Please don't attempt this without serious climbing and experience and gear! Or better still, not at all...
A couple of years ago, I set myself the challenge of completing the toughest hikes and scrambles up Table Mountain. While most people are familiar with just a handful of the most popular trails, the mountain boasts well over a hundred distinct routes, ranging from the staircase that is Platteklip Gorge to routes like this one, which hardly anyone know, and even fewer attempt. Growing in confidence with earlier routes in the challenge, I eventually decided that it was time to attempt Springs - a route for which only the absolute minimum description exists, all of which makes it clear that it's not one to be taken lightly.
Springs itself covers only a very short section of the highest rock band on the mountain, and so to get to its start, myself, Drake, JT and Jordan decided to follow Silverstream Buttress, a seriously intimidating scramble in its own right. Even with our significant apprehension, both routes turned out to be a good deal tougher than we'd expected, but everyone rose to the challenge and we made it up (mostly) unharmed.
Having climbed just about every B+, C and C+ graded scramble up Table Mountain, as well as a good few of the Ds, I can confidently say that this was the toughest of the lot. The hand-jam pitch of Springs was probably the most time I've spent figuring out a move, and the least secure I've felt. The bottom pitch was also tough and exposed, and the lower parts of Silverstream Buttress were hard to find and harder to do. Nonetheless, the feeling of getting them done was incredible!
Enjoyment Rating: 3.5/5 (slightly too stressful to be fully enjoyed)
Difficulty Rating: 10/10
Challenges: This route is basically challenging in every possible way. Silverstream Buttress, especially the lower parts, is overgrown, route finding is tough, and the route itself (at least the one we took) is super technical with some significant exposure. Springs takes the technicality and exposure up a level though, with the middle pitch being the hardest compulsory stretch of climbing I've ever done. The rock looks featured, but closer inspection reveals almost nothing to hold or put one's weight against, and if it wasn't for the bush I don't think we could have made it up
Introduction: 00:00
Approach via Silverstream Buttress: 00:22
Springs (sorry mom): 4:58
Summit and outro: 10:49
Music: Ibu Selva - Milonga
Parra for Cuva - The Fifth Hand
Contact me: @daniel_johnson_pmbpk (instagram)
danjohnsonpeter@gmail.com