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Thanks Riaang!
I'm definitely going to have a look at Nkosazana cave, but I don't want to sleep there. All your other options sound spectacular... what to choose!!? 
I have indeed read all the write-ups about Ships and am indeed descending by South Fork, yes! I'm contemplating sleeping at the campsite in the riverbed of Ships, seeing that the sunrise is awesome from there. But I'll see when I get there.
Thanks for the camping suggestions for up top!!
Looking forward to some bundu bashing 

You have a couple of options.

You can also overnight in Nkosazana cave, it will probably be wet now after all the recent rains, but an option.
You can also pitch your tent tight at the top of the pass itself. Will be windy, but will be spectacular for sunrise pics if it doesn't rain.
You can also pitch your tent on Champaigne castle itself - a bit higher and then you can over look Moncs Cowl.
You can pop over the ridge and camp directly above Moncs Cowl. There is a river down this valley so should sort you out for water. Really stunning section here, and much more secluded and way less foot traffic, which is good at night.

I am presuming you are planning on descending Ships Prow South, right? I would NOT recommend a descent of SP North if it's wet. Went up it last year and we were slipping and sliding around a lot. A bit wet would probably compact the ground, making for easier underfoot conditions, but if that large scree section becomes unstable............. Read my trip report about it and have a look at the pics of this scree section. Also, North section is steeper than South. South has lots of grass over smallish boulders, which will make for easier navigation.

Whatever you do on the descent when you get into the river section, try and stay on the true left of the river. There is (was) a sort of path, could be completely overgrown or washed away now, but it helps - slightly. You will be forced into the river every now and then, and there are rock piles to go over, but these are actually a welcome sight - you will understand when you do this section. Towards the end, I'd say roughly the last 400m or so before you exit the riverbed (that is, if you are going to Cowl fork), you will be walking in the riverbed. Forget about looking for cairns or anything as route markers - just pick the easiest terrain (which, around here, is anything devoid of bushy undergrowth). Remember, the exit is on the true left so it is a bit counterproductive to walk too far on the right. Unless, of course, there are fewer bushes and small trees on the right. Then, you will find yourself naturally being lulled to the right.
A large section of the rough bushes had burned off when we went up the river section last year, but I suspect (strongly) that there would already be a lot of undergrowth in place by now.

A final point to ponder - the Sips Prow river section contains probably the worst bit of bundu bashing I've experienced anywhere from Sentinel to Lotheni. It's abrasive on gear, so please don't wear your favorite jacket or pants for this 3km stretch down the riverbed - I made this mistake on my first Ships Prow hike and everything looked pretty much well used after going through the river grinder section.

Still, it's one of my favorite spots in the entire Berg. Best sunrises from the camping spot in the river, very secluded, tough, steep - everything that makes for a proper adventure in the Berg.

Enjoy!!!

When we hiked Ship's we camped about 2/3's of the way from Gray's to Ship's... and still didn't make it out of the valley that day - it was wet and bushy AF tho, and we were also pretty inexperienced at the time. If your group moves at a good pace I'm sure you'd be fine starting from Vulture's Retreat, but I'd still make an early start. After all this rain - both currently and throughout the summer - I'd expect that valley will be slow going with unstable boulders and dense bush. I'm sure you're aware of the incident with hikers that were caught in a flash-flood, worth bearing in mind at the mo.

Looking at photos from that trip it took us about 30 mins from where we camped to get to the top of Ship's, but we didn't take a particularly direct path and stopped to inspect the north gully (Cathkin Mountain Pass) for a bit.

Hello. I plan to finally tackle the legendary Ships Prow end of April. I'm going up Grays and coming down Ships but definitely sleeping up top. I've read somewhere on all these pages that Vulture Retreat is a good place to pitch your tent for the night. I can only imagine what the views must be like from there. Any other suggestions that puts one at an excellent vantage point for a spectacular sunrise from the escarpment? Maybe closer to Ships? If not, can anyone give an approx time that it will take to hike from Vulture to the top of Ships? Thank you!

