This month in the Grapevine – New Committee, Hogsback Challenge part 2, Climbing Elbrus and more…

What a year it’s been; bouncing between lockdown levels, pushing as best we could for a mega event and the tragic losses of some of our community. As a community, we’ve faced an unprecedented year and at GoSA HQ (wherever that might be), there have been a number of shifts to respond to the new needs of the South African geocaching community.
 
1.   General
I began the term by asking what GoSA is supposed to be doing. There was an expectation of varied answers but certainly not to the extent that we received. Initially pondering with the committee and then pondering with the community at large through a survey, the ideas and insights were deeply appreciated and helped us establish some focus for the term.
 
Despite the wide array of input, it was clear theme to us that the community expected us provide some form of incubation to develop and grow geocaching around the country. This was a welcome direction and even though we were perfectly aware of the challenges in getting muggles excited about geocaching (and keeping them excited), I’m incredibly happy with the foundations we’ve laid down for the future.
 
No good puzzle box was built in a day and with that mentality, we knew that what needed to be done was not a full-frontal assault of “gooi’ing mielies” but rather ploughing the land we have. To this end, a number of interventions were established over and above the initial survey, which itself was envisioned as an investment in the community involvement.
 
We expanded the newsletter to include more community contributions, put targeted effort into our social media and used our networks to encourage more events and participation. We also took serious consideration as to how to attend to the power trails and that information will be passed on to the next committee.
 
Many have also received a message from me thinly veiled as a 5-point drive of what our offering is at GoSA that was evidently an attempt to get some will attends to the big Eastern Cape event that was being planned. While I’m gutted that it had to be cancelled/postponed, I can absolutely understand the difficulties most would have had in attending. What was promising for me was that it was some teams elected to make a weekend of it anyway and went on a geocaching expedition.
 
I wasn’t even involved in geocaching in 2011 but having read the forums, such actions take my mind to the adventures teams would create for themselves, going to different provinces to cache as a holiday in years gone by. I’m excited by the scent of those kinds of adventures being more frequent in the years to come.
 
2.   Thanks
As obvious as it may be, a team is not a team without a team, and we were fortunate to have an incredible one. It’s seldom that I’ve found myself on a team with no deadweight and our achievements in this difficult year could not have been realized without the dedicated input of all at play.
 
I’d like to pay particular tribute to LuciaMPR for keeping the financial fires in check and Panters for keeping our documents orderly and also keeping us entertained complaining about hospital food during the extended stay. We’re delighted to hear of their recovery. A special thanks to Fier for the institutional knowledge and support and ThomasFamilyZA for holding up the IT side (and an awesome beginning braai event). FireflyAfrica is the reason geocaching was out in the media as much as it was as well as why our social media was buzzing this term while waco&winnie was the ideal utility player that no team can go without. For the dedicated work on the newsletter and hounding me monthly for my chairperson’s report, a big thanks to M²C²D and, of course, our dedicated reviewer par excellance in BruceTP provided direction and insight from HQ.
 
The above is merely a minor illustration of the work put into GoSA over the last term and is certainly not the full extent of each committee members’ contribution. Thank you to all of them for being available when required, assisting where requested and getting things done before required. It’s been awesome working with each of them and collectively.
 
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the community at large. It’s particularly challenging leading a committee in a hobbyist environment where nobody gets paid but the manner in which the community showed support and interest has made this an incredibly refreshing experience.
 
3.   Future
GoSA began as an organisation to support the first Mega in South Africa and continued to drive the national geocaching community after that. Sure, I’d love to see more shots at a Mega and indeed, I would love it if GoSA won the lotto and took the entire community to Seattle to visit HQ during the geocaching birthday celebrations but what I’ve learned from this experience is that, in this environment, one should drive growth slowly and sustainably.
 
It makes me tremendously happy to see a first-time event attendee attend a second event…or a new name on a log.
 
I would hope that the in the future, GoSA will maintain this momentum and come up with ways to encourage experienced cachers to bring muggles to events, to send new cachers to our website which has a dedicated page for first time cachers, to inspire events that share ideas for awesome gadget and puzzle caches, and please, oh please, to submit a not ridiculous entry into the Geocaching International Film Festival…it’s about time we saw South Africa there. Cache maintenance is a must and just doing things that make geocaching more than putting Tupperware in parks and finding it should become the norm. How that manifests…I’m excited to see.
 
4.   Conclusion
There’s still much to be done to grow our community and I am grateful to have played this part in the journey of GoSA.
 
We’ve had more travels, more community engagement and built a better bond, I believe. The road ahead may be long but thank goodness for roadside caches along the way.
 
