Dirtbagging in Cape town area in January?

Hey guys ill have like 6 weeks to burn right after christmas, hoping to hit up table mountain, cederberg, and rocklands for that period of time, i have a handful of questions so PM me if you are familiar with travelling in these areas and dont mind me asking a million wuestions, the basics are

1) how is it hitch hiking to these places
2) how easy is it to find partners
3) is there cheap/free camping
4)is it going to be waaaay to hot in january to climb

Any and all beta is appreciated!

Cheers

Bump?

I would caution you against camping in the Cape Town vicinity. Would you camp in New York City? There are plenty of backpacker's hostels, etc.

I would also recommend that you be cautious while hitchhiking. Its hard to understand as an American, but there is a latent race-based tension that you could cut with a knife. Once people discover you are an American they relax quite a bit. Definitely not trying to warn you off visiting, its not some lawless crazy city but do be heads-up, more so than you would be in a major urban area in US. To be frank, I felt most uncomfortable in 'white' areas where I could be mistaken for just another racist Cape Secessionist going about my business and most at-ease in Soweto when I was around people who knew who I was, who I was there with, etc.

I haven't climbed in Cape Town. Its a beautiful place, enjoy. Just chiming in because no one else had posted.

A good friend of my lived in Capetown for work for about 2 years. During one of our discussions about climbing/camping in the area, he did say that heading out alone could be somewhat dangerous. Apparently there are squatter/homeless 'tent cities' in the hills above Capetown that you might not want to stumble on alone.

To add to this: one of his co-workers just moved here to Denver for work. He's originally from Capetown. When I told him that I hike & run alone on trails in the area all the time, and have even camped by myself in CO, he was SHOCKED. He kept asking if it was really 'safe' to hike alone here. So it just doesn't seem like that's something folks do over there. This is all secondhand info, but I'd say be careful if you do end up going out alone!

It may be worth your time to check out the small climbing gyms in Capetown first, at least to try to find local partners/community that way.

Cheers!

You are nutz, SA is a different world, making Asian poverty look literally awesome. I have been there, and "dirt bagging" in SA is a real life and death experience. The thought of it makes my skin crawl, fuck that's a bad idea.

Maybe what you are actually looking for is a cheap vacation, because that is very easily accomplished in SA.

And yes, it's gonna be wayyy to hot then for climbing, obviously.

It's rarely too hot to climb. Cape Town's average daytime high in January is a pleasant 79F. The main issue at that time of year is that you can get gale-force winds for several days in a row. But you can usually find somewhere to climb inland if it's too windy on the coast.

cool thanks for the info guys
yeah i've poked around elsewhere and am definitely thinking hostels and rent-a-cheapies and traveling in groups
psyched to check it out
and i live and climb in the southeast, 95 degrees and 90% humidity is still sending temps in my book!

J Q hit it on the head. Pretty much what I wanted to say but I HATE negative spew. Caught a line of it from a guy at Grande Grotta yesterday about my upcoming thailand trip. Pretty much said it was awesome when he went but awful now, it smells like sewage blah blah blah. His wife was embarrassed for him.

Enjoy your adventure.

Well, as a South African, I'm glad that you haven't been put off by the negative stuff... Cape Town is a great city and South Africa is an interesting place to visit. It's unfortunately true that Table Mountain isn't as safe as as it used to be in terms of crime, but it's still relatively rare considering the number of people that use the mountain. It's sensible not to go hiking on your own, at least not near any urban areas. It will be warm, especially in the Cedarberg, but as long as you are prepared, you can definitely climb. Dirtbagging isn't really done, but with the Dollar so strong to the Rand at the moment, you won't have a problem paying for guest houses and hostels. The best place to find partners is probably City Rock, but you should try posting on this forum as well: climbing.co.za/

Good luck!

Alastair