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Published: January 22nd 2009
Thursday 22nd
R25 for entry and R5 for a route map and we were all set to begin the long slog up the Helderberg Mountain! We spoke to the woman at the information desk and asked how long it takes to summit the mountain, “6 hours,” came her reply which took us both by surprise as other people had said it only took them 2 hours to get to the top. Not only this but she also told us that the other day a couple had got lost trying to reach the top and didn’t return to the bottom until nearly 1am! There were many different routes. Pink is the only route which takes you to the top and green is the next highest, which splits from at the base of the rock face.
We decided that we’d set off aiming to do the green route, also known as Woodies Walk, and see how we felt by the time to decide if pink was the colour for us or not!
The beginning of the hike wasn’t too strenuous, the paths were pretty wide but as it was overcast it was quite muggy and so resulted in some sweating!
The further we got the steeper the ascent became until about an hour or so into the walk we were clambering up rocky trails winding closer to the base of the rock face. By this point Lucie was pretty unsure about the safety of the tracks and was not really enjoying the height. I on the other hand had the camera out and was enjoying the views, despite the clouds!
The time came when we had to make the decision to head back down or keep on going. It was made well before this point, as I knew we’d had enough. So we took the green sign. Luc was relieved that we were supposedly heading back down but then we kept on climbing. I didn’t realise that we had to cross the whole side of the mountain and only then would we head back down. After a few wrong turns down rocky gorges, having to turn around and climb back up them. A few screeches and procrastinations we started down the tree line and back onto the wider paths.
By this point the sun had come out and looking back up to where we had come from we
felt a great sense of achievement! A dip in the sea was well deserved and that’s exactly what we did!
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mum
non-member comment
omg
sounds like a familiar story Toddy when you took me and roo down that itinerry in Verbier when you were 12!!! bet Luce was terrified!! Do you remember poor roo always started crying when we got lost skiing??!! sounds great adventure anyway and your writing is fab you must have had a good education!!!! love miss you xxxx