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I've had a bit of discussion with several hikers about the prominent but unnamed pass clearly visible across from Mweni Pass. It is a magnificent, steep, grass gulley topping out near the summit of Pins Pass at the co-ordinate S28 53.475 E28 58.859 (WGS84). Access from the bottom is a little further up from Chichi Bush Camp and the start of Pins Pass. Following the river is a little tricky because of waterfalls, and so traversing on the true left sloped a little higher up is easier.

It is named "Manxsome Pass" in http://www.geocities.com/supertraverse/ where a detailed description is also given.

I know that people have climbed it and it is not "new" as such.
Please feel free to supply any information which you may have on it, and share if you have climbed it and/or named it.

It would be great if we could agree on a name for it.

We're the party that named it Manxsome Pass some years ago - it's from the poem Jabberwocky and I think we even misspelled it originally...

Definitely one of my favourite berg passes - steep, sustained and spectacular!

Glad you responded on that one - now I understand where the name came from. The main problem people have had with it is that they don't understand where the name came from. Thus far it is the only name I have come across and one which I do use. The guys in the Mweni that I have asked so far do not have a name for it.

Since Mweni-enthusiasts are aware of it I'm wondering if there is another name floating out there and if we could agree on a name which everyone will use.

It is a worthy pass indeed.

I realise it doesn't really fit in with the rest of Drakensberg naming conventions using mostly traditional names. But the poem Jabberwocky is about slaying a dragon and the line it comes from is as follows:

"He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought..."

To give it a local flavour, why don't we pronounce it with a click on the "x" - now that will confuse the hell out of people

Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English defines "manxome" as an adjective meaning "fearsome".

I've included a picture of the pass to liven up the discussion on it.

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Anyone else got a say on it?

I ascended Manxsome Pass with Intrepid's group on the weekend. It was only my second Berg hike, so my personal challenges included the elementary and minor irretations of a beginner, such as a pack that chaffed at my shoulders and sore feet (and dreaming about chicken dinners). Certainly this pass isn't for the faint-hearted, as it's a long one. There are exposed narrow slopes on the route that we started out on, so caution must be taken. But it was an awesome re-introduction to the Berg for me, and I made it up just fine. As Intrepid has commented, it was a joy to experience a pass without rubbish, or a trail for that matter. Our plan was to come down Fangs, but we ended up changing that to Rockeries because of adjustments to our route due to the weather. I look forward to Fangs another trip.