes, be sure to get a copy of my book LINES OF LEAST RESISTANCE, available soon. It will forever change the way you look at Table Mountain.

22/07/2022

Solitude on a remote part of the mountain. View into Disa Gorge from the top of Hawk Ridge.

25/03/2021

Moving further down the Twelve Apostles. Six more routes completed in the Hike Table Mountain route challenge, totaling 28 out of 88. 1. Diagonal (Composite Route): Takes in three ravines and three buttresses - Porcupine, Jubilee and Barrier - topping out at a charming hollow called Valley of the Red Gods. One of the best routes in its grade on the mountain. 2. Kasteelspoort (Watercourse):
Early mountaineers had an obsession with strictly adhering to the watercourse of a ravine, and Kasteelspoort wasn’t overlooked. Seldom done nowadays, KP Watercourse offers fun boulder-hopping with the odd bit of scrambling. Joins Kasteelspoort (Path) high up the ravine. Best in summer with an early start. 3. Valken Ravine (Left-hand Route): A squat ravine with concentrated difficulties, the route comes into its own soon after the first challenge. The setting is dramatic and the scrambling exciting. Another Travers-Jackson route, opened in 1901 when the summit plateau above bustled with the construction of Table Mountain’s reservoirs. 4. Silverstream Ravine: Known in the late 1800s as Second North Front Gorge. One of only two ravines that run up the full height of the famous front of Table Mountain (the other being Platteklip Gorge). A slope-slog for much of the way, the head of the ravine undergoes a dramatic change in character, penetrating a formidable cliff via two tricky pitches. The top pitch must rank as one of the best and wildest C-grade pitches on the mountain. 5. Woody Buttress (South Ridge): The lower half of Woody Buttress divides into two wings. The standard route follows the northern (left-hand) wing, and this route the right-hand. Seldom climbed, it features a spicy crack pitch as the main event. Terminates midway up the buttress, whence the standard route is followed to the summit. 6. Woody Gully: A short, forested gully tucked away between the above-mentioned ridges. Seldom climbed. Features only one scramble pitch, tricky when dry, severe when wet.

Address

32 Higgo Crescent, Higgovale
Cape Town
8001

Opening Hours

Monday	06:00 - 20:00
Tuesday	06:00 - 20:00
Wednesday	06:00 - 20:00
Thursday	06:00 - 20:00
Friday	06:00 - 20:00
Saturday	06:00 - 20:00
Sunday	06:00 - 20:00

Telephone

+27836831876

Website

http://www.hiketablemountain.co.za/

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