Our Blog

The Iron Throne crags were filled with 54 climbing visitors on Sunday. It was a pleasure for the MCSA to be joined by Wits University Mountain Club members and many new guests.

Most (Including Irene: 8yrs old) enjoyed a ~50m abseil. Special thanks to the slick abseil crew: Dirk, Dylan, Gary, Jason and Neil for keeping three abseil stations flowing smoothly and getting everyone down safely.

Very positive feedback was received regarding climbs done at both the Kings Landing and Casterly Rock climbing areas, which are in full shade this time of year. Thanks to James, Mike and everyone who helped new climbers try out some top rope climbs.

A fun venue, with great facilities and lots of climbing options – we will have to make this a regular MCSA meet.

Mark Rolle

Meet Leader

I am happy to report that our first social Meat&Greet
was a huge success! There was a great turnout, with
young and old in attendance – and a lot of new faces,
friends and allies alike. If you go by the loud chatter
and buzz that was in the air, all had fun. The vibe was
contagious, the food shared mouth-watering and
delectable…

We were able to create some funds for the club
from donations and sales at the White Elephant
table: thanks, Pierre for your outstanding
contribution! (Pop into the office for what’s left)A special thanks to Cally and all the CityRock staff
who were in attendance and helped in making the
evening possible.We plan on making this a quarterly event and hope to see you at the next one!

Melicia de Meyer

Meet Leader

Kloofs, cliffs and caves were the focus of the seventh Mountain Club of South Africa, Search and Rescue’s (MSAR) National training meet held 5 to 9 Aug 2022.

Dean van der Merwe, media liaison for the Mountain Club of South Africa Search and Rescue, said, “This biennial event, the first of which was held in 2007, is the most extensive multi-organisational training event dedicated to non-urban search and rescue on the African continent. The overall objective of this training exercise is to raise the national level of training and provide a forum to facilitate the sharing of ideas, new developments, equipment procedures and standards between the regionally dispersed organisations and team members that seldom get the opportunity to collaborate.”

Van der Merwe added, “The event saw 105 professional and volunteer rescuers fly and drive to the Magaliesberg in North-West for four days of rescue simulations, idea sharing and in-the-field learning. Besides MSAR volunteers from the Mountain Club’s Gauteng, KZN, Western Cape and Eastern Cape teams, a number of local organisations from around Gauteng were also represented. This included volunteers from SARZA Gauteng, the Speleological Exploration Club (SEC), professional rescuers and paramedics from GEMS, ER24 and Netcare 911 and the University Of Johannesburg Department of Emergency Management.”

Full Article here

A new trail has been established on the beautiful South Cape Coast.

The  Consistently Conscientious Capable Crag Cleaning Club was launched on Friday! Few in number, but large in willingness and impact we tackled a significant amount of rubbish (especially glass) around the climbing area and access paths and even sneaked a few climbs in. Some of us even went back on Sunday afternoon for some more climbing.

The climbing area is looking much better and climbers are encouraged to go. We need this great city crag to be seen out and about again.

Thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm, secateurs, brush and pan skills and making a difference.

Looking forward to the next one!

JULY CAMP – brochure can be found on this link:  https://mcsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/101st-July-Camp-2022-brochure.pdf

Complete the online booking form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfrrCSzOkwqpfDavw0wjxgPHc9d1LRBLj69vXPu9MvO4UiTTA/viewform

MCSA JHB Hamerkop timeshare week