The Expedition

On the last weekend of October will we embark on an adventure of the ‘Jonkershoek Marathon’.  This is a route summiting seven peaks in the Jonkershoek Mountains, near Stellenbosch; the route is just over 30-kilometres in distance with 3,000-metres of elevation gain. There is a rich history to the route, with the earliest attempt recorded in 1963, with the current record standing at 8h 35 min, just indicating the severe terrain of the route. 

 

The Jonkershoek Transverse Route

Only a quarter of the route follows established paths that demands lots of navigational and mountaineering skills to complete. It also requires many scouting trips, not only to familiarise oneself with the route, which in sections is only marked by strategic cairns, but also with the various escape routes. There is no official route description, although most of the route can be deciphered from the individual descriptions offered in “Jonkershoek en sy berge”. It is definitely not for the faint-hearted and few people have done it more than once since the effort has been compared to that of an Ironman event. As always, there are those for whom the challenge is simply irresistible. - As listed on the website FEAT (Fascinating Expedition and Adventure Talks)

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