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National News, February 2017

MCSA National News 6 February 2017 National News, February 2017

1) ANNUAL MEMORIAL SERVICE – 26 February 2017

The Annual Memorial Service will be held at Maclear’s Beacon on Sunday 26 February 2017. The service will be conducted by the Reverend Anthony Ryan. This is a non-denominational service and commemorates members of the club who have died in the past year.


 

2) MCSA-AAC TRAD EXCHANGE 2017 – AMERICAN CLIMBERS VISITING SA 14-28 MARCH 2017

All members are welcome to participate in the local event and details of the itinerary will be posted on the Facebook event page, www.facebook.com/ on Climb.co.za and also disseminated via Cape Rock News from time to time. The final itinerary will depend on whether there is access to certain climbing areas as some have been badly affected by wild fires. Should anyone wish make themselves available for selection to travel to the USA later this year on the second leg of the exchange, then please email me your request and a short climbing CV (bio).

Charles Edelstein Charles@Millstone.co.za. Younger talented climbers will be given preference. www.mcsacapetown.co.za/


 

3) DOUBLE CROSSING THE DRAGON

Jonathan Newman and Mike van Wyngaard have just finished back-to-back Drakensberg Grand Traverses in under 16 days.

In March 2016, while taking a leisurely stroll around the Mnweni Cutback, I mentioned to 15-year-old Mike “Hobbit” van Wyngaard of Grace College that I was thinking about having a go at something that had never been done before – doing two consecutive Drakensberg Grand Traverses. I told him to take a week or so to consider whether or not he would like to join me. It took him about 8 seconds to make a decision.  A Drakensberg Grand Traverse is a difficult hike at the best of times, but to do it both ways consecutively – that is another story altogether.  The full story at www.vertical-endeavour.com/forum/


 

4) STATS NEEDED – DRAKENSBERG GRAND TRAVERSES

Jonathan Newman is trying to put together a list of people with 3 or more completed Drakensberg Grand Traverses. If you have completed 3 or more, or know someone who has, please let him know.  It is surprisingly difficult to find actual stats.  The latest copy of the list is at the following link www.vertical-endeavour.com

Many on the list are estimated numbers, pending confirmation – if any details on the list are wrong, please let me know so I can correct the list. For the record – a GT does not need to meet the conditions for a speed traverse, it only needs to meet 4 conditions:

  • The Tugela must be crossed above the falls (if the traverse starts further north in the Free State Berg, this condition does not apply)
  • The team must have crossed the Long Wall Ridge within 1km of Long Wall Peak or Lotheni Peak (Lotheni Peak is the 3296m spot height on the map near Long Wall)
  • The Walkers Ridge must have been crossed
  • Between the Tugela and Walkers Ridge, an altitude of above 2500m must be maintained

 

5) SUPERTRAMP 2016 – FEEDBACK

Jed Johnson was one of the six MCSA Supertramps for the MCSA’s 125th anniversary in 2016. Together with his partner, Craig Burden, he explored climbing in Ethiopia in Nov/Dec 2016.

“Walking out of the airport in Addis Abba, we were welcomed by the smell of an African city waking up, which in Addis Ababa means the smell of freshly brewing Ethiopian Coffee. Our first impressions of Addis Abba, meaning ‘New Flower’ in Amharic, was a chaotic dust ball of rush hour traffic juxtaposed by the calming aurora surrounding the people exiting the city churches after their morning prayers.

The next day we set out to explore a climbing area named Amora Gebel, meaning ‘Hawk Cliff’ in a remote village just outside of Addis, which for us meant a minibus taxi ride comprising of 3 different taxis’ through the city, and another 1-hour hike. This doesn’t sound too bad until you bring a heavy pack along for the ride and trying to get onto a fully loaded taxi without stepping on everyone’s’ toes. Amora Gebel hosted a number of routes ranging from 16 to 31, mostly bolted by the expat community living in Addis. The hardest route there, ‘Don’t mess with the Zohan’ was opened by a local Ethiopian climber.

We had set ambitions of our own to open new lines in the country. So with this idea in mind we traveled another 1000km into the Tigrai region where the Gheralta Escarpment lies. The Gheralta Escarpment in the North East of the county is where one finds some 40 rock-hewn churches among the 300-metre-high sandstone walls. Just jazzing upon the walls we found ourselves in a climbers dream of dead vertical orange walls lining the horizon.”   (To be continued: MCSA Journal or elsewhere.)


 

6) FACEBOOK AND WEB PAGES

National: www.facebook.com/Mountain-Club-of-South-Africa

Links for all section’s web pages are all on the national webpage.


 

7) SECTION NEWS

CAPE TOWN: USE OF CANDLES AT THE AGTERTAFELBERG HUT PROHIBITED

Due to the fire risk, with immediate effect, candles are no longer permitted to be used at the Agtertafelberg Hut. Note that the hut now has 3 permanently installed solar lights that provide reasonable, general lighting. Members still need to bring along their own torches. The protection of the hut (which will be 50 years old this year) from fire is our top priority and your cooperation will be most appreciated.


 

8) SNIPPETS

8.1) INDIAN MOUNTAINEERING FOUNDATION PROMOTIONAL SCHEME 2017

The Indian Mountaineering Foundation has launched a promotional campaign to attract larger numbers of Foreign Expeditions to the Indian Himalayas.  Peak fees on select peaks across the range of Indian Himalayas have been reduced for the year 2017 – details can be found on the IMF website by clicking on the following link: www.indmount.org/

8.2) NEW MRI DIRECTOR APPOINTED
We are glad to announce that a new director has been appointed to lead the MRI. Dr Carolina Adler will take office at MRI in May 2017. She is currently working as Research Fellow at the ETH Zurich in the Environmental Philosophy Group and Transdisciplinarity Lab, both at the Department of Environmental Systems Science. Carolina earned her PhD at Monash University (Australia), focusing on climate impacts, values, vulnerability, and adaptation using policy sciences. The significance of her work to policy applications was demonstrated by an invitation to join the Society for Policy Scientists in the USA, in which she was recently voted into its Executive Council.

8.3) CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: KILIMANJARO MOUNTAIN RESEARCH CONFERENCE

Are you doing research on African mountains, considering it, or just interested in the topic? Then the Kilimanjaro Mountain Research Conference is a great chance for you!  The Conference theme will be “African mountain ecosystems under global change. Linking biodiversity, biotic interactions and biogeochemical ecosystem processes.

Seize the opportunity to submit abstracts until 15th February!  Register and submit online at http://www.afromont.org.  The Conference will take place on 22-26 February 2017 in Moshi, Tanzania.

8.4) VIDEO: THRU-HIKING THE GRAND CANYON: theadventureblog.blogspot.co.za


 

 

 

9) SUBMITTING NEWSWORTHY ITEMS

Newsworthy items for inclusion in MCSA National News can be sent to the Editor, Bridget Carrick:  bridget.carrick7@gmail.com

Quote: “Hiking and happiness go hand in hand (or foot in boot)” ― Diane Spicer

“explore – discover – connect – protect”

“verken – ontdek – ontmoet – bewaar”

“phonononga – fumanisa – qhagamshela – khusela”


 

MCSA-CT Office Admin
MCSA-CT

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