9Peaks Challenge – rules

Back in 2011, Kobus Bresler initated the 9Peaks Challenge when he stood on the summit of the highest peak in each of South Africa’s nine provinces. This Challenge is collecting interest and so Kobus, together with Daniel Barnard and George Louw, have standardised the rules for the 9Peaks Challenge so that any individual or group that attempts this Challenge does so under the same guidelines.

Here’s a neat and tidy PDF to save.

9Peaks Challenge

Objective
The objective of the 9Peaks Challenge is to reach the highest point in each Province of South Africa in the shortest possible time. The 9Peaks Challenge is an endurance test including travel on foot and on the road.

General Rules

  1. The correct grid references must be reached and recorded to within 100m to successfully complete the challenge.
  2. The participant/s may only make use of road travel to move between Provinces either by car, motorcycle or public transport.
  3. No designated drivers are allowed for either the solo or group challenge.
  4. Participants are urged to stick to the rules of the road including speed limits on public roads.
  5. The challenge is self-contained and all facets of route planning, logistics and travel should be completed by the official participant/s only.
  6. There are no minimum gear and safety requirements.
  7. A record attempt does not have to be advertised prior to taking up the challenge but will need to be proven afterwards.
  8. An accepted tracking device must be utilised throughout to prove actual routes, summits and time.
  9. The clock starts at the foot of the first peak and stops at the summit of the last peak.
  10. The challenge can be done in any sequence.
  11. A few of the summits are easily accessible and in some cases may allow for vehicle travel to the top. Each peak has minimum requirements that mustbe adhered to and proven. Refer to the peak specific rules.
  12. All effort must be made to obtain the necessary access permissions.
  13. To claim a record the tracking details and photographic proof must be submitted to the current record holder/s as well as two public forums related to the specific industry. The current record holder/s may insist which forums are utilised first.

Solo Challenge

  1. All general rules apply.
  2. One person responsible for all planning, route planning, logistics, driving and completion of each peak on foot. This will constitute a solo effort.

Group Challenge

  1. All general rules apply.
  2. All participants from a group that start the challenge will need to complete every peak and the complete route.
  3. All pre-planning, route planning, logistics, driving and completion of each peak on foot must be done by the participants only and without additional assistance (contained within the group).

The Peaks

  1. Iron Crown (Limpopo) – 2126m – 23°59’56.77″S 29°56’47.72″E
  2. De Berg (Mpumalanga) – 2331m – 25°12’33.49″S 30° 8’58.84″E
  3. Toringkop (Gauteng) – 1913m – 26°30’41.34″S 28°13’46.87″E
  4. Nooitgedacht-west (North-West) – 1806m – 25°51’38.21″S 27°31’51.82″E
  5. Namahadi (Free State) – 3275m – 28°46’20.00″S 28°49’20.00″E
  6. Mafadi (Kwazulu-Natal) – 3451m – 29°12’8.58″S 29°21’26.07″E
  7. Kwaduma (Eastern Cape) – 3019m – 30°28’2.08″S 28° 9’21.43″E
  8. Murch Point (Northern Cape) – 2156m – 31°41’35.95″S 24°30’48.08″E
  9. Seweweekspoort Peak (Western Cape) – 2325m – 33°23’53.69″S 21°22’3.67″E

Peak Specific Rules

Iron Crown – Vehicle may not be driven to the top of the peak and must be left in the immediate area of grid reference 24° 0’43.98″S,29°56’47.19″E.

De Berg – Vehicle may not be driven to the top of the peak and must be left at grid reference 25°14’17.75″S, 30° 8’14.95″E.

Toringkop – The vehicle may not be driven closer than 400m from the peak.

Nooitgedacht-west – The vehicle may not be driven closer than 400m from the peak.

Kwaduma – The hike starts from Tabase village in the south due to the possibility of driving into the mountains by 4×4. This is different forparticipants on motorcycles who may choose to start their hike from a different location.

The remaining four peaks have no specific rules besides those already specified in the general category.

Compiled by Kobus Bresler, Daniel Barnard and George Louw. (3 April 2014)

Daniel and George did the 9Peaks Challenge in December 2012. They hold the pairs record of four days, 18 hours.

Kobus spoke at FEAT in October 2011 about doing the 9Peaks Challenge in nine days. He holds the solo record.

2 Comments

  1. Hi Malcolm,

    I have no idea. Never been there myself – nor looked for it. I’ll drop a note to Kobus to see what he says. Perhaps the provincial border line on Google isn’t correct? I’ll let you know when I know.

    Lisa

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