I have almost conquered Table Mountain! I was ten minutes away from the summit and had to turn back but on my behalf, the work to get to the top should count as up and back twice. Now most of you will probably tell me after I explain the situation that I was stupid for attempting to hike Table Mountain this morning. That no one should ever be out in such conditions and that I need to be more responsible and yes you are right. I found out after returning that on average, ten people get blown off Table Mountain a year. On my behalf I think these people decide to stand up on the railing or climb the face or something exponentially more dangerous than the hike I was on, but for awhile this morning I did feel like I was going to blown off the mountain.
Thuy, Natalie, Matt (Natalie’s boyfriend), and I got to the trailhead at 11am. Last night was a windy night but except some lazy clouds traveling over the top of the mountain it was a beautifully clear perfect day. The hike was challenging but because it wasn’t too hot the experience wasn’t too painful. Now this hike is more like giant rock steps. Not a nice path but instead a straight uphill assent into a gorge on the side of Table Mountain. We were climbing at a nice speed and didn’t take many breaks but as we got up higher and higher the wind began picking up. My body was in a weird state: warm on the inside from the exercise but cold on the outside, like minute by minute I was freezing. I would like to compare this to leftovers being put in the fridge still warm. Oddly uncomfortable. But we continued our assent. Stopping every twenty minutes to check out or ever expanding view of Cape Town.
The entire hike changed when I was no longer able to hike on my two feet but instead had to scramble up the rocks on all fours. I came to cherish but hate the momentary calms in the wind because it often signified a large gust was on its way. Our rational for continuing on this path even though we felt it dangerous to continue was that going down hill would be worse. We were hoping to make it to the top and wait out the wind until the cable car began running again and we could get down easily.
With the summit in clear view, the goal just ahead, a group of three Americans hiked down past us. We spoke to them for just a few minutes but during that time our plan changed entirely. They said that the restaurant, where we had hoped to wait out the wind, was closed, the cable car was closed and it was 8 degrees up on top. Now I in my t-shirt and Nat in her tank…decided it was not a good idea to go into that type of weather. In a democratic decision we decided to brave the way down with the wind. Taking small steps and often sitting down to battle strong gushes of wind. The lower we got, however, the calmer the wind got until finally you could never guess the weather on top by looking around. It was once again a clear beautiful Cape Town day. With that hike under my belt I think I will take Dustin next week with me to brave it again. This time I’ll check the weather conditions on top of the mountain or at least ask a local what they think it will be like; our taxi driver often has a good idea if it is smart or not, I’ll make sure to call him up.