See if the track in this download helps you?

Hi everyone. We plan to hike Leslie's pass up coming down shipsprow pass during easter weekend.  Can someone please help me with the latest gps coordinates or tracks for shipsprow pass? Especially the coordinates for where the pass & contour path converge?
I will be very gratefull for any help 
Thank you
Hanri
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Thank you firephish and Riaang for the replies. That valley attracted me exactly because it's very unspoilt and off the usual routes. But maybe since no one has a definite track through it, I will need to do some rece as a day hike through it first. Or even plan for a 2 day hike with a goal of overnight at the bottom of Ship's Prow, if possible.

Hi Swordfish,

A word of....caution perhaps. In this area of the Berg, don't expect much in terms of paths. You are in for a LOT of bundu bashing. Any trip involving Ships Prow pass will involve endless hours of bundu bashing, and you will eventually get really gatvol with it. However, that's the terrain you are entering, and I've found that making peace with the situation beforehand helps keep my frustration levels low. That being said, the Ships Prow valley is still one of my favorite areas in the entire Berg. It is remote, rugged, overgrown, and hence not often visited. The campsites in the riverbed has (for me) one of the most spectacular sunrises in the entire berg (on a sunny day).

Planning on ascending Ships prow pass? Make sure you allocate enough time as this thing is on average a good 300m ASL higher than your average berg pass. Once you're out of the overgrown riverbed, walking up the steep grassy slopes feels like heaven. The only problem is that the top is in the heavens, so it takes longer to get to the top of the escarpment. But, still, an epic adventure awaits you whenever you tackle Ships Prow Pass. It never fails to deliver, and yes, I honestly can't say I've ever had a trip that wasn't tough up or down Ships. It's an epic pass and I love it!

Enjoy!!!

I have spent a bit of time up the Delumniwazini valley, i do not believe there is a path all the way to the base of ships, a couple of animal tracks maybe.

Going this way _might_ be possible, but would be seriously hard going and, I believe, much slower that the "contour path" via cataract valley or shada ridge.

tonymarshall tried to help me with GPS track but he didn't have the most direct route from Injisuthi to the bottom of Ship's Prow, that why I'm asking again. Can anyone help me with GPS route for the valley highlighted in yellow from Injisuthi? I have seen a path through the valley before as I did a day hike to Cataract valley. The path was very overgrown, that's why I prefer to have a GPX file for it.

Oops! It was a young couple that were also heading for Greys Pass - but they set off around 8.30ish - yes, it would have been nice to meet up! You were wise heading off so early. I was with a group that went to Vaalribbikkop Cave via Steilberg route. There was also very little water at the bottom of the valley below the cave and worse still, there were lots of cow poo all over the place which meant we had to treat our water. First time I have seen evidence of cattle in this area and it has been reported

Hi Elinda,

Regrettably it was not us on Saturday, would have been great to have met you though . We started hiking on Friday. Yes, we did manage to get to the top in one day - started at 7:30 from the carpark and summited just before 3pm. It really was scorchingly hot the entire weekend. On driving home on Sunday it was 38'C at Bergville.

Did you also hike the weekend?

Hi Supertramp, I think it must have been you guys that I met at the car park just before you set off for Greys Pass on Saturday morning? I remember we discussed the water situation at Keith Bush camp.....sorry to hear that it was so dry!
Did you make it to the top in one day as planned? It was an insanely hot day!!

Happy to report that my wife and I had a successful descend of Ship's Prow over the weekend. Thanks again for all the advice, the VE community surely is the "be-all-and-end-all" of all Berg related information.

