Mzimude/Bollard/Walker's Pass area

I don't know the area very well, but its certainly one I'll be focusing on in the future. I did the Bollard Pass-Wilsons Pass loop 2 weeks back. About 1.5 km further upstream of Sleeping Beauty Cave, you can access the ridge crest to the south without much effort (grassy). On that ridge crest you get a great view of the valley directly south - the one that starts at Tsepeng Pass and joins Hidden Valley. A fairly good trail was visible heading up this valley for about 2.5 km from Hidden Valley. It seemed to vanish at a point. I guess you could flip over the ridge at this point and get onto this trail. Not sure if it would be quicker into Hidden Valley than along the Giants Cup trail. But the Mashai River valley is an undervalued gem, thats for sure.

The other way to access Mzimude is from Bushman's Neck, getting onto the ridge that is crossed by the Giants Cup trail.

Yep, did it as a day hike, up the pass, detour to the Rhino summit and down Mashai Pass. Great pass, no major complaints, but it always makes a difference when you are not carrying a full pack. Access is via the ridge directly across the river from the Garden Castle campsite. Really nice ridge this, nice views and sandstone formations. A faint track starts somewhere along it, though it is easy to loose. Heads straight for the Rhino, and eventually contours around to the North, along the base of the interesting basalt outcrop below the Rhino (the 2702m spot height). Thereafter you get almost directly under the Rhino summit and this is where you say goodbye to the trail, which vanishes as usual, and the easy walking is over. You can head straight down into the valley at this point, or maintain the contour and hit the gully further up as we did it. Brief stint on the grassy true left river bank, whereafter we were ushered into narrow gully and stayed in it all the way up. It is of course full of boulders and some clambering is called for, but nothing severe. Its maybe like Cockade Pass and Corner Pass (without the main crux though). The gully did have substantial ice build-up already and we had to be a little more careful at times. The gully twists and turns a little, making it a little more interesting, before spewing you out near the top, where there is also a 2-man version of Rat Hole Cave. Took us 7 hours from the camp to the top, so with overnight packs it would be decent day out.

ST2, very enjoyable indeed, and it must be said that your own account inspired me to do it! Also did it as a day loop. Water was generally still plentiful in the Berg. Roughly the top quarter of Bollard was dry, but we were also away from the gully then. There was a little ice in the gullies of both passes, and on the South-facing slopes, but not much. We didn't need to walk on it/around it. There was much more ice in Rhino Pass and Mashai Pass, which we did the day before. Yes, definitely checked out Stealth Cave, as you named it, which has now been added to the cave waypoint download. The floor was a tad damp with some green vegetation, but still very useful.

Nah, not likely ghaznavid. Its the flowing water that freezes, which includes the smaller streams coming in from the side. There was a decent waterfall coming in from the side which is totally frozen over. You also don't spend much time in the actual watercourse in that pass, and in a wide gully like that, there should always be a way around it. The ice in Rhino Pass was more substantial, and all around where we needed to walk, and even then it was fine.