September 2018
When I first heard about Damien Schumann's plan to traverse the Cape Fold Mountain range I knew that I had to tag along, what an awesome opportunity to document his expedition and spend some time in high places I've always dreamt of visiting! With limited time on my side - I joined him for 7 days and spent most of it between the Hex river mountains and the Langeberg area - both regions chosen for their rugged beauty and challenging terrain. This trip is one of my most memorable mountain experiences to date, mostly off trail and self navigating, visiting some of the gnarliest terrain I have travelled through! All the while focussing on best capturing Damien's story and the beauty of the environment around us.
Damien went on to complete his traverse in a total of 30 days, covering a total of 1136km with total elevation gain of 45 842m. He is the first person to complete the entire traverse to date, a gate-to-gate route starting at Pakhuis Pass in the Cederberg and ending in Groendal near Uitenage.
The prep began by plastering his entire apartment with maps of the route, studying every detail of the physical and logistical challenge that lay ahead
Damien navigated our way through the mountains by using government issue topo maps and his GPS watch. He recce’d many of the sections in the months leading up to the journey to confirm they were in fact passable.
Daily feet maintenance became more and more integral to completion
The magical Arangieskop hut. This was our overnight spot for the section that runs from Robertson along the mountains to Montagu. Otherwise known as the Langeberg traverse. 30km of off-trail scrambling and ridge-running across incredible terrain.
High fives as we go our separate ways, after sharing many good hours together in the mountains.