2010 Highlights

Riding 1100km though Tibet via Mount everest basecamp back into Nepal, 

priceless.

Diagonal of Fools 163km 9600m+ reunion island, out of this world,

doing this epic race and seeing the active volcano erupt priceless.

Extreme chess and Ironing in the drakensberg. Riding ostriches in Oudshoorn.Adventure Caving Congo, Sudwala and Batcave sterkfontein.Attakwas extreme, Sabie ultra, Baberton ultra , Southern Skies 24h, Parys Jakalsdraai 6hour 46km night run, Mnweni marathon, Otter trail run, Mount aux sources run, Garmin Wartrail (Epic), Ystervark&Lekker AR, Yestervark&Hoonatand AR, Kenetic Full Moon AR, Swazi Extreme Pro. Noon2Moon. Snowboarding Afriski.

What a great year filled with fun and adventure!

Exotic Island Hobby:

Coming to think of it, I have been to quite a few Islands doing some adventurous stuff recently. So in my hobby of collecting islands, all these islands are special, but two stand out as extra ordinary. Catba and La Reunion.

The Islands are:

Vietnam (2009): Cat Ba Island and Vin purl Island

Indian Ocean (2008/2010): Mauritius and La Reunion

China (95'): Hong Kong Island

Cat Ba Island is an island approximately 140 km2 in Ha Long Bay, Northern Vietnam. Cat Ba is the largest island in the Bay and approximately half of its area is covered by a National Park, which is home to the highly endangered Cat Ba Langur. This langur is rarely seen, as fewer than 100 specimens are thought to survive in the wild. The Park covers both land and marine areas and has a high biodiversity. We spend two weeks on the island climbing, see full article in sa mountain sport: http://www.samountainsport.co.za/articles.php?p=53 ,Deep water solo climbing off sea stacks, sports climbing off beaches and at butterfly valley on Cat Ba, the nature and beauty on this island and the Ha Long island system is mind blowing and the climbing phenomenal. We kayaked in Ha Long bay, saw breathtaking secluded sea lakes islanded in the sea but surrounded by green lush and limestone cliffs only reachable via kayaking though caves during low tide. Unbelievable amazing i am tell you!!!

La Reunion is an island of true contrasts, the French department of Reunion is unknown to many of the world's travelers. That's unfortunate! This unique island in the middle of the Indian Ocean is simply one of the most intriguing spots on earth. With an active volcano on its south coast, 17 miles of warm, welcoming beaches in the west, and lots of mountains and forests in between, Reunion Island offers vacation opportunities ranging from relaxing to truly insane. If you're looking for a place to "chill out", you'll find it here. But if you're the kind of vacationer who prefers an adrenaline rush over a sunburn, the possibilities are endless. From hiking Reunion's unique "cirques" or canyoning the island's many waterfalls to scuba diving or surfing in the clear waters that surround this tiny 30-mile-wide island, adventure activities abound for vacationers hoping to do something a little daring while on their Reunion holiday. See more on my Reunion BLOG http://traileruption.blogspot.com/

Report: Grand Raid 2010 – diagonal of fools

It is cold, my hands are starting to shake, but it must be because of the excitement unfolding before my eyes, I am on  the grand raid 2010 – diagonal of fools. It is 4am and everybody stops on the rim of the caldera at 2250m, we hear the volcano rumble and magma coming through the pipes,  we peep over the edge and see a big lava fountain squirting lava, with chunks of plasma falling far over the edge, hitting the ground and then forming lava rivers. People shout out manjefique in french, and we are all stunned for a moment. Did i see hypothermia starting to set in? the answer is no, i was distracted, ok!! ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lqw37mj3FU

* * *

The Diagonal of Fools is a highly technical non-stop run/hike of about 163km over Mountains with 9643m meters of elevation gain approximately diagonally across the island of Reunion from south to north through the foothills of the Piton de la Fournaise (active volcano) and calderas Cilaos, Mafate and Salazie, primarily via the hiking trails of the GR.  The maximum time of test, to be filed, is set at 66 hours (sixty six hours), including all breaks, subject to passing the various checkpoints before closing time. See http://traileruption.blogspot.com/

* * *

We started the race 21 October 10pm from the south of reunion island at sea level at cape mechant. It was a mild tropical 22 degC outside. 2634 crazy people entered the race mostly from mainland france and reunion, i were the only south african. We were driven by busses to the sport stadium , where kit check was done, snacks were served and the fools given a last show of local island dancers with a guy blowing flames out of his mouth in true french glamour. Did I mention nobody speaks english on this island, Nobody. You need to improvise, use body language or learn french to survive. It was a huge mission for me to just get to the start of this race...  The moon was full and we were at the foot of the volcano, the vibe in the stadium was starting to get electric with a slight kink of crazyness, it is what I live for.

