Windsor Castle Pass

24 Aug 2023 09:08 - 24 Aug 2023 09:11 #78676 by tonymarshall
I first heard about Windsor Castle Pass in 2015 or 2016, from ghaznavid, who in turn had heard about it from an elderly MCSA member who had done the pass in the 1970’s or 1980’s. ghaz and I had both done Windsor Castle peak, a khulu, by then, and both immediately knew that the pass being referred to was the gully directly to the south of the peak, which gave an access through the upper escarpment cliffs, and was visible from the top of Windsor Castle peak. 

I first tried to do Windsor Castle Pass with Lorinda in December 2016, a descent, but it was very misty on the day, and being worried about visibility to navigate the lower sections of the pass, we decided to rather go down Organ Pipes Pass. In 2018, on the August long weekend, ghaznavid, Lorinda and I planned to descend Windsor Castle Pass after our ascent of Didima Pass, but a heavy snowfall changed our plans, judging that it would just be too much effort to walk in the summit snow all the distance to Windsor Castle Pass, and we descended Tlanyaku Pass instead. We overnighted in Schoongezicht Cave, and could clearly see Windsor Castle Pass from below, with some snow in the gully at the top, and snow on the summit of Little Saddle, all shown in the photo below.  

 

In March 2021, I had the view to Windsor Castle Pass in the photo below, near the bottom of Phillip’s Folly, while doing the contour path from Mikes Pass (C10) to below Hlatikhulu Nek (M1). It is worth pointing out that the Thuthumi valley is a lot deeper than shown in the photo, and the pass actually starts a lot lower down than where the red line starts. I had also decided to use the ridge in the centre of the photo, to the left of the big cliff, rather than the ridge to the right of the cliff, as I thought the way through the rock bands would be easier this way.  

 

I did my ascent of Windsor Castle Pass on the first weekend of August, five years after the planned descent with ghaznavid and Lorinda in 2018. On the Thursday morning I drove down to Didima, and left in the late morning, going up Mikes Pass and following the Organ Pipes Pass route up Thuthumi Ridge. I cut off below the Thuthumi Hut, and descended to the path of Thuthumi Pass, partly on the faint connecting path, which had disappeared in places, and planned to tent near where the pass path crosses the Thuthumi stream. It proved quite difficult to find a flat spot to tent that wasn’t covered in bush, but after looking around I found one, close to the stream for water. 

On the Friday morning I ascended Windsor Castle Pass, my route being the red line drawn in on the photo above. The photo below shows the view down into the Thuthumi valley from the ridge I ascended, with the path of Thuthumi Pass crossing the stream near the pine tree in the shady spot of the valley at the left of the photo. I had tented slightly downstream from the crossing, on the true left, and I crossed the stream opposite where I had tented, and traversed along the right bank, crossing the three sidestreams before getting to the base of the ridge.  

 

The ridge was quite steep, but not difficult going, and soon I was below the first rock band, at the height of the big cliff described earlier. The photo below shows the rock band from below, and I scrambled up the grassy ledge to the left of centre of the photo.  

 

A close up of the scramble, which wasn’t tricky, but won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. At the top of the scramble I traversed a bit to the right to get onto the top of the rock band.  

 

Once on top of the first rock band, I could see ahead where I had to go, a bit of traversing on a sideslope with some more low rock bands, and crossing a gully coming down from above which formed a waterfall over the big cliff, although there was no water at this time of year. Higher up was a grass slope leading to the summit gully, which can be seen to the left of the peak on the right in the photo below, which is Windsor Castle.  

 

Looking across to my right past the big cliff, I could see that the ridge at the right of the cliff was also quite doable. From lower down it looked like the rock bands would be more difficult to get through, but from higher up they looked quite doable, as per the photo below. I now think that this right ridge would have been slightly easier, with less scrambles near the top of the cliff, but a bit steeper slope than the left ridge I used.  

