We were fortunate to have a favourable weather window to enable us to complete the hike before the rain set in.
At 7:30am 7 entrepid mountaineers gathered at East Fort for the 880m ascent to the western beacon of Constantiaberg. We headed up to the manganese mines at 300m before locating a vague path that leads straight up the west facing ridge.
We had about 200m off path ascent through challenging fields of protea before locating the path again higher. Because of the threatening weather we decided to keep going until we reached the western beacon where we could be sheltered from the wind in a nearby protected gully. We reached our objective at 10:30am and had a leisurely tea break.
Once back in the icy wind we made swift progress across the summit and located the path leading down to the top of Blackburn Ravine. Once in the ravine we were more sheltered from the wind and made good downward progress.
We decided to forgo a lunch break in favour of reaching the cars earlier at 2pm. We felt invigorated at having braved the elements and consequently rewarded with dramatic scenery and cloud effects combined with the remoteness one experiences in these conditions.
Photos by Don Jepson