The gun went off and off we were, everybody starting to squash each other trying to get ahead, it looked like the start of comrades combined with a bull stampede, completely crazy. We climbed mildly for the first 15km to 700m, and the next 7km through dense muddy forest to 2250m. Every few hundred meters you would find a guy throwing up, that wern't eating or going up to quickly, I took it easy and felt good. You expand so much heat going up,  so I didn't wear anything warm.

I reached Foc-Foc, the CP just before the rim of the volcano, here even at night you can see the landscape changing to something simular to mars. Volcanic formations out of this world. It was slighly cooler here but with me still hot from the climb I carried on. I was running feeling good, and then we started hearing the volcano. This was so amazing, a noise I never heard before. Reaching the edge we saw the amazing specticle and I stopped to make a movie, eventualy I got a good shot using my gorilla pod (mini tripod) and putting my camera in night mode. What I didn't realise was that it was 3 degC outside, and my hands was starting to lose feeling. When I wanted to stop my movie and unclip my tripod I couldn't, I got a big scare. I couldn't open a energy bar with my hands and had to use my mouth, I couldn't put on my rain jacket. I had to get moving very quickly.

I reached the volcano observatory and refreshment point where I manged to get some lukewarm soup out of them but I couldn't open my bladder to refill, and had to beg the french guy that didn't understand me but eventualy saw my hands were freezing. I kept on going, the sun came up and my core temprature restored.

We were high above the clouds with very unique landscapes unfolding constantly, volunteers waiting en-route were encouraging you with ale-ale, this was great, and after another climb with magnificent scenery I reached a downhill I could run fast and passed a lot of people, this was great.

It is impossible for me to describe a race like this in every detail, but what I can tell you this island is out of this world diverse dramatic and like nothing you have seen before, and the trail condition differ constantly as does the landscape. The people racing can be described as lemmings as in the highly addictive computer game where thousands of little fools get send over an extreme obstacle course and only a few surviving to the end.

The main volcano on the island is 3000m high and extrinct, around the volcano lies 3 calderas, basically sucken in land masses around the volcano dropping from the edges from +-2300m sleeply down to 1000m, each caldera has a community of people living inside it completely surronded by mountains.

We aproached the first caldera Salazie though dense forests of rolling hills, and I followed a group of french people. My mind started playing tricks on me here and I though the french people were conspiring against me, remember I was just hearing french since my arrival on the island and I didn't understand a word. We dropped steeply into Salazie the caldera with the most water, waterfalls everywhere hundreds of them. This is rivendale, but better and home to the iron hole (Trou de Fer) http://www.crystalcanyons.net/Pages/TripReports/TroudeFer.htm, one of the canyons I will have to come back for canyoneering. I reached the town of Hell-Bourg and the 70km mark 16h7m into the race having done 3600m of climbing. Then we had to get out of the caldera climbing from 1000m to 2480m via cap anglais, this climb plays mental games on everybody, it is steep short switchbacks through dense forests that never seems to end, and you can't see the top. I reached the top just before nightfall and opted to move on and get down into the next caldera where i would take my first sleep break.

The next caldera Cilaos drops down via technical switchbacks over 5km to 1400m, i joined a group running a nice pace, and enjoyed this technical downhill at night. Your mind in deep concentration as your body negotiates the rocks at speed. This was an awesome mind blowing downhill, made for technical trail running. I reached the Stadium in Cilaos the 90km mark 22h31m into the race, and slept for 2 hours. I rested well ate something and headed out just before midnight. Each caldera is so unique. We skirted canyon walls and climbed out of the caldera using switchbacks, it was another challenging climb and i reached the top just before sunrise, before dropping down into Mafate.

Salazie and Cilaos are barely accessible via roads from the coastline, but these roads are exgeneering feats and very sheer mountain roads.  Mafate is totally inaccessible via roads and the community relies on a chopper flying in food and solar power.

Dropping into Mafate as the sun came up was amazing, this is an amazing caldera, very remote and very beautiful. I reached the bottom feeling extremely good and started running fast deep into the caldera, i enjoyed the technical running and special feeling of complete isolation. It was a long day, seeing out of this world beauty, but somewhere along the way in mafate i picked up a knee injury running a downhill that would make downhills not runnable anymore but uphills ok. I reached Deux Bras the 126km mark slowly after i got hold of a wooden stick to support me. It was 41h41m  into the race having slept 2 hours, and i was doing reality checks in my mind if i can survive another 40km on a swollen painful knee. I got a medic to massage my legs strap my knee, ate something, and slept for 2 hours.  I refused to give up even though the pain was excruciating, and i knew the inflammation was just gonna get worse. I left just before nightfall.

