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Does anyone have a suggestion for a good 2 or maybe 3 day hike in Giant's Castle area? & if possible, which areas to avoid for camping etc.

Maybe ascending with Corner pass & traverse for the second day & down Langalibalele pass the third day?

or ascending with Bannerman pass with a traverse the second day & a descent on the third day?

Thank you.

J

A classic 2 day trip involves Bannerman and Langalibalele Passes. The only consideration is security, and even though many do this without problems, and even though the area has been quiet in recent times, I feel this warning should always go out since problems here have a fairly long history.

Other less-considered 2 day options, which involve further distances than the above:
- one of the variations of Jarateng Pass (particularly the northern one) with Langalibalele Pass
- Giants Castle Pass with Elandshoek Pass (not indicated on maps) which comes off the Giants Castle massif, complete with trail, along the South Ridge.
Note: I have not done the above 2 options as 2-day trips, but this is an opinion based on my own observations. These options do involve some distance, they are not a picnic, but if you are really looking for 2-day pass options, then this is viable.

If you extend your trip to 3 days then you have lots of combinations at your disposal, take your pick. The Giants area lends itself to quick and painless ascents up the Little Berg to the basses of the passes, with a good contour-path running the length of the area.

3 days for Corner Pass with Langalibalele Pass might be a little stretched, but that depends on your fitness level and how many hours in the day you are prepared to walk.

On a previous trip with Magan, I have used a similar route to what Intrepid describes above.

Day 1: Up Giant's Ridge and along contour path to base of Jarateng Pass, 15km/4.5h.

Day 2: Up Jarateng Central (tops out just S of Mt Durnford summit) and down Langalibalele to contour path level, 10km/7.5h. This includes me spraining my ankle and Magan finding a "creative" way down Langas.

Day 3: Down to Giant's Castle Main Camp via the quickest route, 8km/2h. We had bigger plans in mind but my ankle injury cut the trip short.

I really enjoyed Jarateng Pass - short and steep with an easy rock step in the middle (we went up on the Southern grassy banks to avoid the iced up waterfall in that section).

You could squeeze this into a 2-day trip if you take a less circuitous route to the bottom of Jarateng and head to the top on your first day (longish day which will require fitness!).

You could find a stealthy campsite in the valley as you descend from Mt Durnford's Northern slopes - this is quite out-of-the-way of the usual Lanagalibalele traffic so if you set up camp late, you can probably avoid attracting attention to yourself.

If you have 3 days however, you can avoid camping on top at all with a similar itinerary to ours.

Enjoy!

Thanx for the replies! From 2 of the site's finest

I still wanted to ask since the security is a problem in Giant's castle area. Whish areas are close to villages? I've heard there's a village which looks out on 1 of the passes, so the people can actually see you from some distance away.

Which areas would be better to sleep over at? Love cave sleeping, but I'll take the tent on this 1.

I might go with "Up Bannerman & down Langalibalele pass".

Have done "Up Mweni with sleep over just round the corner of Ledger's cave & down Rockeries" in a weekend. Wasn't a picnic either, but managable.

As I've said in another thread, I need to cover as much ground (& rock ) this year tyo get to know the areas & passes as I'm intending to do a GT next year April / May-ish.

J

If you've done up Mnweni down Rockeries in 2 days, you will find up Bannerman down Langalibalele easier - quicker approaces and significantly easier passes.

There is a cave in Bannerman Pass (Spare Rib Cave - about halfway up if my memory serves me correctly) but it has suffered from security issues in the past. Logistically, this would be the ideal overnight stop-over for your trip.

Thanx all for your inputs! We did the hike this weekend with sleep over in Bannerman cave. We had a bit of rain this weekend on ther way up & a nice, but warm day on ... you guessed it Sunday

Saw 3 berg adders on the way up & a very strange little frog which looked like it had 4 front legs & a very roundish like body. It "puffed" itself up & had a white fluid come out of it's back as a defense mechanism I suppose. & we even saw a chameleon just before going over the last ridge to Bannerman hut.

Awesome trip indeed.

J