After much deliberation (and having had enough of the riverbed), we decided to go for the "shortcut" with the pine tree as reference. Even though badly burnt, it remains standing as the point of reference. As we approached it from the riverbed, I was a bit skeptical as I could not see anything but "forest and dense bush" between the exit point and the visible contour path higher up. The exit point has a large cairn and is easy to identify as it enters the overgrowth (it is not advised to enter this section without finding this cairn) . Once in it, after about 10-20 meters, you will reach a split where the "path" appears to go straight and / or left. Go left here (do not go straight!!!) and it is relatively easy going until joining the contour path. Even though overgrown and looking bad from afar, the path was easy to follow did not give us any problems.

The section at Cowl Fork was also easy to navigate with a good amount of cairns leading the way. The path was easy to follow with only a small amount of overgrowth. The rest of the contour path all the way to Blind Man's Corner is in good condition and made for easy walking.

@Riaang, after a long day of struggling through the Ship's overgrowth (the path on the true left has become significantly more overgrown since the previous 2 times I did the pass), we opted to camp at your suggested site next to the eroded wall (your large cairn is still there). What an amazing campsite, thanks ! It took us about 4 hours to reach BMC and we were back at Monk's Cowl office just after 11am.

@theRealDave - thanks for the heads-up. I read your post before we went and your suggested route (as indicated on the map) was a strong option and had we struggled with the shortcut we would not have thought twice about it.

Our sunrise



View back

Riaang wrote: There is a contour path going out of the Ships Prow valley and over towards Shada Ridge.

That's the good news. The bad news is two fold:
Firstly, finding the exit out of the riverbed. I always look for a large pine tree on the left, the path follows just a couple of meters below it. Not sure if said tree is still there though, else I can send you my track for this route. This section is where the worst of the crawling and bundu bashing will occur. This section is so bad that every time I go through here (either up or down this "path", it pulls gear and clothes out of my backpack!

A little late here, but please note that there is no reason to tackle this bush, which is heavily overgrown and incredibly frustrating. As mentioned in this post , simply carry on to the end of the Ship's Prow valley, round the corner, and take a left back up the little valley on the other side of the spur. There are cairns to the contour path. Much easier and quicker than the "short cut."

tonymarshall wrote: Hi swordfish, I've emailed you the tracks that I have

Thank you! Received.

Hi swordfish, I've emailed you the tracks that I have

Can someone please help me with reliable GPX track to the bottom of Ship’s Prow starting from Injisuthi.

Well riaan300, I don't know if your comment is serious or just some stirring with your mates.

Maybe you heard that from someone who read it in a David Bristow book? They should spend more time reading and researching on VE!

It is precisely the well researched, well considered, and properly assessed danger that attracts many of us to attempt this sort of thing, and to safely take on the challenge based on ability and experience. Once you have done umpteen of the more difficult passes (Ifidi, Pins, Nguza, Injisuthi, Hilton etc) in the berg, it is not a big step up from these to attempt Ships Prow North Pass (Ships Prow North Pass is in fact safer than at least three of the other passes I have mentioned).

Anyway, although neither of the Ships Prow passes should be taken for granted, or attempted by inexperienced hikers, there is nothing wrong with ultra experienced Drakensberg hikers (of the likes of Riaang and supertramp) having a go at Ships Prow North Pass, which has been safely done by many of the experienced VE members.

hi there,

I just have a comment, Should you not be taking the south gully of Ships? I have heard that the North gully is dangerous with lots of lose rocks and rockfalls
enjoy your hike and be save.

@ Supertramp,

That section after you eventually leave the Ships Riverbed and get onto the contour path can be likened to walking on the escarpment, i.e. easy and fast walking. That final section where the path then disappears where you descend down to the base of Shada ridge is also easy to walk on, basically covered in low growing grass (except for the stingy higher growing plants). The slowest section would probably be the final section where you cross the riverbed section to get up onto Shada ridge. The best description I can give for comparative purposes (based on terrain we have hiked together), would be the section of contour path immediately north of Judges pass, there at the bottom where you then walk through rocks and grass for about 200m to get back on the contour path to Corner pass.