It was amazing here, some very steep scrambling holding onto cables at places we used steep switch backs and traversed up a cliff, i loved this and uphills wasn't that painful for my knee as the downhills. When we got to the top we reached a remote town on the escarpment with locals cheering us on. Then we had to go down again and it was a single track going steep down. There were hundreds of people before and after me, and it was gonna take me all night with my knee and i wouldn't have made progress as i would have to let everybody pass the whole time. So i just had to block out the pain and run the downhill without passing out. Here i found that your body can actually handle allot more pain than you think before you pass out. It was a long night, but i reached Possession 142km just before 2am,  51h 54m into the race, where i slept another 2 hours to normalize the pain.

The rest of the route i would do uphills as fast as i can, and go slow on downhills trying not to pass out. I eventually reached Colorado high in the mountains above St Dennis, where people indicated to me i am starting to drift (swing like a drunk person) across the paths. Colorado is 5km before the finish and i reached it 60h43m into the race, where i got some pain pills to get me to the finish. The view here is out of the world, and the vibe of the locals cheered me up tremendously. High above the clouds a very special place, so close but yet so far.

The pain pills helped allot, i got moving going down the very steep switchbacks and reached the finish in 62h49m37s. I made it!! and got my photos taken and received the medal of my dreams. It was all worth it, and an experience i will never ever forget in my live.

Victories often occur after you see no way to succeed but refuse to give up anyway...

1189 lemmings (fools) (people) almost 50% abandoned the race, and I made it, despite a terrible knee injury that made downhills outpassable painful, I could have had a better time if I didn't injure myself.

Spaniard Kilian Jornet won the race in an astonishing 23h 17m 26.

No report can do this race justice, It is also more than a race, It is also a celebration of French-Reunion culture.

Though I'd share some of it with you adventure minded people.

See ya

Jacques Booysen

--

"Dream big and live those dreams. Why ration passion. Pursue Passion. Death and/or old age is coming, we must live sweet. The time is now. It is not only life, but the quality of this life." - Mike Libecki

Team yoshomi's adventure report - SwaziX Pro Lite

Written By Carine (cat-I)
*
*Prelude*
'Are we gonna do it?', Pablo asked.
'We might as well', came the answer from G-man without even thinking about
it.

I was already entered for the Transbaviaans the next weekend, and it's
probably not the wisest thing to do two sleep-deprived xtreme-ish events two
weekends in a row. But the 10'th SwaziXtreme was also going to be the last,
and I had some unfinished business with that race. When Theuns chose
kilimanjaro above racing with his favourite team, we roped Mummy-man in.
G-mans sister and brother-in-law was going to be the seconds.

But 2 days before race-day the seconds' kid landed himself on a drip in
hostpital, and we were frantically searching for last-minute seconds. At
18:00 on 5 August, the day before we left, we were still Secondless in
Swaziland and making all kinds of plans to second ourselves. By some miracle
we sourced 2 lastminute seconds that seemed very willing (and even eager) to
be our slaves for the weekend. One of them still had to collect his passport
the next morning ... but the race was on.

Anyway ... so we got at the race venue long after dark. Excellent feast that
Darron organised for us ... then race briefing. It was gonna be a long 3
days. Did we train anough? oh well - too late now. We decided to only go for
the compulsory points and take the 2-hour penalty for missing the optionals
- to try make the distance more doable.

*Day 1*
Hike about 10 kays
Cycle about - 40?
Paddle about 15 kays on a canal; includes a 21-point turn to get into the
flume
Hike 7 kays
<*sport *people go to bed, *pro *people continue>
Hike 20 kays
Bike 40 kays

Race started 6 on Friday morning. Was great to see so many familiar faces
out there: the D&D team of oupa Gerrit & Brendan, team Bad Medicine, lickety
split. The stronger teams collected OPs while we went for CPs only, so we
were fortunate to see teams like Jabberwock out there!

Here's Pablo carrying his bike over the last obstacle just before the paddle
- G-man rode some of this, but he was in front of me so i couldn't get a pic
of him - for some or other reason Mummy-man and Pablo refused to ride it.



At the start of the night-hike we took a wrong route, so decided to use an
aardvark-hole to get under the electrical fence, rather than going back the
1k. Here's mummy beneath the fence with g-man and p keeping him away from
the shocking part of the fence.


There were lots of warnings about hippos and crocs - Red Ants caught us
while we were taking this picture - we kept up with them for about a kay -
then their lights disappeared in the distance.


We hiked for a very long time, then climbed a mountain and hiked some more.
Finally got to the bikes. seconds left some cheesies and a packet of
biscuits with the bikes - much appreciated and quickly devoured. We tackled
the downhills - but the sleepmonster attacked me badly, so I don't remember
much of this. We did sleep for 10 minutes or so, i think. 'Twas daylight by
the time we reached the camp again. Requested breakfast from the seconds
before we quickly collected the last MTB CP for thsi leg (while other teams
were still discussing where it should be) and then tucked into bacon and
eggs. we started day2 about 2 hours late.

