Ifidi Pass

Hi Boerkie,

Which side of the mountain's water are you referring to? Lesotho or SA? The Lesotho side is perfectly safe , on SA's side we only started to take water from about 1900m upwards, as the cattle graze almost all the way up to 1800m.

The Lesotho side (27K)

Water shouldn't be a problem this weekend though, it's going to be wet hike!

Then there are those times when the Ifidi gully has plenty of water!

@Stijn

Whoah, THAT must have been fun and games... I did think while I ploughed my way up there that I wouldn't want the rocks to be too wet...

And it only took about 15 minutes of rain for the gully to go from bone dry to flash flood. We had to wait on that ledge (fortunately sheltered) for about 3hrs before the waters subsided somewhat. However, the scrambles still had waterfalls on them - luckily the rock still had a surprising amount of grip!

I can imagine how bad that must be, first time I did Bannerman Pass it was flooded, but the gully isn't nearly that norrow, so it wasnt as hard, and its not a specifically hard pass to start with...

Edit added 3 years after original post: Wow - that must have been the most ignorant comment I have ever made

Just another alternative to the unusual seat in the Berg - the "Howzat Seat".
It is particularly useful for those occasions when you need a comfortable back-rest or when you might be lounging for longish periods. It weighs about 800 gms and can be folded to either fit in the pack or attached to the outside.

Looks good. Comfortable and light.

I was in Elinda's group of six that did Ifidi Pass up and Fangs Pass down over the Easter Weekend, see Elinda's write up under the topic 'Fangs to Ifidi....or vice versa'.

We started off from the Mnweni Cultural Centre along the road up the Mnweni Valley, and crossed the Mnweni next to the new bridge under construction and continued along the road to near the confluence of the Ifidi and Mnweni Rivers.

The picture belows shows a view from the road to the Ifidi Pinnacles and Ifidi Pass (to the right of the Pinnacles), about a third of the photo width from the left.



The walk up to Cycad Cave, where we overnighted, follows a path along the Ifidi, and just after Cycad Cave the valley narrows to a gully.



Just after this narrow section, look for a path going out to the left, which continues about a kilometer up the valley and saves a lot of time versus boulder hopping in the river. The photo below shows a view to Ifidi Pass (in shadow) from this path.



After this, it is boulder hopping in the river for the rest of the way to the top of the pass. Elinda, Thora, Christine and Stefan pause at a rock pool.



We encountered the house size boulders where the running water ran out, and required us to remove our packs and pass them up.



After passing the packs up, we climbed up the steep boulder with assistance from above.(Photo courtesy of Elinda)



Below the Ifidi Pinnacles the pass divides into two routes, we followed the right hand pass.



Higher up it was necessary to bypass some steep sections in the river bed by climbing up the grass slopes to the right.(Photo courtesy of Elinda)

After the split to the right, the pass got a lot steeper and began to narrow in around us.



Above is a view up Ifidi Pass, and below a view down Ifidi Pass.



Going up higher, the gully becomes quite narrow.



Ascending the steep, narrow section of the gully has three places where removing packs and climbing up without packs was required. (Photo courtesy of Elinda)



There was running water in this upper section of the pass, and the wet conditions made the steep sections slippery as well. Thora, Christine and Stefan negotiate a slippery area.(Photo courtesy of Elinda)



The wet chockstone in the upper centre of the picture below was a formidable obstacle that would have been quite straightforward if it was dry. Tony and Gert-Jan contemplate the way up, at what proved to be our most difficult part of the pass, requiring Stefan to be assisted up and then in turn assist the others to get up.(Photo courtesy of Elinda)



A view down the narrow gully near the top of Ifidi Pass.



At last the grass slopes at the top of the pass came into view and we were up. Thora admires the view down from the top of Ifidi Pass.



After resting a while, we moved off southwards to view the Ifidi Pinnacles and pass from the escarpment, and visited Ifidi Cave and Ifidi Cave Annex, before tenting near Icidi Buttress.