Barrier of Spears

Description

Published by Southern Book Publishers, Johannesburg, 1989, Fully revised edition of the 1973 1st South African Edition, D/w, Nr. Fine.    Reg Pearse spent thirty years exploring, mapping and climbing the towering peaks of the Drakensberg Mountains (the Zulu name being ‘Barrier of Spears’) and was an acknowledged expert on the range.  In retirement he put together, for the first time, the full story of the Drakensberg, and the history of the men who climb its high peaks.  The Drakensberg Range is some 960 kilometres in length and forms the eastern escarpment of South Africa, though the most impressive section and principal subject of this volume is the 95 kilometres between Mont-aux-Sources and Giant’s Castle, where the average height of the range is over 3,000 metres and the highest peaks rise to 3,350 metres. Illustrated, in both colour and black-and-white, with many by the author’s son, new maps, and includes a listing of the peaks and a useful bibliography. “Lavish Monograph including some climbing history and list of first ascents.  The best overall work on the range.” (Neate)