Escarpment pass map/photos

Here is a little map of the peaks around Thabana Ntlenyana. I think this data came from an article in an MC Journal from the late 1990s by Thomas Wimber (Thomas on VE).

intrepid wrote: Here's another one I did. It landed up getting published in the MCSA Journal 2012 to accompany Thomas' article on the issues around the naming of Mafadi:

Going out on a limb here, but I think the peak indicated as Mafadi is actually Lithabolong peak. Mafadi is from this angle more to the left of the pic, obscured partially or fully by the Trojan Wall.

I hope I have the angle correct, it looks like the photo was taken from the smugglers path out of Judge's towards Giants Castle Reserve (for lack of an accurate valley name - Mankonjane I think...)

I can off-course be quite wrong here.

Peaks from just below the summit of Popple:

intrepid wrote: I hope for heaven's sake not Ive actually studied and re-studied this picture several times, long before this discussion even appeared. Lithobolong would actually be hidden behind the Injasuthi Buttresses, and it is way less of a distinct flat-topped pimple that Mafadi is. It's actually a pretty hard summit to identify from a distance, whereas Mafadi tends to be more distinct. The pic was taken from the walk-in to Marble Baths.

I got a good look at that ridge (from a slightly different angle) on Sunday last weekend - I also think that's Lithobolong. From the road out we could see Mafadi and it was a rather indistinct spot of snow.

Unfortunately the only photo I got was badly out of focus, but I am at least 90% sure of Injisuthi Dome (seeing as we could actually see UI Cave from where I took this photo). The distance would make that too far for the other peak to be Mafadi.

Some more pics on the discussion. I'm afraid quality is not the best, especially the 2nd/3rd photos as these were taken with an iPhone via a spotting scope viewfinder at 55x zoom.

It is really tough to evaluate since all three photos of Mafadi (Intrepid's, Ghaznavid's and mine) were taken from different angles. Mine below was taken from about 12 degrees East of North towards the view. (It was taken from Cayley Lodge).



Speaking of the Injisuthi Upper Cave, here it is, also from Cayley Lodge. It is not visible to the naked eye from that distance. Also note the Basotho ponies on top of Injisuthi Dome, I am dead curious as to what they are doing there? We know there are ponies roaming that area, could be them, otherwise these are smuggler scouts with their rides (although I could not discern any human shapes, not from that distance anyway).

Ok - so I have sat for the last 3 hours with Google Earth, Murch's khulu list and a map of the Free State Berg working out which peaks go where. Then using a photo of the Free State Berg from the chain ladders path and my labeled GE images of the area I managed to get to this:


Ps. That may sound very sad, but is part of my preparation for my upcoming trip on which I hope to add some Free State khulus to my list of peaks I have bagged