Mini Hike Reports

This past weekend, I put together a last-minute hike to go experience the snow with Alex, Paul & Walter. We could see the huge amount of snow that was still on the peaks (all the way down to about 2200m) on our drive in and excitement levels were high! Our plan was to head up Langalibalele Pass, camp on the escarpment and then either retrace our steps or head down Jarateng North Pass depending on the snow levels.

We reached the first snow drifts just after crossing the contour path but then things got pretty sketchy on the contour traverse into the pass itself. It was on a shaded slope so the snow was hard and icy. Very difficult to kick even small steps into it and a 200m slide into the rocks below as the consequences of a slip. My crampons and ice axe would have been very useful on this trip! We made it across slowly, but Paul got pretty freaked out and didn't want to go up the pass. So plan B was to camp on a ridge at the bottom of the pass and for the rest of us to do an out-and-back up the pass the next morning.

We had a pretty spectacular campsite, with a still night and a billion stars

The 3 of us went up and down Langalibalele Pass in the morning and it proved to be far more treacherous than expected. Several sections of desperately kicking 5cm steps into hard icy snow over a steep drop of several hundred metres just hoping our boots would maintain traction. Eventually we abandoned the idea of following the line of the path high up on the slopes and contoured to the river (completely covered in ice and snow) instead. Still very slippery in the shade but the falls wouldn't have been so severe if we had slipped. Topped out at 11am to an Antarctic view - snow everywhere! Not a blade of grass or single rock sticking out on the escarpment... amazing stuff!

We were very nervous about the descent but quickly figured out that bumsliding down the river was the safest way to do it. Pretty quick and fun too Got back to the tents for lunch and then a short walk back down to the cars at the Giant's Castle Camp.

Awesome weekend out and the most snow I have ever experienced in the Berg!

It seems that a good chunk of the VE membership have had the recent "privilege" of experiencing the terrifying precariousness of walking along an iced-up snow slope with a bit of (or a lot of) exposure below. Even the most gentle-looking slope can very quickly become a bit of a death trap. In hindsight, there were certainly some shaded sections on Langalibalele where we were pushing the boat out a bit far without crampons. Luckily we were patient and took our time with kicking the necessary steps. Viking/Macc - good call on properly acknowledging the risk and backing off.

Did I just use Langalibalele and "death trap" in the same paragraph!?

Stijn wrote: It seems that a good chunk of the VE membership have had the recent "privilege" of experiencing the terrifying precariousness of walking along an iced-up snow slope with a bit of (or a lot of) exposure below. Even the most gentle-looking slope can very quickly become a bit of a death trap.

Wait for part 2 of my report, North Pitsaneng Pass (or part thereof) was "fun" - hopefully will get to it soon...

Viking wrote: A quick video showing a bit more.
www.facebook.com/carldreyer5/videos/10157123329315136

Very lekker pics, thanks for sharing! However your video is still private so a no go

Cool vid, love the sound of your boots crunching through the snow!