Climbing in South Africa | Outside Online

You Are Here:

Home >> Travel >> Technicolor Darkness (cont.)

Today's Question
Where should I camp in Switzerland with my kids? answer

What's the best volcano to hike up in North America? answer

How can I plan a trip around riding the biggest, fastest roller coasters? answer

Online Favorites

Special Issues

Photo Galleries

Outside Magazine, June 2004

Page:

Technicolor Darkness (cont.)

FROM BOVEN, I DRIVE east to Kruger National Park, then south through the lush foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains and back to Cape Town. I arrive in time to attend a slide show at the MCSA's Tuesday-night social. There's a friendly buzz in the air, and the bar is doing a brisk trade in Windhoek Lager. Ed works the crowd, dispensing hugs, shouting high-decibel greetings.

When the crowd is called to take their seats, Tinie strides to the front, holding a single sheet of paper.

"I feel we need to address issues from the past," he begins.

A hush falls over the room. Calling the club's history "a disgrace," Tinie condemns it for having embraced apartheid in exchange for government grants and access to land. "We must apologize to all those who have been hurt," he concludes. Everyone seems glad for the lights to fade.

Outside on the street, the talk is lively.

"Well done, my man," Andy tells Tinie. But others disagree.

"Why should I apologize?" one twenty-something white climber demands. "I was a kid during apartheid."

Though Ed appears to be the only nonwhite climber present, few address him on the subject. It's too awkward. After the crowd drifts off, Ed and I go back to his place with a 27-year-old white climber named Tristan Furman. Tristan is sympathetic to Ed's position, but, like other young climbers, he seems to feel that the need for an organizational apology has passed in the new South Africa. Around 1 a.m., after a few drinks, the discussion heats up.

"Ed, how many nonwhites have you introduced to climbing?" Tristan asks.

"That isn't my responsibility," Ed answers, irritated, adding that he's done enough to inspire others by being the country's preeminent nonwhite climber.

Tristan then describes how his family's farming community was attacked by black hoodlums, with murderous results. "No one has apologized for that," he says.

"We don't have to," Ed tells him. "We won."

Moments later, the tension ebbs. "Well, we've all suffered in this," Ed says calmly. "We should all apologize."

That seems to be the nub of the argument: Who are "we" in South Africa? With so many cultures—more than a dozen black ethnic groups, Afrikaners, British-bred whites, Indians, Asians, and those containing a bit of everybody—perhaps there are too many South Africas, each a separate island waiting to be bridged.

Ed and Tristan part as friends, but a few months later, back home in Utah, I get an e-mail from Ed. It's an open letter to Greg Moseley, the 63-year-old Cape Town MCSA chairman, sent to climbers across South Africa. The letter is long and, at times, seething with anger. Ed enumerates a list of grievances—from the club's failure to apologize to its tardiness in recruiting a more diverse membership—before concluding, "As a nonwhite South African, I can no longer compromise my integrity by being an active member of this organization."

I phone Moseley. He's responded to Ed's letter with one of his own, he says. Tinie's remarks led to the formation of a working group that included, among others, Tinie, Tristan, Andre Schoon, and Jonathan Levy, a Jewish climber. A "draft apology that would also include the Jewish community" is being formulated; Ed just isn't aware of it yet. Moseley is optimistic that the club and Ed are "now on the same wavelength."

Ed sounds less hopeful when we talk: "They've been putting the apology off for years. Why not just do it?"

Most of those close to Ed support him. "Ed had to stir the club out of its comfort zone," says his wife, Nicky. "Whites think they've moved on from apartheid, but blacks are still angry."

"It's been a long time coming, and Ed has no regrets, but I think the MCSA will come around," Andy says. "Don't be surprised if Ed is president of the club someday. Look at Mandela: He went from prison to president."

Page: