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Hi All.

Thought I would post a report of our recent winter hike for those planning / going.

Day 1: Started at 1pm from Injisuthi Camp to Ship’s Prow Pass via Cataract Valley. Camped on grassy knoll at base of pass. Difficult navigation through the river just before the pass, but otherwise OK. Took us about 4 hours to get there.
Day 2: Up Ship’s Prow Pass, boulder hopping for 3-odd km was very slow, and last 600m of ascent was very steep, with thick snow for most of the way. It was tough, but not overly dangerous as the snow has not turned to ice yet. Intermittent cairns helped navigate the river bed. We generally walked nearer the left bank of the river. Took us about 6 hours to get to the top, hampered by the snow and gale-force winds. Camped on escarpment about 2km south of SPP, at a water source. There is no water on top of SPP at the moment.
Day 3: To Injisuthi Summit Cave via Mafadi. We traversed along the Red Wall / Trojan Wall and along the valleys (instead of going down and back up). This took very long as the snow was mostly upper-shin deep, with places being knee/thigh deep. The cave was great – mostly dry and with plenty of ice to melt for water. There is also water about 10 minutes walk down the valley (towards the Triplets).
Day 4: Down Judge Pass to contour path. Judge Pass is steep, but well worn. We encountered very slippery sections but we could skirt above most of them. We encountered a party who had come up Corner Pass and said it was extremely dangerous. It took them 9 hours due to steep, icy sections. Judge Pass took us about 2 to 3 hours. Then we followed the contour to Centenary Hut. A shame that the hut is no longer in use, but it provided us with shelter from the icy wind.
Day 5: Down to Injisuthi Camp. An uneventful, but lovely walk (3 hours) to get back to the car.

All in all, a great trip. Am happy to discuss further if anyone needs more information.

Tomi

Nice report Tomi. I'm now a tad nervous for the snow as I'm going up there this weekend, but just for a short 1 night hike. I will make sure to take numbers down and fill in the register, as we are all noobs going up there....

Hope you had a good time

Regards
Matt

Great Tomi, thanks for writing this up. The Upper Injasuthi Cave is a great one at any time of year, even more so with snow outside.

last winter i went up corner pass and stayed in injisuthi summit cave... even though it was litterally mid winter there was still water in that little stream down towards triplets (though we have to chip ice and melt it as it was solid).

i can also confirm the state of corner pass... it was treaterous at best!!! very very slippery and icy, which would be fine by its self, but a lot of the bolders and rock is loose. I was hiking in a team of 2 (bit naughty) so it was ok dodging the inevitable rolling rock etc, but for a bigger team it would be a problem. It just takes too long.

we werre hiking from giants resort, slept the 1st night at bannamen hut, and on the 2nd day we trekked to the pass, up it, and all the way to the cave. being mid july when we did it, i can tell you that we only just just made it to the cave before dark after a very long day (mainly because how slow it was going up corner).

all said and done, i want to do it again... the pass is beautiful and soo sheltered. in the worst winds you could go up corner compleatly oblivious of the weather.

slapped on some picks so ppl who havent been up can see what we are talking about.

Sounds like an awesome route. Would like to do it sometime.

I've got to ask: Which pass is pic 2 & the second last pic?

J