Katie Holmes & Suri -- Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise went to the mountaintop ... but were forced to come down ... though certainly not as dramatically as her ex-hubby would do it.

Katie had some downtime from shooting "The Giver" in Cape Town ... so she took Suri to Table Mountain -- a famed tourist spot with stunning views. It's one of the new 7 wonders of the world.

Turns out it was a bad day for sightseeing. It was cloudy, windy and cold, making it almost impossible to see in front of your face.

Suri was clinging to her mom while they waited for a cable car to take them down.

Tom surely would have strapped her to his back and rappelled down the mountain. After all, that's the way they do it in Afghanistan.