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Greetings all,

I am planning an annual trip to the berg in September where we plan to walk up via Grey Pass (which we descended last year) and are trying to work out which passes we should use to descend. The two that we are considering are:
Ships Prows Pass
Leslie's Pass

Does anyone have a view on relative difficulty of these passes (I had heard that Ships Prows was sometime impassable and required climbing / ropes to descend) as well as distance between Grey's Pass and each of these passes?

Regards
Rolf

I think Leslies is easier than Ship's Prow because:
1) Ship's Prow is longer with little or no path
2) there is quite a lot of bundu bashing in the river bed near the bottom of Ship's Prow
3) Getting onto the contour path from the bottom of Ship's Prow is not trivial. There is a very old over-grown path, probably the original contour path built in the 1970s as well as a new link from the river to the contour - but the latter is difficult to find (we ended up going straight up the grassy banks having given up on the overgrown original path).

Leslies is further along the escarpment from Ship's Prow when coming from Greys though.

Ship's Prow is probably the toughest pass I've done in the Berg. All that endless boulder hopping and bundu bashing is very tiring. The one girl in our group even started crying.

You don't need a rope at all if you take the southern gully. The top of the pass reminds me a lot of Leslie's, but once you get to the bottom and think you're out, then the real hard work starts. When you eventually get to the contour path, the views of Monks Cowl really make Ship's Prow worth it!!!

That great guys, thanks for the advice.

Care to hazard a guess:
- as to the distance / time between Grey's and trail head of Leslie's
- how long to descent Leslie's until reach the contour path

hartmrol wrote:


1) must about 12 minutes for those guys who get from Mont Aux Sources to Mafadi in a day (:-
but not more than 2 hours for the rest of us. Worth taking the time to look over Vultures retreat once you top out on Grey's though. BTW, we went up Grey's from Keith Bush and down Ship's Prow to near where the contour path takes off in a day (which included a good unplanned 2.5 hour lunchtime snooze in Nkoza cave).

2) there isn't really a contour path at the bottom of Leslie's - just that 'way to go' we've been talking about. The bottom of Leslie's pass (which is the obvious camp ground that's been mentioned at the bottom of the ridge) can't be more than 3 hrs from the top. Its a straightforward pass. In summer I've always made it from Upper Injesuthi Cave to Injesuthi camp via Leslie's by 3pm or so.

Edit: the 2 hrs is more like the time taken from Ship's Prow to Leslies (not from Grey's to Leslies) - & we were moving fast. 3 hours prob better estimate and 4 from grey's to Leslies - more if you look around at VR.

Even the North Fork of Ships Prow does not require any rope. However, its very steep, sustained, and the lower half is filled with treacherous scree. As an added bonus it shares the same arduous 5km boulder bed approach as the South Fork. The contour path is quite clear in leading you to the boulder bed, but as mnt_tiska mentioned, if you are in the boulder bed you may experience difficulties finding your way out of it. Either fork, whether ascending or descending, is a considerable undertaking not to be underestimated.

So, Leslies is a lot easier, however, your route back will be a lot longer. Once you've cleared the high ground around Champagne Castle on the escarpment, and get into the wide Moremoholo valley, progress is very quick and easy to Leslies - unless of course you hug the escarpment edge and take in the views. If you are simply determined to get to Lesles then it should be less than half a days walk. The contour path joins at Marble Baths from a side valley. Its not always that clear, and it will cut back around valleys, but will eventually bring you back to Ships Prow Stream.