aren't sure whether the human traffic on the rocks contributed to the collapse.

Climbers in the know say it was only a matter of time before the cobra lost its head.

'It was really a surprise to no one that that tower, at least the cap rock, was going to come off at some point in time,' Lisa Hathaway, a veteran climber, told the Salt Lake Tribune.

On climbing site MountainProject.com, the first comment - from February 2002 - alludes to just how precarious the formation was

'This sick tower gets my vote as "most likely to fall down in the next 10 years". What is holding it up?' wrote user George Bell.

The cobra outlasted Mr Bell's prediction by only two and a half years - a remarkable margin of error consideringClothing sector sheds fewer jobs

Johannesburg - There has been a significant slowdown in retrenchments in the clothing and textile industry, a trade union report showed.

A drop of more than 50% in retrenchments was recorded in the first nine months of 2011 compared to the same period last year, the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) said on Monday.

The report was tabled at the union's national executive committee meeting at the weekend.

"This slowdown is mainly attributed to the assistance... by government in the form of support measures to increase factories' competitiveness," general secretary Andre Kriel said in a statement.

"Sactwu's efforts to increase demand for local goods and to ensure the full implementation of the industry development strategy through its 'save jobs campaign' were also highlighted as a significant