*Day 2*
Cycle about 10k very scenic, flat and on mostly singletrack - yaay
River paddle about 25 kays with crocodiles, rapids and a few swims
Hike 20 kays in the rain and most of it in the dark - but it felt like 50
kays
<*sport *people go to bed, *pro *people continue>
<*pro lite* people decide to skip the night-bike and night-hike in the rain, and rather get some sleep>

The first cycle to the river-put-in was very enjoyable. the sun was up, the
sleepmonsters gone and the eggs & bacon went down well.
River paddle was great!
The boat was heavy, so the portages was tiring. We fell out a few times, and
seemed to be a sandbank-magnet - but a very enjoyable paddle. Met up with
team Numa Optics who had a shoulder-incident in one of the rapids - we were
exchanging names, contact details and painkillers when the race helicopter
noticed the patient under the space blanket, so we could leave the scene and
fall out of our boats again.

A short rest, then onto the hiking leg. a very pretty rainbow and dark skies
warned of a wet night. Soon it was night again. Sleepmonsters came out
again, but there was no chance of powernap - we had to keep moving to keep
warm. A convoy of seconding vehicles past us with the bad news that the
transition was still 8 kays away. It felt like 20.

We finally arrived to a hot potato-and-minc-meal prepared by the
lastminute-seconds. yum. chocolates, and then decision-making-time: do we
want to go mtb, then hike, be out there in the rain all night .... or maybe
do the sport-thing and sleep. We opted for sleep. seconds drove to where the
next campsite would have been and pitched camp. too soon it was morning -
the 3rd day.

*Day 3*
hike 20 kays
bike 80 kays
how hard could this be?

To soon it was the morning of day 3. Having not done 2 of the pro legs, we
were now on the *SwaziX Pro Lite* course. Here we arrive on a soccerfield -
not much navigational skills needed here, we were escorted to the point.



A beautiful hike with some spot-on navigation by Pablo and G-man - we even
managed to collect quite a lot of optional points :) Here they are
discussing a particularly interesting option:


Then we went down into the kloof - here's g-man on one of the more technical
descents:


We waited for a long time at the jumar - about 3 hours. Could have caught
some sleep - but it was daylight and we didn't feel any need after last
night's 4 hours. Here's the Gigima-guys checking out the girls on the jumar



A quick jump in a pool, a very pretty hike out of the kloof, and we reached
the transition before sunset. The seconds had a hot meal ready.
Here's Handsome in his seconding outfit - we never saw the pompom-dance,
though, cos we arrived too late :(



We fitted lights. Navigation was going to become much more difficult with
roads that aren't on the map, raod ont he map that dont' exist anymore, and
villages where there were nothing 20 years ago when the map was printed.

So off we went. Some excellent navigation from G-man to find the first
control that was blown over by the wind. Then down a very technical rocky
descent that the Trance kind of didn't want to ride. Saw Red ants briefly.
Then up ont he other side, equally rocky and technical - so we had to carry
the bikes up. More excellent navigation from Gman fr the next control.
Finally out of the gorge, met up with Alex P (Cipralex), then onto more
ridable roads. The rest of the night is a blur - we might have slept once or
twice for 10 minutes at a time. At some stage I became aware of light again
- it was the 4th morning.

*Day 4*
*
*
Actually, this was still part of day 3. but the sun was up, we were on
cattletracks and it was a beautiful day. WE were tired and feet were swollen
in protest to the abuse, but the map looked up - no more hike&bikes and no
more deep gorges. Sometime during the morning P got had to fix a puncture.
Here we are taking a break jsut before we discovered the puncture - kind of
tired.



Red Ants and Cipralex caught us about here - we did see them a few more
times before they disappeared off into the distance. Then we disappeared
into the distance too - it was such a good sight to see the finish venue!!!!

*Prologue*

We had to pack & leave immediately to try catch G-man's flight back to
C-town. The seconds drove us back - none of us were in a state to drive. We
missed the flight anyway :(

- Would I have liked to complete the full race (and not convert ourselves
to the 'light' option?) No. I don't think i'm made for these extreme events
- the sleepmonster is not my friend.
- Would I race with G-man, Pablo or Mummy-man again? Absolutely! Well,
maybe 'race' is too strong a term ... but i'd tackle any adventure with any
of them any time!!! Not only for their endurance and physical ability - nor
for the excellent navigational skilles (we managed to stay with far stronger
teams on that last night-leg, because we always knew where we were) - but
most of all for their ability to handle sleep-deprived people (read: me) -
for their very strong wills to face whatever, and endure it (cos complaining
won't help) - for their calmness even when there's no hint of a second the
day before the race, for their ability to adapt to any situation and see
solutions in everything - for being so tired, yet still being so kind and
funny and helpful and resourceful - *team Yoshimi -* *you guys rock!*
- Would I recommend posting desperate please on the mailinglist for
seconds? hell yes - hours before we left, we still haven't confirmed any
seconds - and those that we got, were super! thank you Heinrich and
Handsome, not only for the hot meals and being our slaves, but for the sense
of humour, for innocently asking if we were considering getting any optional
points, and for keeping yourselves busy when we took to long to get to
transitions.
- Life is Good!