Hope this helps you to determine the time duration to get back to camp should you decide to sleep over at the Ships Prow campsite.

Enjoy!!!

@ Riaang

Thanks for the heads-up on those sections, much appreciated. By studying the satellite images from 2020 closely, I can see the section(s) you are referring to where the path disappears for a bit. Will be sure to keep them in mind (and not be hard on myself when losing the path).

With regards to your question of where to camp on night 2. I was thinking of that very campsite you are referring to (the one we used on our trip together) but if we sleep there, our day 2 will be relatively short, as we will "only" be going down Ship's . By looking at the stats for that contour section between the exit point to the contour path and BMC, I see that it is 10km with 700m D+ and 630m D-., hence my question about the state of the contour to determine walking duration. There is a couple of nice camp spots between the base of Sterkhorn and BMC -thus a shorter walk-out on Sunday and reaching Bergview Wimpy in time for lunch But I will definitely keep that spot very close in the back of mind, thanks!

vivo101 wrote: Hey @supertramp

Did Ships last year about the same time of year. The contour path is fairly straight forward slogging, almost identical to the contour path to Grays (weaving in-out the valleys). Only section that had a bit of bush wacking was the crossing of Cowl Fork (refer to image), nothing compared to Ships though. I was ascending Ships and lost the path for a bit on the ridge out of the river, that should not be a problem for you.

Have fun

@vivo101

Awesome, thank you so much sir!!!
Did a one day summit of Ship's from Injisuthi camp about 2 years ago, our quota of energy and bush whacking were exhausted to its limits. Can't wait to test them again

Supertramp,

There is a contour path going out of the Ships Prow valley and over towards Shada Ridge.

That's the good news. The bad news is two fold:
Firstly, finding the exit out of the riverbed. I always look for a large pine tree on the left, the path follows just a couple of meters below it. Not sure if said tree is still there though, else I can send you my track for this route. This section is where the worst of the crawling and bundu bashing will occur. This section is so bad that every time I go through here (either up or down this "path", it pulls gear and clothes out of my backpack!

Your second issue will be that the path eventually disappears just shy of the valley immediately before Shada Ridge. I've given up trying to find the path. None of the tracks I've ever followed for this section had a path. The easiest way to describe the route, is as follows: The contour path is initially clear as it climbs out of the Ships Valley , up the ridge and then turns kind of back on the ridge towards Ships. As you approach the higher and flat section, the terrain will sort of guide you. First walk in a westernly direction (towards the higher section), then turn right (NE) towards Shada Ridge. There were sections of a path here, but nothing that you can conclusively call a path. As you get closer to Shada Ridge, you will clearly see the path going up it. How you get to it is entirely your choice. There is no visible path on this final 400m section. We went sort of a bit to the left, and then down a ridge littered with high stingy plants. Once you get to them, you will know exactly what I am referring to. Then you simply have to traverse through a partly overgrown, boulder strewn riverbed before you get to the path on the South side of Shada Ridge. From here it's smooth sailing all the way home.

Question: Why do you want to sleep on the section closer towards BMC? The terrain is fairly sloped if I remember correctly, and you might struggle to find water here, unless you camp much closer to BMC. Why not rather sleep in the camping spot in Ships Prow? The sunrises from this spot is (for me) probably the best in the entire berg. When the sun comes up, it colours the entire mountainrange in front of you in a soft yellow for a few minutes, which is truly spectacular. This is only about 500m upstream from the exit point onto the path, and with your fitness level it will only add about 2 hours, maybe 2H30min to your day.

Whichever way you decide to go, enjoy!!!

Hey @supertramp

Did Ships last year about the same time of year. The contour path is fairly straight forward slogging, almost identical to the contour path to Grays (weaving in-out the valleys). Only section that had a bit of bush wacking was the crossing of Cowl Fork (refer to image), nothing compared to Ships though. I was ascending Ships and lost the path for a bit on the ridge out of the river, that should not be a problem for you.

Have fun