Trail Building

We are in a section of the Boven climbing area called Wonderland. It is made up of several crags which, until recently, were not connected. Most people climb at the Hallucinogen wall which is on the Mountain Club of South Africa's property. It has many moderate routes but it is not a very tall crag. Access to the other crags was either by abseiling in from above or via trashing down bushy trails that were not much more than game trails. Baboon Buttress had a reasonable approach descent.
By linking the bases of all these crags, you make it much easier to climb multiple routes of similar grades in quick succession. Linking the bigger crags to the popular Hallucinogen wall will help to increase their traffic and hopefully also the development of more longer routes. In addition to this, there was a completely undeveloped area which stays dry even during pouring rain that has the potential to relieve much rainy day frustration: The Rainy Day Crag.
Our new trail starts at the Tranquilitas Chalets. A brush cutter and some work with hoes is all that was needed to create a single track across the veld. Through rocky sections, heavier tools and more sweat are required.

In the early days, the trail was marked across open areas with cairns. Now the tread is so well used that the cairns are superflous. We'll probably leave them though so that the trail remains obvious if the grass grows back.
In the undergrowth at the base of the crags, the work is a lot different. Lots of time with pick axe and loppers. Here is a small stream crossing that also required step building, chainsaw work and stepping stones.
The whole thing is an ongoing work in progress. As we improve the worst sections, the next squeaky wheel becomes more obvious. At this point, we are actually abandoning original work and moving the trail in several locations. Initially, Michael and Glenn did most of the building with some help from Chris and Gustav. Now we are bringing in hired help and that is why we have started marking sections of work using hazard tape. Here the tape goes straight along a contour where the current trail makes a sharp steep ascent to the left.
Here is another case where the final trail will take a different line to the one we originally worked. Often the original is the line of least resistance from where the original crag developers walked. Our longer term plan is to have the entire trail be "runnable" which is a good way to judge whether a section is done yet or still needs work.