Do you know the cradle?

Who needs the cape when we have the cradle of humankind with it's complex of limestone caves. I went wild caving in bat-cave on saturday, what a privilege. There are alot of wild caves in this area still to be explored and discovered.



"The Cradle of Humankind Site comprises a strip of a dozen dolomitic limestone caves containing the fossillised remains of ancient forms of animals, plants and most importantly, hominids. The dolomite in which the caves formed, started out as coral reefs growing in a warm shallow sea about 2.3 billion years ago."

Getaway Magazine's Photos - Lying down game

1100km in Tibet - 20 days to go!!!!

http://tibet1100km.blogspot.com/

It has been a busy month in Paris

10 Apr: Parys Jakalsdraai 6 hour solo night run,
I did 11 laps of 4.2 km = 46km trail and came 3rd in the solo category.

18 Apr: Climbing at Swinburne: Long Bolt to Freedom, My first multi pitch climb turned out to be an epic 9 hour climb after our rope got stuck on a pitch and we were stranded on a small ledge for 3 hours.

1 May: Parys Southern Skies 24h MTB race, our team came 4th.

3 days of kloofing in the magalies

I decided to get away from the city and spend easter weekend on the magalies mountains, joining up with various parties having planned kloofing trips, in total i spend 3 days kloofing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kloofing doing 5 different kloofs.

Day1:

We traversed the magalies ridge from breeds neck entering upper tonquani from the ridge line, went down, doing the 7 meter kloof jump swimming and negotiating boulders in the river. We didn't do lower tonquani as we went up boulder kloof were i saw an interesting rock pillar that looked like it had a huge easter egg on top of it. We then went down easter kloof and enjoyed a natural bum slide. I decided to camp at mountain sanctuary park.

Day2:

Mountainbike up breeds neck 2 times, ride halfway to hekpoort and back, 60km total.

Go down grootkloof and abseil the 12m waterfall, the BEST kloof in the whole magalies with +-30 meter vertical cliff walls 3 meter apart!! Camp and overnight at grootkloof.

Day3:

From mountain sanctuary crossing cedarberg kloof, we headed down upper tonquani, doing the 7 meter kloof jump again, swimming and negotiating boulders in the river while it started raining. Going past boulder kloof this time and we headed down to lower tonquani picking up a family group with small children while the rain came down hard the helped them down practicing the art of family-kloofing**

** Family kloofing: A normal unsuspecting family, unfit and sometimes overweight, tricked into going down a kloof, once they are in the kloof they reach the point of no return and have to go down, this normally takes the whole day as it is very tedious for them, because they go so slow you get very cold very soon, and they won't forgive you for a year afterwards, were after they would love you for showing them a piece of heaven.

GARMIN WARTRAIL 2010

Garmin Wartrail 2010,

I was the missing No. 6...

Day1: 65km Skyrun

When last were you alone on an unspoilt mountain wilderness untouched by the human hand?

When last did you have to take action against the elements just to survive?

When last were you lost on your own and without water far from civilization?

As humans I believe we are meant to run and trek over mountains, that is what our bodies was designed to do by God in order to survive, but modern day city life has taken us away from nature and how we were meant to live. This weekend at the Garmin Wartail Tri challenge i returned to nature again and had to get out of my city life comfort zone and fight the elements to survive. What a Great feeling of Freedom !!!! You are sure to encounter the 4 elements on this mountain: WIND,FIRE,EARTH,WATER

We started 4am in front of the Hotel in Lady Grey, I was relaxed this year as it was my 3rd wartrail and as i did skyrun (using my Garmin GPS) last year December and survived and didn't worry. Maybe i was too relaxed as i didn't check my GPS the night before, but i reckoned if i just stay with a group i would be fine. I stayed with a group and reached the radio tower CP1 feeling strong, doing much better than previous years. I carried on reaching olympys CP2, where the marshal said there were 10 people still behind me. A few people stopped here because of injuries, but i filled up with water and carried on. I was now on my own as i couldn't see anyone on front of me, but felt fine because if the marshal were right there were still 10 behind me. I was on my own, and suddenly i was surrounded by 20 vultures flying low and soaring in the wind checking me out, this was amazing!! 1st Element WIND. At this stage i remember getting goosebumps that i will be going over the dragons back later in the day.

