Missioned up #MuizenbergPeak a couple of hours before dawn this morning to shoot the annual Old Fisherman’s Trail Challenge, which this year sort of morphed into the ‘Muiz Monster Ascent’. Runners had to gun into near-vertical mode straight from the start-line, with no respite until they summitted this craggy pile of rocks before dropping down onto the #Silvermine Trail System.
The weather was having a proper wintry sulk, and there was a fair bit of mutter about wet camera equipment and the likes on the dark-zone trek to the peak. Once there, #DieOom then took cover behind a jagged outcrop, ineffectually trying to shelter from the wild tempest roiling in from the north-west.
This brings me to the part where I need to apologise to Kane Reilly. I saw him bomb up the lower ridge like some surreal mountain sprite, winding wraith-like through the misty fynbos. After shooting a few long-lens shots – at 12800ISO, they were barely adequate, though.- I should have had ample time to get to my camera bag to set up the wide-angle shot. But we’re talking hyper-speed here, and he blasted past while I amateurishly hunted focus on the wrong lens. Rookie mistake, so I owe you, bud.
On the flip side, the rain had stopped by now and the light started to improve a bit making for better photography, so the next section of the field at least benefitted. Good to see so many familiar faces still cooking at the sharp end: Derrick Baard, Dom Wills, Jonathan Black, Alex Hawkins, Noel Ernstzen … you guys are all proper mountain men. Amongst the women, Hayley Preen, Sam Reilly and Lauren Grangerseriously turned up the heat during the summit assault.
Click here to view the pics