 

After some traversing towards the left end of the big cliff, with some low scrambles, I was relieved to see that the watercourse coming down wasn’t much of a gully and was quite easy to cross. This had been a bit of a worry as it wasn’t visible from below, or clear on Google Earth, but now it looked like plain sailing.  

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Last edit: 24 Aug 2023 09:11 by tonymarshall. Reason: Correct formatting

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24 Aug 2023 09:14 - 24 Aug 2023 09:29 #78677 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic Windsor Castle Pass
Once through the watercourse, I continued up the grass slope towards the summit gully, which was a bit steeper than the photo below shows, and had my sit down morning break at the base of this gully.  

 

A view back down the way I had come up, taken from where I had my morning break. This was the crux of Windsor Castle Pass, the section to the left of centre of the photo below, with the low rock bands and side slope traverse.  

 

A view up the summit gully, which surprisingly had a bit of a trail.  

 

A view back down the summit gully.  

 

This is quite a scenic pass with some spectacular views from higher up. Lower down there were good views to Didima Gorge, and the photo below shows the view across the Didima River far below, with Eastman’s Ridge at the centre of the photo, and Gatberg and the Cathkin Range in the right background.  

 

A view of the trail near the top of the pass. I assumed this was mainly from animals, and probably local shepherds taking sheep down to graze on the grass slopes below.  

 

The view back down from the top of Windsor Castle Pass, which tops out at 3035 m, again with the trail visible.  

 

I had a short break at the top of the pass, and took some summit photos.  

 

I will upload a gps track of Windsor Castle Pass to the Downloads section. As far as I’m aware, there has been no recent use of Windsor Castle Pass by hikers, with only the use long ago previously mentioned by the elderly MCSA member, and this may be the first recorded use of Windsor Castle Pass, as there are no records of previous use in the MCSA Journals.

I headed north east towards Ndumeni Dome, dropping down to the Makhapung River where I collected water for lunch, and for until I got to water again below Cleft Peak. I had lunch near the top of Ndumeni Dome, and then headed south into Lesotho, leaving my pack behind to summit Lomo-se-Fubelu, a 3275 m peak. Returning to my pack I descended a bit, traversed above Rolands Cave and dropped down to the top of Organ Pipes Pass, before going around Cleft Peak on the lower trail (I have summitted Cleft Peak numerous times), stopping for some ice cold water at a stream crossing below an iced waterfall. I continued up to the top of the ridge on the trail, and then contoured and dropped down into the valley to tent next to the stream at a flat spot near the top of Tseketseke Pass, where I have tented several times before. 

The next morning I would descend South Cockade Pass, a pass I had seen immediately south of Cockade Peak, and quite far down I had my fall, got injured and needed to be rescued, as described in the Dragon’s Wrath thread.

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Last edit: 24 Aug 2023 09:29 by tonymarshall. Reason: Correct formatting

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01 Sep 2023 20:29 - 01 Sep 2023 20:30 #78692 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic Windsor Castle Pass
As indicated, I have uploaded a gps track of Windsor Castle Pass to the downloads section, for those who may like to look at it. 

Below are two gps maps with Windsor Castle Pass and the Organ Pipes Pass and Thuthumi Pass routes shown on each. The track of Windsor Castle Pass is the magenta one, and I have extended the track to the slopes of Ndumeni Dome from the top of the pass, while the track of Organ Pipes Pass is blue and the track of Thuthumi Pass is red. 

 


The photo below shows a view to the top of Windsor Castle Pass from the Lesotho side. The photo is taken from the slopes of Ndumeni Dome as I ascended from collecting water at the Makhapung River below, with Windsor Castle (peak) being the high point in the centre of the photo, and the top of Windsor Castle Pass being the notch to the right of the peak.

 

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Last edit: 01 Sep 2023 20:30 by tonymarshall. Reason: Correct formatting
The following user(s) said Thank You: Stijn, BergAttie, Smurfatefrog, Richard Hunt, TheRealDave, Carl Gebhard

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