Title: Steenberg Buttress. Rock Climbs
Author: Tony Lourens
Publisher: Blue Mountain Design & Publishing
Cape Town, South Africa 2019
ISBN 9780994712448 / ISBN 978-0-9947124-4-8
Softcover, 15 x 21 cm, 40 pages, throughout colour photos
Steenberg Buttress is the big blocky buttress high above the right side of Boyes Drive, about 500 metres to the right of Lakeside Pinnacle. It has an intriguing B-grade scramble route that weaves through and between all the steep stuff and ends, via an interesting pitch through a chimney and wormhole to gain the summit of Lower Steenberg Peak. This route also makes a good and convenient approach to, and descent route from practically all the climbs. When I was doing exploratory work for my book Southern Peninsula Classics, I wanted to include some easy to moderate rock climbs, so decided to investigate the old 1960s and 70s routes that were put up on this sprawling buttress by Arthur Evans and co.
So armed with some old MCSA Journal route descriptions we went exploring, and managed to unearth, reclimb, and dare I say, straighten many of the old routes, which surprisingly enough offered some quite enjoyable climbing. But the exciting thing was, we discovered some stand alone buttresses, that when viewed from afar look like nothing, but on close inspection, yielded a bunch of excellent routes on awesome 'Ledge quality' rock, offering perfect protection. Some not so steep, others nice and steep and a few very steep lines. Steenberg Buttress is a great place to get into trad climbing, as there are many "friendly" routes.
But also offers excellent harder climbs as good as anywhere on the Peninsula, with huge potential for new routing of all grades. Almost all the routes in this guide are worth climbing. Even some of the longer 2-star routes, which although a bit broken by ledges, still offer an adventurous day out on the hill. The newer, shorter and single pitch routes, particularly on Rocky Horror Buttress, are of a high quality, many of them deserving 4 and 5 stars and compare to some of the best on the Peninsula, including the "Ledge". It also has a few great tea caves and tea ledges where you can base yourself, depending on which area you are are climbing. And the best part is that you will have the whole mountain to yourself.
Introduction
History
Best time to climb
Grades and star ratings
The rock, the climbing and protection
How to get there
Where to park
Approach
Descents
Acknowledgements
Steenberg Buttress 'B' Route
The Gendarme
Lower Rocky Buttress
Brad's Groove
Rooky's Lament
Riff Raff
Dammit Janet
Rose Tint my World
Gendarme Proper
Pinnacle Buttress
Slap Me Round the Chops
Moose Chops
Sizzle Me Timbers
Lucertole al Sole (Lizards in the Sun)
The Magic Coins
Rocky Horror Buttress
Come up to the Lab - access pitch to The Lab
Doctor Scott
TTTTT Touch Me
Science Fiction
Sweet Transvestite
The Lab
Time Warp
Don't Dream It
Frank N Furter
Transylvania
Meatloaf
Magenta's Corner17 & Direct
Caveman and the Donkey
Main Wall
Obscure Arete
Traverse Route
Crack and Overhang
Rock Boulder
Lakeside Ridge
Rocky's Block
Hot Patootie
Bless My Soul
The Horror Rock Show
