vertical-endeavour.com

Corner Pass

Written by Stijn
Drakensberg - Passes
Monday, 22 November 2010 20:46

If you're keen to start doing some rock passes in the berg, this is probably the pass to start with. It's relatively short and quite easy to access from both Injasuti and Giant's Castle in a day. The scrambles on the pass are fairly easy and there is no exposure to worry about at all. There is no path to speak of but the route finding is quite straightforward due to the narrow gully one has to follow. This is another great pass to use for an ascent of Mafadi and is much more interesting than it's neighbors (Bannerman and Langalibalele).

Rating:
* * * (4/10)
Difficulty of the pass is rated from 1-10 (10 being very difficult, only to be attempted by the fit and experienced). A subjective quality rating is indicated by the number of stars (1 being low, 5 being the highest). Factors such as scenic beauty and overall experience come into play here, which may differ from person to person.

Access:
From Injasuti, it's about 15 km to the base of Corner Pass. Climb the grueling hill to the Centenary Hut and follow the contour path for about 4 km to the south until you cross the river coming from the obvious, narrow gully higher up. From Giant's Castle, head up to Bannerman Hut and continue north along the contour path for another 4 km to get to the same spot.

Details:
The distance from the contour path to the pass summit is about 2 km with an altitude gain of 650 m.

Route:
The contour path climbs up a ridge along the river for about 200 m in the Corner Pass valley. At the point where it swings left again on the contour, leave the path and head up towards the narrow gully high up in the basalt cliffs above you. We stayed just above the river on the left (south) banks until they became hilly enough to force us into the river. Cross the river near a waterfall and head straight up a ridge dividing the river in two. This ridge takes you directly to the start of the steep, narrow gully filled with large boulders. All that remains is to stay in this gully and follow it right to the top of the pass at 3100 m. There are 3 short (3 m) scrambles in the narrow gully. They are slightly more tricky with packs on so if you are struggling, have your pack passed up for an easier ascent. Once you've climbed up the last chimney, you reach the top about 50m higher up.

Finding the pass from the escarpment:
Head to the edge of the escarpment just south of Corner Peak. Just below the last rocky band on the upper slopes of the peak, a small cairn indicates the way down the steep gully.

Overnight Spots:
There are some very rough camping spots at the contour path level on the ridge which the contour path ascends. The escarpment itself has loads of space to camp.

Water:
The river flowing down the pass is fairly strong until just before heading into the final gully. There is also a river on the escarpment about 1 km into Lesotho from the top of the pass.

 
Discuss this article
You need to log in or register to participate in this discussion.

Posted: 13 Feb 2009 15:08 by Magan #312
Corner pass is one 'lekker' Pass. Very enjoyable if you like something a little different. Camping amongst the protea bushes, with great views up the Pass and down onto the lower berg ....

I can imagine it to be a bit hectic in snow !!!
Posted: 13 Feb 2009 04:58 by Serious tribe #306
Hi Forum

My mate and I climbed Corner during winter. I had snowed quite heavily the night before and we were looking forward to getting some snow in the pass, which we did.

We started the pass at about 9:30 and topped out at about 17:30. The snow started off at our ankles and by the time we had passed the chock stone, it was pretty much thigh deep, just before the top it was waist deep. We climbed the w/f section and hauled our packs up. It was more difficult because you cld not see where you were stepping and my mate twice stepped into holes up to his groin and once almost disappeared there was much cursing and snow flying. We used out hiking poles to probe the way forward.

We were carrying 25kg packs with camera gear so this also slowed things a bit.

It was a nice trip though.

Karl This image is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it.
Posted: 07 Aug 2008 15:09 by Gerhard #116
No, Hennie and the others did not do it, but we will be doing this exact same route this weekend (9-12 August), I will post a message again once we completed.
Posted: 25 Jul 2008 19:12 by DRI #104
Hennie
Did you do it?
We are planning the same route for last weekend in August.
It sounds pretty good
Posted: 06 May 2008 11:44 by Hennie #92
Thanks very much for the info. We are planning this for the long weekend in June.
Posted: 05 May 2008 11:45 by intrepid #90
This is a view of Corner Pass from the contour path. It looks a bit daunting but it's do-able. There are definitely harder passes around. This image is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it.
Banner

Login

Logging in unlocks access to material and functionality which is otherwise not visible!