Plus, of course, a carrot for the snowman’s nose. The vehicle was occupied by a total of two adults and four young children and we travelled via Contermanskloof, Wellington and Bainskloof. With a few stops, it took three hours of driving amid some stunning scenery with mist, clouds and a lazy sunrise. The temperature all the way was 6 degrees. On arrival at the Matroosberg reserve, we saw we were in the company of a few others also contemplating the sensibility of tackling the steep route. The route had been described as a grade 4 climb, and the discussion revolved around tyre profiles and pressures, the need for low range and whether any ice would be encountered. At this stage, I was getting worried about the “on-road” Dunlop SP Sports fitted to the Suzuki, but I did have low range and hill descent control and wasn’t going to give up just yet. I let the tyres down to 1,7 bar, but did not want to go to low, fearing cut sidewalls over the rocks.
So, low range was selected via the facia-mounted knob and off we went, soon realizing that they were not joking about the severity of the climb. Other vehicles were mostly double cabs, all with proper mountain-climbing boots set at low pressures. After progressing about half the way up the steep, rocky slope, with a few underbody scrapes and some slipping on the muddy rocks, but without getting stranded, I decided that it was only a matter of time before I destroyed a tyre (or two), so we stopped, had some coffee and biscuits and watched some others inching their way up. A Discovery 3, a Pajero, a Prado, a few double cabs and a Kia Sorento that had a few hiccups as it battled its way past our parking spot. All these vehicles had decent off-road tyres and a bit more ground clearance than the Grand Vitara’s 200 mm, so I stuck to my decision that I was pushing my luck and that it was time to test the hill descent control on the way back down.
The snowman building team had gone on strike till much larger snow falls, or until a tougher set of tyres could be located. The descent was much easier than I expected, the hill descent performing an excellent job of inching the snow-white Suzuki back down to level ground. All in all, I was very impressed by the performance of this SUV, it’s lusty engine and capable transmission. The grip also surprised me. I was expecting more slip on the sometimes wet and muddy rocks. Of course, the fact that we suffered no ills could also have been due to the prayers of the passengers?
Ground clearance should have been better for this level of trail, and without a doubt much higher profile tyres with stronger sidewalls would have been a safer choice. The area has stunning scenery, as can be seen in the photographs. The summit is all of 2 249 m above sea level with spectacular views. There is a tractor ride up to the snow for those who do not have 4x4s and overnight accommodation including a ski hut. Quads can be hired as well. At the opposite end of the weather season, cherry picking is the thing to do in December. But till then, we will expect more snow before this winter is done.
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