Hummus, Uncle Chem

On Saturday 6^th November 2021 we held our AGM at Bruce’s home in JHB as well as online via Google Meet. Thank you once again Bruce for opening your home to us for the meeting. We had a total of 23 attendees – 7 present at Bruce’s home and 10 attending online plus we received apologies from 8 cachers. A big thank you to all those that made the effort to attend!
 
During the AGM we voted in a new committee for the 2021/2022 year. Your committee members are as follows:
 

Richard Chemaly	Uncle Chem	Free State	Chairman
Lucia Rodrigues	LuciaMPR	Gauteng	Treasurer
Ceinwen Oosthuizen	M²C²D	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Secretary
Bruce Pantland	BruceTP	Gauteng	Member
Erik Lear	Fier	Gauteng	Member
Howard Crouch	waco&winnie	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Member
Jonker Fourie	FireflyAfrica	Eastern Cape	Member
Trevor Bailey	Adventure_T	Western Cape	Member
François Jarvel	Gattomotapi	Gauteng	Member

 Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, concerns, or would like to make any suggestions. We look forward to serving the caching community well over the next 12 months!

Hogsback Challenge 2021 – Part 2, Day 3, 4 & 5
By CamelZA
 

Day 3: 22 September 2021. The Quarter Tribe woke up to a sunny day overlooking the Hogsback Mountains, and a some more surprise FTFs on the day’s planned hikes. Yes, more than one. We were determined to complete the remaining 5 caches for the challenge cache before the sundowner event. To this end we were in the trusty Hog by 8am. I had been telling everyone the first two at Wolfsburg was going to be a quick in and out and should the need arise, there would be time to hike to Kettlespout and Tor Doone. How hectic could it get? But first we needed to salvage our pride and get the Swallow Tail Falls  (GC1KGR5) cache. 
 
The hike to the top of Swallowtail Falls seemed a lot shorter with fresh legs. The trip down to the bottom gave us flash backs to the Bridal Veil rock ramble. QT rhinoed our way to the base of the falls. Another trip well worth the view. We didn’t hang around to long before finding the
cache and logging it. A quick slog back to the top and well short drive, as we caught our breath, to our nest target.
 
The next clue to collect was at Wolfridge Falls Revisited (GC64ZBM). This turned out to be the easiest cache of the day. It was quickly found by the able eye of Orosman after we stopped to watch some roadside tree felling and some poor sods set off on their Bussed Group tour hike.
 
Now we get to the quick in and out hike to Triple Tumble (GC1KGH7). Even without the excuses to find the FTFs this was a very inaccurate theory. This 3.5km hike follows along an unfrequented trail through the natural forests past 3 waterfalls, and one beehive in a huge tree. The first FTF, Triple Tumble Big Tree (GC9GJ1T) included a fresh bee hive. A few of the residents took a liking to me. While I negotiated terms with them Orosman retrieved the cache and signed the log. The hike took us along circular trail that wound past each of the three falls. In proper geocaching style we did this trail in reverse. Our next stop was at Last Waterfall (GC9GJ5A). IngetjieZA found this quickly. The retrieval took some concentration while using tree branches as support. The third stop at Triple Tumble Falls kept QT very busy searching as the GPS had more bounce than a Gummy Bear. KrokosZA narrowed the GZ options down after some critical interpretation of previous logs. The clue was noted, and the log signed. Onto the last FTF for the day: First Waterfall (GC9GJ42).  This became our lunch stop as we tried not to contemplate the climb out of the valley. This cache had QT each adopting their own tree to search. I eventually found this well-hidden cache. Qt succeeded in leaving no man behind on the exit climb out. The site of the Hog was a very welcome site. 7 clues found, 2 to go.
 

Kettlespout falls and Tor Doone looked daunting from both the map and previous logs. QT decided it was time for Hog to go on roads less driven. Our legs had already written quite a few letters to management about all this walking. Luck was in our favour, and we stopped at the Short Hike (20minutes) sign to Kettlespout Waterfall (GC44J02). Just over there no doubt. This turned out to be the time for a one-way direction. Orosman and I decided that Rhinoing up this hill was in order. We left the ladies behind to admire the trees at a more relaxed speed. This path was well trodden by cattle. Cows need their waterfall walks as well it appears.  This waterfall is aptly named, and the vista of Hogsback town is quite impressive. QT had gotten used to the world just running out of ground by this point with the path ending at the lookout point. The cache and clue were soon located.  One more to go. At this point KrokosZA and IngetjieZA had arrived at the top. Just in time to go back down again. 

 
The Hog explored the forested hills on the way to Tor Doone (GC13R2C) as we endeavoured to avoid the one and half hour hike straight up to the summit. The Legs’ letters to management had been noted. Hog took us to within 100m of GZ and QT scampered up the Rock to see what we could see... all the forest we been hiking in for the last two days. A caching trip isn’t complete without the pen giving up. While Orosman went to find a working pen, we revelled in a hard-won view with the last clue achieved. Each to their own thoughts on the hilltop outlook. The log was soon signed, and the cache safely hidden in its hidey hole.
 
