Newsletter February 2026
Download: MCSA February 2026 Newsletter (pdf, 11 Mb)
How a Comp Climber Sees the 2025 International Competition Season
Whether you climb rocks or train on plastic, you’ll understand the shared South African dream of wanting to climb overseas. This year, another special group of local talent had the privilege of wearing our green and gold abroad. From a Para-World Cup medal in Salt Lake City and new faces in the Open World Cup [...]
WALKING THE TRA TRA – MCSA member’s entry for the UIAA’s Mountain Protection Award – announced winner of The Best New Initiative award!
Pieter Holtzhausen is a member of Hottentots Holland Section, has had a close relationship with the Wupperthal community, having raised funds for the rebuilding of the town after a previous disasterous fire that swept through Wupperthal in December 2018, destroying more than 50 homes and much of the historic town centre. Walking the Tra Tra [...]
Young Explorer Award 2025 – Walking Home: A Drakensberg Expedition
Many mountain ranges are defined by their summits, hikers driven by the desire to stand on a peak and marvel at the world below. The Drakensberg, however, resists this logic. While it holds several notable summits, its deeper character is revealed in its passes: the demanding routes that rise from the Little Berg to the [...]
National Meet 2025 – Tygerberg Section, Cederberge
More than 100 Mountain Club members from across the country made their way to the Cederberg in early October for the 2025 MCSA National Meet, hosted by the Tygerberg Section. Over 10 days, Sanddrif served as the hub for a steady flow of hikers and climbers, with around 80 campers each night. Roughly 50 members [...]
E-newsletter July 2025
Download: MCSA July 2025 Newsletter (pdf | 3 Mb)
July Camp and National Meet 2024 – KZN, Cobham Farm
July Camp 2024 at Cobham certainly was a very different July Camp and, in many ways, was a very special camp too. In some respects, these differences were pleasantly noteworthy and in other ways, others were very distressing. Cobham had been the initial Camp Site of choice, but this had to be rejected out of [...]
The Annapurna Ascent: Episode 10: The First South African Summit
Warren Eva has become the first South African to reach the top of Annapurna. He and John Black launched their final push for the summit yesterday – and while John turned back in the early hours of this morning – Warren planted our national flag on the peak just before 05h30 SA time. HOT1027’s Tara [...]
SA Mountain Conference 2025
KZN Section member, Morgan Griffiths, is currently representing MCSA at the Southern African Mountain Conference 2025, being held at the Champagne Sports Resort in the Maloti-Drakensberg. Over 320 delegates from Southern Africa, Europe and North America have convened to share best practice in alpine research, management and governance. MCSA is a contributing sponsor to SAMC2025, [...]
Young Explorer Award 2024 – Mount Kenya: Stomach Bugs and Heavy Packs
The cold, crisp morning wind brushed gently across my face as I gazed longingly up. Up towards an unobtainable objective. Unobtainable not because I lacked the enthusiasm, not because I lacked the gear, not because I lacked the ability, but unobtainable because of the loss of a climbing partner. Ah, the tips of the dual [...]