A post on Facebook by the watchful eye of cincol, notified Gauteng geocachers of a planned maintenance visit on the cache "The Crag of your demize" GC5HV28. This cache has a sought after 3.5/5 rating, and for those cachers looking at their D/T matrix, this was an opportunity not to be missed.
A large group of cachers from far and near, via car and bike, assembled at the meeting point (Cliff Cross GC5G4NA), at 09h30 on Sunday, 25 October 2015. After a brief chin wag under the sparse shade of a tree, we headed off to the cache. The cache owner had already been there an hour earlier to set up the necessary equipment for our safety and enjoyment. He even set up a “practice” rope on horizontal level, to give folk a chance to “try” out their ropes and knots. A true professional!
We, GEO936, had a special mission and had already arrived an hour prior. We delivered a bubbled wrapped birthday gift for Mr dolos as it was his birthday on that glorious day. All the proceedings were in place before the full team had arrived.
A quick briefing of our team leader, Mr TheToothfairies, aka Leon and we were off to get kitted and ready. Mr za pienaar family was the first man down (aka the crash test dummy), but all went smoothly and according to plan. Mr dolos (aka birthday boy) was up next. He was not in his comfort zone and his trembling hands confirmed that. But Leon was amazing. The epitome of cool, calm and collected. With his extensive knowledge and soothing voice, Mr dolos was on his way down to a life changing experience. Each person that was ready to go down, felt re-assured and confident that this crag could be conquered.
One by one we each got our turn. What seemed to be impossible, became a triumph and there were smiles all round. With our safety and sturdy anchor man, Mr TheToothpick, we were soon on the horizontal rock ledge and ready to be guided to the correct spot to scramble up the rock face.
The scramble back up posed more of a challenge than the smooth decent. But with team work and support from each other, step by step we made it back up to the starting point. Back at the top, words of encouragement were uttered to doubtful participants. And some even got ready for their second turn down the cliff face. We sang “Happy Birthday” to Mr dolos and enjoyed a delicious treat of the tastiest cup cakes by Mrs dolos! What a winner!
The cache itself was halfway down the cliff, while “hanging around” one had to move the cover in order to reveal the little container. Opening, unrolling, signing, rerolling, inserting, rerolling again to make it fit, and ensuring the pencil was there for the next cacher, proved to be a challenge all on its own. Words of encouragement ensured that this was in the bag with relative ease.
All the minor hardships were briefly forgotten when you looked out at the view! This was an incredible, “once-in-a-lifetime” experience, all made possible by the most patient, friendly and knowledgable cache owner Leon aka TheToothfairies.
Thank you Leon for making this all possible and thank you to all the other cachers and friends who were the cherry on top of this experience. We laughed, we almost cried, we trembled, we got scratched but in the end we departed with the biggest smiles. We had a fantastic time - you guys all ROCKED!
Article submitted by GEO936
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