The beacon beckons anew

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GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - Thanks to the hard work and enthusiasm of Conquer Together, a community group of mountain enthusiasts, the George trigonometrical beacon on George Peak was successfully restored on Saturday 7 November.

At 05:30, while most people were still asleep, more than 40 "conquerors" started their journey up the vertical ascent to George Peak from the top of Arbour Road.

Cathy Haldane of Conquer Together said the main reason for the climb was to allow people who appreciate fitness, health and the magnificent mountain, to conquer George Peak. Though restoring the beacon was an additional aim, it did require weeks of planning, including ordering a new vane from Cape Town. Members of the group carried the vane and tools they would need up to the top.

They reached the peak in about three hours and completed the restoration in good time, giving the beacon a fresh coat of paint to boot. By 11:00 they were back in Arbour Road. Haldane said the windy and cold weather posed a slight challenge, but it was a magnificent and significant day on George Peak.

She thanked John Bailey, a prominent land surveyor from George, without whose help the venture would not have been possible. "John was instrumental getting necessary approvals, obtaining the vane and leading the operations for the day."

Photo gallery; Beacon on mountain restored

She also thanked Jacques Mouton and his team of Garden Route Trail Running.

Watch a video below:

The group climbs George Peak every first Saturday of the month. Cathy and her colleagues Elaine and Susan have climbed the vertical route more than 20 times.

It is about 4,2km up to the peak with a 1km ascent / elevation. It is physically and mentally challenging, but entirely doable. At 1 336m above sea level, George Peak is the second-highest peak in the Outeniqua mountain range.

* If you are keen to conquer the vertical ascent to George Peak, please check out Conquer Together on Facebook.

Professional land surveyor John Bailey supplied the following information about the trigonometrical beacon on George Peak:

The trigonometrical beacon located on George Peak has an official name of George Town Peak with number 29. The shortened name of GTP is inscribed on its surface together with its number.

As with all other beacons in South Africa, this beacon has an X, Y and Z coordinate that position the beacon relative to all other official survey reference points in South Africa, of which there are approximately 60 000.

Mathematically the coordinates represent the distance from the equator (X coordinate), the distance from a certain line of longitude, which in our case is the 23 degree east meridian (Y coordinate) and the height of the top of the pillar above mean sea level (Z coordinate).

George Town Peak beacon was built about 1935. It would have been hard work to carry all the material to the top of the mountain for its construction. In order to determine its coordinates, a surveyor would have made a series of angular observations with the use of a theodolite to the other newly built trigonometrical beacons located within a radius of approximately 15km of the peak. These observations were then used to compute the coordinates of the beacon in relation to all the other official survey beacons in the country.

The restored beacon.

All the records of the observations and the coordinates are archived at the centre for National Geo-Spatial information in Mowbray, Cape Town.

The purpose of the beacons is primarily to create the basis of the spatial environment for orderly development. All surveys of land and buildings have to be referenced on the coordinate system of the reference beacons, which requires a surveyor to make distance and angular observations to any one of these known points.

Any subdivision of an erf or farm, sectional title, boundary location or mapping project undertaken by a surveyor has to link onto the system to enable architects and engineers to commence with their design work. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are fast becoming the grail of environmental analysis and if it weren't for our trigonometrical system, the spatial analysis that GIS undertakes would not be possible.

Our country's trigonometrical system is of world standard and has been created over the years by many brilliant astronomers such as Sir Thomas Maclear between 1833 and 1870 and Sir David Gill between 1879 and 1906.

With the advent of the global navigation satellite system (GPS), observations to the George Peak beacon by surveyors have become less intense, but nevertheless the beacon upon our majestic peak does still serve a purpose in assisting with the development of the fast-growing city of George.

The group that undertook the restoration of the beacon on George Peak. In the background is the restored beacon.