I carried on and the route looked familiar, after going through a gate i followed the path and at a stage it didn't look familiar anymore, so i turned on my Garmin, i discovered that the GPS tracks that could be followed were empty, and trying to follow the 2 programmed routes showed off the map or i didn't understand it. At least the way-points were on the GPS (as i discovered later), but the main problem was i got spoiled following the GPS tracks on Skyrun last year, and it was not on my GPS this year you see. Well it was probably an operator error by me, but i was confused by the instrument at this time, and i fell back to my map and compass. I felt that i was close to snow-don or maybe passed it, being on the northern side of the mountain facing east looking out for snow-don peak south-east with the CP3 just before it, well here i must have done something wrong because i couldn't see snow-don peak or the CP with my map orientated and i panicked. (note to self, never panic). The rest of my day turned out to be a hard day in the office, but i prefer the mountain office far above a city office. I was quite high up on the ridge and then i saw and heard lighting to add to the panic. 2nd element FIRE. So i moved down very quickly.

The rest of my day was a bit of a blur of panic, trying to phone adrian etc. standing still not to lose the bad reception and taking down GPS coordinates, speaking to stephan and realizing the sweeper should be close by, my main concern was that i probably missed CP3 walking on the wrong side of the mountain, and that they will start looking for me if i skipped it. I waisted allot of time here because it didn't want to lose cell reception. Eventually walking to the south-west side of the mountain revealed the kraal with CP3 but nobody there accept the locals with their dogs, I was behind the sweeper! I decided to just stay on the ridge and head east and everything will come right, and maybe adrian will get reception soon and get my messages. So i headed east towards avoca or what i though was avoca, and eventually adrian phoned, he was waiting at avoca and gave me the coordinates and i followed it on the GPS. After say another hour i realized that avoca is not really getting closer, but i thought it was because of the cloud cover as my GPS kept on saying bad reception. Then suddenly avoca pointed back west and i knew i was lost. I phoned adrian and gave him my position, apparently i was on the wrong mountain heading into the transkei. Crisis! I was on the wrong piece of mountain. EARTH the 3rd element.

At this stage my water was finished, and the plan was for me to head back to snowdon CP3 and get off the mountain, going to farmer rob's house where they will start looking for me. I ran out of water forgot to eat,fell over every possible rock placed in front of me, chose the worst paths bundu bashing my way back to snowdon CP3 with my GPS, my Garmin saved my life and i made it there around 15:30, without WATER the 4th element. Eventually i took water out of a stagnant pool where "padda vissies" were swimming between the cattle dung, but i just decided i will rather drink dirty water and get sick than dehydrate.

The locals at CP3 tried to radio farmer rob, and showed me a road to follow. I followed the road until it stopped. I tried to find it again, but eventually realized i seriously must make a plan to get off the mountain before nightfall, looking on the map i saw a river and what looked like a farmhouse. I moved to the western side of the ridge and words can't express how happy i was when i saw the farmhouse far below in the valley. I felt like Bear Grills from ultimate survival, that found civilization after an expedition. And i started making plans on where it would be best to get off the mountain. It was 16:00 now and i had 2 hours of effective daylight left to get off the mountain. Here again you don't realize how hight you are up until you have to get down. This is a high mountain.

I eventually decided to get down to the river and follow it down the mountain, as if i don't make it down in daylight i could just follow the river and it would lead me to the farm, it would also provide me with drinking water. It turned out to be the worst bundu bashing experience ever and i for one like bundu bashing. It was hard, but around 18:00 (14hours) i reached the first farm house. It was empty. Moving further down i saw people and went closer.

I walked strait into about 20 people having a party drinking and having a braai,

(*i froze in my steps*)

(*they froze*)

The one child asked "mommy, who is this guy?"

(*all quiet*)

I said:

"I am looking for farmer rob, am i at the right farm?",

they said

"No, do you know what you are doing here?".

Eventually after i told them the whole story and being questioned and mentioning Adrian Saffy, Henk said he knows him as he studied with him and would gladly help me get out of my predicament. Henk phoned and let stephan also a friend know where I, No. 6 was.

Waiting 2 hours to be fetched, I ended up having 3 tequilas and a lekker chili dog while listening to their braai stories about iPod player speakers that is waterproof with lights illuminating and that can be used as vis-aas. Eventually i was fetched and stephan also had to take strafdop.

Day2: Mountainbike 135km

After re-hydrating from the previous day, The mountain biking went smooth. And i enjoyed passing the motorbikes on the long downhill. That was until i reached a snot grad stream, fell and got a roasty. But i carried on and finished middle of the field. It was good, and the downhills enjoyable.

Day3: Paddle 60km

I did'n plan to do the paddle this year, next year.

The Gravity is stronger on this mountain and it's surrounds than anywhere else, and for that reason i will keep on coming back for more.

Jacques

Garmin Wartrail 2010, I was the missing No. 6...

