MITRE Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size:  (small)
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This cache is only for the brave who seek adventure and have a good
level off experience in the Drakenberg. It over looks the valleys
off Cathedral Peak area from an altitude off 3023m.
The peak were first climbed in July 1938 by Brian Godbold, Frank
Leland Bybee and party. There are three different routes to choose
from. The North West route is the oldest and an E grade climb used
for placing the cache. The route starts on the west side of the
huge north ridge of the Mitre. The trick is to find the right
gully! When approaching the Mitre along the Bell_Twins path from
the Bell side, the gully is identifiable as the first gully that
leads all the way to the summit and the last that appears useable.
Looking up the gully will reveal some 'balancing rocks' on the
skyline. Follow this gully all the way up to where it seems to end
in a rock wall with two large cracks. The one on the left is a
difficult chimney that goes nowhere. The one on the right leads up
to a tiny knife-edge nek with a good peg. The Ntonjelane Needle is
visible just beyond this nek. From the nek, facing the Mitre, climb
left and up across very exposed rock (5m E) to reach a grass ledge.
Climb easily through a rock band and then scramble up to the summit
cones. Bypass the first and smaller cone on the south to reach the
larger cone. This provides a tricky boulder problem that is easiest
on the south side. On the way back abseiling straight down to the
nek avoids having to down-climb some tricky rock bands and also
avoids having to reverse the exposed traverse
Good Luck and Enjoy your Hunt!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Vg vf abg vafvqr ...