We calculated the final co-ordinates of Hogsback Challenge (GC1KGRN) hoping it would be on another hike…
A collective groan went up as everyone’s app pointed the final destination. Can we get this before the event? Are we game? Hell yes! Let’s go get it! You will need to get your own spoiler pictures for this cache. Quarter tribe had successfully completed the challenge in 29 hours. A high bar for the next geo-adventurers. We dragged our tired legs happily into the Hog and got home just in time for our event. It wouldn’t do to be late for our own celebration.

Orosman and KrokosZA setup their hammocks with a view. IngetjieZA opted to give the Bath with a view a bash. But the day wasn’t done yet. iNokia and iPajero had arrived for The Tribe Roadtrip 5ish: Hogsback Fairyland (GC9EQJP) event. The matter of the last remaining Question mark in Hogsback was brought up. The beer and wine were stowed, IngetjieZA summoned from beyond the sign, and the TotT
 brought out for Fairies Little Tree House (GC4JMJW). I have previous climbed this very tall tree to personally experience a fear of drops and the view. Unfortunately, the ladder of ages past was no longer and viable or safe option. Most of the lower portion had already been removed. A ladder followed by climbing gear was unpacked to conquer this beast. Chief Tree Climber IngetjieZA made an initial exploratory trip to the top of the ladder. She came back down for reinforcements TotT. iNokia took a shot at the climb but got no higher. IngetjieZA suitable geared up went back to the top of the ladder to determine if it was possible to go higher. iPajero confirmed from the ground the caches previous known position. It was verified that the cache was no longer present in this location.  A group decision on high to go was made and a replacement cache hidden. Climbing all the way to the viewing deck was deemed unsafe with the gear we had. The replacement cache still requires proper climbing equipment and an experienced climber to retrieve it.
 
We packed up and went back to the delayed sundowner braai overlooking the Hogsback Forest. Quarter Tribe, iPajero and iNokia swopped geo caching stories until well after dark. Thank you for attending our event. Day 4 would bring new adventures.

 

Day 4: 23 September 2021. We woke up, rolled out of bed, not wanting to see another hill again. The bacon and eggs and coffee breakfast revived our spirits. There was one last smiley needed to complete our Hogsback set. Redcoat Lane (GCKFFEE). The Hog took us to GZ and after a few minutes the interesting container was located, the log signed and off we went. Our final touristy stop in Hogsback was at The Rose Theatre. It was worse for wear and somewhat disappointing. QT exited Hogsback on the more civilized tar road en-route to Gqeberha. But not in a straight line because of so many geocaches to find. The Hog stopped so that IngetjieZA could have a photoshoot with a legless local. 

QT had a few other rest stops to collect smileys in Fort Beaufort, Bains Pass, Grahamstown with lunch at the oldest pub in South Africa located in Bathurst. A cool beer and great food at Pig and Whistle followed by the great pineapple on pizza debate. The jury decided that a viewing of the Giant Pineapple was in order. The smiley collected, but with no consensus on the pineapple pizza issue. A quick family visit in Port Alfred

This chronicle begins with a crowded bus trip. The commute was Moscow to TerskoL and was in part enabled by my membership to BRICS. BRICS made it possible to Putin a visit to Elbrus and attempt an assent. You could say BRICS was building hope and ambition. You might also say Two pints of larger, please. Both would elicit the same indifference, and so I sat back in the bus and mused.
 
Mused on the tallest mountain in all of Europe. On the peak that is closer to the North Pole than all other in the world. Mount Elbrus. Borne of the Arabian plate, but not through Subduction with the Eurasia plate – Oh no. Many millions of years ago, this rising from the Caucasus upliftment was presented by pressure. A pinnacle so proud it was pressed into two; the moment I learned that I knew what I had to do.
To walk the ribs of a dormant Volcano is the stuff that passes any inquiring mind through. It certainly passed through my mind and in so doing filled my head. Thus, it was that to the assent I was led.
 
The trip to TerskoL allowed me to plan the 13 stage assent of this mount of sedimentary and magmatic rock, but in actual fact I mused on the 13 storey treehouse and the diverse activities upon each landing.  Landing in TerskoL, the size of the city sent me straight off to the start of my story after renting gear and grub and registering the assent. Leaping into the aged and maintenance-deprived cable car cabin, the actual assent began.
 
