Ifidi Pass

Ghaz - the simple answer is that there isn't any easy one day return pass from Ifidi back down the Mnweni Valleys in a day. Icidi is the closest but competes well for bad press. Next up is Mbundini but Ifidi to the top of Mbundini can take half a day itself. I think you're looking at two days home from the top of Ifidi unless you go back down the pass or head north and have another plan from Sentinel car park.
One day down Mbundini to Mnweni road in a day is not a problem.

Thanks Tiska, thought that may be the case. I will probably earmark Ifidi for the Easter Weekend next year then, perhaps even add a few days and do a full Mnweni traverse to Christmas Pass. Failing which there is always the infamous Ifidi/Icidi loop.

Its really what puts me off the Mnweni area - everything is so far from where you start. But I am running out of short loops to do elsewhere, so I will have to find a new hunting ground soon. No plans to hit Giant's Castle in the near future...

We will be attempting this pass at the end of the month weather permitting, i say weather permitting because we want to run from the cultural centre up Ifidi pass across the escarpment and down the chain ladders to Witsieshoek in a day. We have done it with packs to the mountain hut before ,and we got to the hut at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so this will be an interesting challenge to see how much faster it can be done buy going light.

anthony wrote: we want to run from the cultural centre up Ifidi pass across the escarpment and down the chain ladders to Witsieshoek in a day.

Good luck sounds really insane

I planned to head up Ifidi pass with a group next weekend, but with this cold front, and the snow which fell, I may have to consider another pass.

I have not hiked Ifidi pass before, does anybody have an idea what it would be like, one week after a snowstorm. I see temps are low so I assume there would have been some ice forming. What would the scrambles be like, the forecast predicted both rain and snow the past weekend.

I've hiked corner pass before while it was under about 40 cm snow, but the scrambles were dry and without ice.

Any comments?

Moderators feel free to move this to the Ice conditions thread

We did Ifidi last year end of August in good weather. It's quite a long hike from MCC to the top, we started at 6:30am and got to the top at about 17H30. If you are planning to do it in one day you might run out of sunlight, unless you move fast.

The pass is a lot more rocky than Corner pass with much larger rocks. Then, the last 100m ASL or so involves 3 scrambles (besides a couple lower down in the valley) with the one being potentially challenging. It is higher than the one with the chockstone in Corner pass and more vertical. We did it without ropes but if you can stand on someones shoulders one guy should be able to get up and fix rope. However, the weather forecast looks better for this week so I doubt there will be snow left towards the weekend

Hi ccjoubert, I did Ifidi Pass with 2 of my mates in July 2013 (see the write-up here ).

There was some ice in the gully (see the 3rd pic in the write-up), which didn't cause us problems at the time, but had there been any more, it would have made the going really tricky, especially on the scrambles.
I'd recommend taking a rain check on Ifidi Pass if there's a chance of ice

Thank you Riaang and pfoj. from MCC to summit is a long strech for a day. We planed on sleeping in cycad cave on Thursday evening, so would have two days. I planned on taking a rope along.

I am sure I would be able to do the scrambles and fix a rope under normal conditions but of course it's hard to know how much ice there would be
It is the hardest thing ever to give up on a planned route,

Let me echo the sentiments above - we did Ifidi in May 2013 after a light snowfall 2-3 weeks before then. There was ice on the sidewalls, which didn't really affect the scrambles, but with such a heavy snowfall just 1 week before, I would expect it to be quite challenging!