When last were you alone on an unspoilt mountain wilderness untouched
by the human hand?
When last did you have to take action against the elements just to survive?When last were you alone on an unspoilt mountain wilderness untouched

by the human hand?

When last did you have to take action against the elements just to survive?

When last were you lost on your own and without water far from civilization?

As humans I believe we are meant to run and trek over mountains, that

is what our bodies was designed to do by God in order to survive, but

modern day city life has taken us away from nature and how we were

meant to live. This weekend at the Garmin Wartail Tri challenge i

returned to nature again and had to get out of my city life comfort

zone and fight the elements to survive. What a Great feeling of

Freedom !!!! You are sure to encounter the 4 elements on this

mountain: WIND,FIRE,EARTH,WATER

We started 4am in front of the Hotel in Lady Grey, I was relaxed this

year as it was my 3rd wartrail and as i did skyrun (using my Garmin

GPS) last year December and survived and didn't worry. Maybe i was too

relaxed as i didn't check my GPS the night before, but i reckoned if i

just stay with a group i would be fine. I stayed with a group and

reached the radio tower CP1 feeling strong, doing much better than

previous years. I carried on reaching olympys CP2, where the marshal

said there were 10 people still behind me. A few people stopped here

because of injuries, but i filled up with water and carried on. I was

now on my own as i couldn't see anyone on front of me, but felt fine

because if the marshal were right there were still 10 behind me. I was

on my own, and suddenly i was surrounded by 20 vultures flying low and

soaring in the wind checking me out, this was amazing!! 1st Element

WIND. At this stage i remember getting goosebumps that i will be going

over the dragons back later in the day.

I carried on and the route looked familiar, after going through a gate

i followed the path and at a stage it didn't look familiar anymore, so

i turned on my Garmin, i discovered that the GPS tracks that could be

followed were empty, and trying to follow the 2 programmed routes

showed off the map or i didn't understand it. At least the way-points

were on the GPS (as i discovered later), but the main problem was i

got spoiled following the GPS tracks on Skyrun last year, and it was

not on my GPS this year you see. Well it was probably an operator

error by me, but i was confused by the instrument at this time, and i

fell back to my map and compass. I felt that i was close to snow-don

or maybe passed it, being on the northern side of the mountain facing

east looking out for snow-don peak south-east with the CP3 just

before it, well here i must have done something wrong because i

couldn't see snow-don peak or the CP with my map orientated and i

panicked. (note to self, never panic). The rest of my day turned out

to be a hard day in the office, but i prefer the mountain office far

above a city office. I was quite high up on the ridge and then i saw

and heard lighting to add to the panic. 2nd element FIRE. So i moved

down very quickly.

The rest of my day was a bit of a blur of panic, trying to phone

adrian etc. standing still not to lose the bad reception and taking

down GPS coordinates, speaking to stephan and realizing the sweeper

should be close by, my main concern was that i probably missed CP3

walking on the wrong side of the mountain, and that they will start

looking for me if i skipped it. I waisted allot of time here because

it didn't want to lose cell reception. Eventually walking to the

south-west side of the mountain revealed the kraal with CP3 but nobody

there accept the locals with their dogs, I was behind the sweeper! I

decided to just stay on the ridge and head east and everything will

come right, and maybe adrian will get reception soon and get my

messages. So i headed east towards avoca or what i though was avoca,

and eventually adrian phoned, he was waiting at avoca and gave me the

coordinates and i followed it on the GPS. After say another hour i

realized that avoca is not really getting closer, but i thought it was

because of the cloud cover as my GPS kept on saying bad reception.

Then suddenly avoca pointed back west and i knew i was lost. I phoned

adrian and gave him my position, apparently i was on the wrong

mountain heading into the transkei. Crisis! I was on the wrong piece

of mountain. EARTH the 3rd element.

At this stage my water was finished, and the plan was for me to head

back to snowdon CP3 and get off the mountain, going to farmer rob's

house where they will start looking for me. I ran out of water forgot

to eat,fell over every possible rock placed in front of me, chose the

worst paths bundu bashing my way back to snowdon CP3 with my GPS, my

Garmin saved my life and i made it there around 15:30, without WATER

the 4th element. Eventually i took water out of a stagnant pool where

"padda vissies" were swimming between the cattle dung, but i just

decided i will rather drink dirty water and get sick than dehydrate.

The locals at CP3 tried to radio farmer rob, and showed me a road to

follow. I followed the road until it stopped. I tried to find it

again, but eventually realized i seriously must make a plan to get off

the mountain before nightfall, looking on the map i saw a river and

what looked like a farmhouse. I moved to the western side of the ridge

and words can't express how happy i was when i saw the farmhouse far

below in the valley. I felt like Bear Grills from ultimate survival,

that found civilization after an expedition. And i started making

plans on where it would be best to get off the mountain. It was 16:00

now and i had 2 hours of effective daylight left to get off the

mountain. Here again you don't realize how hight you are up until you

have to get down. This is a high mountain.

