Magaliesberg traverse

On Saturday, 17 September, Brian Gardner, Alex Pope and I had a proper go at the Magaliesberg Traverse FKT from Hartbeespoort Dam Wall to Olifantsnek Dam Wall via 14 trig beacons on the main Magaliesberg ridge. The previous FKT (set by Terence Vrugtman and Jason Gradwell) was 24h28m. After a very long day of mostly off-trail rocky terrain, we managed to take this down to 15h29m for the 76km route.

We set off at 2am and got quite lucky with the weather conditions - mostly slightly overcast with quite a strong wind blowing. It did clear up and get fairly hot in the early afternoon but we were within reach of the finish by then. We had packed light, hoping to run as much as possible, but as anyone who has been at the top of the ridge can vouch for, the terrain is very challenging and reduced us to a power hike for most of the day. We probably only ran 10km of the route at best!

It was a fantastic experience to traverse the entire ridge in one go - so many beautiful areas despite being very close to civilisation with the farms on either side. All of us got pretty sore from around the 50km mark onwards so the last few hours were quite a slog and it was with great relief that we enjoyed our beers at Olifantsnek Dam while the sun was setting.

Well done guys!

Congratulations! A proper epic day out. Did you have any encounters with angry land owners with loaded guns? Did you go down to get water or did you start with enough for the day?

Thanks guys We managed to avoid getting shot at (and had arranged permits where possible). As for water, that's certainly one of the more challenging aspects of this traverse. We found one water spot which didn't require too much descent off the main ridge so got away with carrying at most 3 liters each along the way. Still cutting it fine though!

Nicely done! Super quick time too. Well done

Wow Stijn! That is very impressive! Well done.

Although I never reported it back here, a buddy and myself did the same traverse in April (Hartbeespoort dam wall to Olifantsnek dam). However we did it in 5 days! We did take the time though to go down kloofs and find water each evening etc. And we spent an afternoon chilling at the Castle Gorge pools. I consider both my buddy and myself above average when it comes to hiking, scrambling, adventure racing etc. However we both found it tougher than the Drakensberg (we have both done a fair bit in the Berg), so massively well done for doing it in 15 hours (less than half the time we took). For me the main thing was that most of the traverse has pineapple sized rocks everywhere which means you have to place a lot of attention where you put your feet. You also get totally sick of always walking on rocks.

Also navigation with a map isn't actually the simplest on the Magaliesberg traverse. Its very easy to navigate as in where I want to go i/e. its very difficult to get lost. But its harder than one thinks to pick the optimal line. We spent our 1st 2 days of the traverse doing quite a bit more of unnecessary up and downs. By the third day we had the hang of it though. again, can't quite put my finger on it, but it is different to the Drakensberg.

It is quite a cool hike. There is an old Boer war trench ontop and some other interesting kloofs. But I don't think I will ever do it again. I'll much rather choose the drakensberg which to me is more enjoyable and somehow is easier for me too

@Stijn & co. well done on this... well impressive time!

I am thinking of doing this a little later in the year. I have the checkpoints of the trig beacons. But was wondering where you needed permits for? Are there places other than MCSA property where you need permits?

Do you guys maybe have a GPS track (or Google Earth kmz / kml file) - don't worry I'm in no way close to getting the FKT...

For permits, the only properties I know of that you can officially arrange access to are the MCSA properties. We also got a permit from Van Gaalen Cheese Farm as they have arranged access for their MTB trails (some of the roughest go up on the ridge) with many properties along the route too. For the rest, you'll have to be discreet (don't cross game fences, etc).

Brian was keen to keep the exact route we followed close to his chest, but if you've got the locations of the trig beacons, they are at most 7-8km apart and you pretty much follow the ridge all the way along, with slight diversions to avoid unnecessary climb and the rockiest bushy areas.

Feel free to drop me a PM if you have any other questions.

Hi

I completed a solo Traverse of the Magaliesberg on Thursday afternoon, 7 Sep 2017 after 29h46m from dam wall to dam wall including all the checkpoints in between.
Was a hard slog and definitely up there as one of my most memorable experiences

Cheers
Marlo

ICYMI: Our FKT was beaten on 26 August by Bennie Roux & Stewart Chaperon. New time to beat is 13h31m!