Higgovale Quarry, the only bit of granite climbing in the Western Cape besides Paarl Rocks and Lion’s Head Slabs, has had a bit of a chequered history. The first routes (at The Polling Booth) were bolted on South Africa’s first democratic election day in 1994. Since then, other parts of the quarry were developed, but many bolts and hangers have since been chopped or stolen. Over the years the area has had a somewhat dubious reputation for muggings, but in fairness to the old crag, there have been no reports for quite a few years. In general, popularity has been growing recently, thanks to the cleaning up and rebolting of some of the better routes by ARF, and the fact that more routes have been opened here. You will often find fairly large crowds here, especially on summer afternoons. The only routes really worth doing are on The Polling Booth and, to a lesser extent, The Peanut Gallery. Although there is a smattering of other short routes on various arbitrary walls, these routes are basically crap and some of the hangers are missing and the anchors may be of dubious quality but, if you are really desperate, there are some unpleasant short routes on The Cinema.
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