I eventually decided to get down to the river and follow it down the

mountain, as if i don't make it down in daylight i could just follow

the river and it would lead me to the farm, it would also provide me

with drinking water. It turned out to be the worst bundu bashing

experience ever and i for one like bundu bashing. It was hard, but

around 18:00 (14hours later) i reached the first farm house. It was

empty. Moving further down i saw people and went closer. I walked

strait into about 20 people having a party drinking and having a

braai, (*i froze in my steps*), (*they froze*). The one child asked

"mommy, who is this guy?" (*all quiet*). I said "I am looking for

farmer rob, am i at the right farm?", they said "No, do you know what

you are doing here?". Eventually after i told them the whole story and

being questioned and mentioning Adrian Saffy, Henk said he knows him

as he studied with him and would gladly help me get out of my

predicament. Henk phoned and let stephan also a friend know where I,

No. 6 was.

Waiting 2 hours to be fetched, I ended up having 3 tequilas and a

lekker chili dog while listening to their braai stories about iPod

player speakers that is waterproof with lights illuminating and that

can be used as vis-aas. Eventually i was fetched and stephan also had

to take strafdop.

When last were you lost on your own and without water far from civilization?

As humans I believe we are meant to run and trek over mountains, that
is what our bodies was designed to do by God in order to survive, but
modern day city life has taken us away from nature and how we were
meant to live. This weekend at the Garmin Wartail Tri challenge i
returned to nature again and had to get out of my city life comfort
zone and fight the elements to survive. What a Great feeling of
Freedom !!!! You are sure to encounter the 4 elements on this
mountain: WIND,FIRE,EARTH,WATER

Yster Vark Darkzone AR - Team Platpoot

We started Friday night 10pm and finished around 10am Saturday morning. We came in 3rd overall out of the 12 teams. We weren't official though as we were a 3-male team, and 4-mixed is the official category. It was a fun race, including a 5 meter cliff jump at night.

The grass and thorns cut my legs badly, note to self get gators.

I need to work on my NAV, as i can't.

Position	TEAM	Type	Final Race Time	Course
	Red Ants	4male	07:43:00	Full
	Hawkstone	4male	08:57:00	Full
	Platpoot	3male	09:46:00	Full
1st Official	Kinetic	4mix	10:08:00	Full
2nd Official	Fly-by-Night	4mix	11:23:00	Full
3rd Official	Tshanduku	4mix	12:15:00	Full
	LAVA	4male	12:55:00	Full

Attakwas Extreme 135 km

There is something to say about riding from the interior of a continent to the sea with your mountain bike, no wonder all of these races like karoo2coast, sani2sea and joburg2sea are getting so popular. Attakwas is one of these 2sea races, and it feels kind of special riding to the sea.

On Kingsley Holgate's expedition from Cape to Cairo, he carried a zulu calabash filled with Atlantic sea water in the cape and emptied it in the Mediterranean sea at Cairo, why did he do it? because it was kind of special. So why did i ride 135km (Total ascent 2950 m) with my bike from oudtshoorn to the mouth of the great brak river over the Outeniqua mountains, well it was kind of special, a beautiful area and good cape epic training even though i just carried energy bars and water in my bladder.

The race started at the Chandelier Game & Ostrich Show farm in Oudtshoorn and followed mostly jeep track into the Doringrivier Nature reserve where a sable buck ran on an open karoo plain next to us for a
long time, thinking he is one of us. It quickly becomes undulating with rocky descents where somebody shouted to me "don't be a hero!" with me laughing and bombing down. Some river crossings and a technical jeep track took us onto an unforgiving rise.

When you reach the attakwas kloof, you go deep down into valleys and climb out again all of the time, the down-hills was fun and the climbs hard, an even though there were no single-track every other terrain was encountered, sand, mud, gravel, rocky down-hills and really really steep technical hills with fynbos everywhere. I saw the mccains, and tweet told me that they passed this area a few year back in the Eden adventure race.

After getting a spur burger at a water point, the last 40km takes forever, the undulating hills hard (but good training), and you start looking for the sea like a little child going there for the first time. They say it is the hardest single day mountain-bike race in the country, and they might be right.

The race ends on a downhill, and seeing the sea felt great!!

739 riders started, 511 finished,

I came 375 in 10:18:30,

Kevin Evans won in 5:43:52

Race cutoff was 12 hours, i made it, and got some good saddle time and experience.

10 hours in the saddle wasn't that bad, as the next day i went adventure caving in the cango caves and rode an ostrich.It was as well organised race, and i enjoyed it, even though i missed
my good old single-track.

The Mummy Man

My Extreme Ironing Collection