Alighting from the skipping bobbin of mechanical cranks and creaks, I was relieved to set my feet upon the slightly chilled cobbles of Azau. But alas! I had not risen above the mass. For although I had risen some two and a half kilos in the rustic red cable-held car, all around were people from near and afar. Russian here, rushing there; I was jostled toward the next leg of my honeycombe adventure in knowing my rocks by the masses eager to carry my cash for me. With so much activity abounding, I felt as if I had stepped into quicksand.  One toothless veteran of a popular tea shack ventured that on a good day there were some three and a half thousand day-trippers among others, all churning up the surface metamorphic pathways. Wanting to avoid the proletariat I strode away in an upward fashion, to arrive at Mir Station and the first of my barrel abodes. The night upon well-worn slats of bed was the most restful I have ever had, and thoughts of the gaping hole far above me filled my head. This was the mouth of the volcano to which I was led. The next morning, I gingerly stepped across the boulders heading toward the top. The second stage of the upward cable car lift was entered, which would hang me over valley and gorge; all the while forcing me to know my rocks more and more, tenfold the score.
 
Leaving the capsule this morning I was struck by the thinning of the air. I had to breathe in more and more, and in bigger gasps, just to know the score. Having had experience upon Vinson in the south, I know that this was the altitude, and thus my thoughts were reduced by 30 percent. The rocks that I knew yesterday even, were now reduced to only a seven. I knew my rocks, but it was the larva that made me resolute to go even farther. Entering the bright new cable car, I glanced back on base camp Garabashi Station, and was struck by the sedimentary potholes that all around me were placed. As if someone after a treasure had chased.
 
Thankfully the extension to the cable network, all freshly painted in government blue, was a lot smoother a passage than before, and before too long I had reached Shelter Maria and was ensconced in my barrel. A barrel, for the sea-level lovers, is an overnight tube container fitted out with beds, heating and sparse atmosphere. Looking like a large toilet tube fixed upon the mountain side, its Russian name is Bochki but is pronounced “toilet-tube-ski”
That night I mused on all things wonderful; breathing, the echo of the magmatic chambers 40 km below, a sub-vertical chain, would I ever decide to go climbing again? I caught me breathe (as it was shallow) and considered if I was a Nerd as I had heard. A bird told me this, but it is easy to trick me, as I usually miss the quiz. Next morning all thoughts were forgotten. We were up 3 hours before the sun, and snow catted our way to 500 meters from the saddle. The floor now covered in snow, and all around the icy finger of thin atmosphere stealing out breathe, I and the others forcibly strode up to the saddle. Turning to the West, we ascended to the edge of the top of the tallest mount in the Northern hemisphere! Looking around at the view, it was Fantastic! FANtastic as I am sure I caught sight of Dbn through a gap in the clouds.
 
And then, reaching the precipice before the volcano hole, we and I in particular, were a little disappointed in the flattened tip of this tenth highest peak. Top of all in the Northern hemisphere, one would expect it to be a tip. Top is tip. Not over 300 meters of ice filled gap. Home to 22 glaciers, and noticeable shrinking due to global warming, the only thing that swung through my mind is the rep of this mount has been over storming.
 
I guess like geocaching – sometimes the looking is more of an adventure than the finding.
 
Thanks to Stingynomads.com for the motivation.

 

 

GCHQ have released yet another challenge – this time inspired by the mountaineering challenge of reaching the 7 highest peaks on all 7 continents. No, we don’t need to actually climb these mountains or reach certain heights, what we do need to do is collect points. The points that you need will be the equivalent of the height above sea level of the base camps and summits of these famous mountain peaks. Each month will have different points for each type of cache find.
 
The challenge will run over 7 months from 2 August to 6 March 2022. Each month there will be two different souvenirs up for grabs – a base camp and a summit. At the end of the 7 months should you have collected all 14 souvenirs along the way you will receive a bonus souvenir – The Peak Performer.
 
The Souvenirs that can be earned are as follows:  

Fancy seeing a caribou, grizzly bear or moos? Well, you just might while summiting Denali, the tallest peak in Alaska, North America. The upper half of the mountain is covered with permanent snowfields that feed many glaciers, some surpassing 48 km in length!

Collect 325 points to earn the Denali Basecamp souvenir and 6194 points to earn the Denali summit souvenir. Points can be earned between 6 December 2021 and 2 January 2022 (UTC)

New Souvenirs: Fin 2021, Once Upon A Time 2022
 

It’s time to mark 2021 as “Fin” and imagine your “Once Upon a Time” in 2022 by bookmarking these dates and going out to find a geocache! As always GCHQ are giving us the opportunity to earn two new souvenirs over the Festive season. To earn the Fin 2021 souvenir, see the old year out between 24 and 31 Dec by finding any of the below cache types. To earn the Once Upon a Time 2022 souvenir, we celebrate our way into 2022 between 1 and 8 January by finding any of the below cache types. Traditional, Multi, Virtual, Letterbox, Event, Mystery, Webcam, Earth, Wherigo, Adventure Labs.