General Grand Traverse planning & tips

Thank you so much tonymarshall! I'll definitely give it a look. As I said, I'm new here so thanks for sending me in the right direction.

I am planning in completing the GT in 12 days time and keep my resupplies at an absolute minumum. I hope I'll find something on resupplies as well!

What route will you follow?
Will your team carry a SPOT for us to follow online?

Hi

We are starting our very first GT next week Friday (3 Feb) After all the planning it is only myself and a mate of mine that is going to tackle the dragon. Any advice on a traverse in this time of the year?? Besides for taking rain coats.

Regards
Carl

@Mods: isn't there a GT advice thread, perhaps best to move this post to that?

Welcome to the forum

A bit late to be asking for advice right now, if you are leaving in a week. But let's see what we can cover at short notice.

How much experience do the two of you have in the Drakensberg?

How many days?

Which direction?

A N-S 14 day GT with 2 resupplies is massively different from an unsupported S-N 5 day GT, so the advice would be substantially different.

My usual first bit of advice for doing a GT is - make sure someone in the group has done a GT before. A GT is a massive undertaking, and is not to be taken lightly. Some matters where experience is key for a GT:
- Knowing the different route choices (e.g. Kubedu Shunt vs Ifidi and Icidi Ridges, Elephant Shortcut vs Mahout etc)
- Knowing where you can expect to find water (not an issue right now, but beware of flooded rivers - these have killed people in the Drakensberg before)
- Knowing which water is fine to drink, and which isn't
- Pacing of the days, e.g. knowing that Verkyker Ridge can be crossed relatively quickly, but Leqooa Ridge will take a while.
- Knowing where caves are in case of needing them urgently - even if you are carrying a tent
- Knowing the best bailing routes (e.g. the maps would lead you to believe that Injisuthi Pass and Bannerman Pass are equivalents for bailing, but the former is a very difficult rock pass - that I haven't done, so going on others reviews - and the latter is an easy pass with some minor boulder hopping)
- Basic navigational matters - e.g. knowing you need to find Ntonjelana Gap
- Knowing where dogs are an issue, and how to avoid said dogs
And many more issues.

I would suggest you post your plans on the site and get input from the forum. Plenty of VE members have done GTs, there are also 10+ GT writeups on the site, some for very fast GTs (45h08, AndrewP's S-N and solo speed record), some for very slow GTs (311h45 by myself and Hobbit, not done by speed rules, comes to mind).

@Mods: perhaps an index of GT writeups might be an idea?

Hi

Thanks for the response Ghaz much appreciated. We are both experienced hikers, but will say that our experience of the Drakensberg is limited to an extent. We have been planning for at least two years, and this was basically just to see if we missed anything.

We are aware of the challenge and we are taking it very serious:) The plan is to do a N-S GT unsupported, because it is our first one we are planning to do it in 13 days.

Night 1 :Ifidi Cave
Pins Cave
Easter Cave
Ndumeni Cave
Ndedema Cave
Leslie's Pass
Bannerman's Pass
Giants Cave
Mkhomazi Pass
Sani Top
Stones Pass
Mzimude Cave
Bushman's Nek Border Post

The weather forecast is not looking to promising, so I'm sure that the plan will change on a daily basis.

Those days sound pretty good. Some days are tough, but that is unavoidable. What you do in a day is always going to be variable depending on weather, fatigue etc - that is inevitable on a gt.

I would suggest taking Stijn and Intrepid's gps tracks for your trip (see the downloads section). Study the different variations beforehand - if weather is poor, you will know your alternatives.

Best view choices IMO:
- top of ifidi ridge
- elephant shortcut
- cleft summit line
- didima buttress line (see Intrepid's track)
- Mafadi ridge approach (the high line from Leslie's)
- Mohlesi line (as opposed to Thababa Ntlenyana)
- Verkyker cutback (unavoidable, but an awesome spot)

Which route lines are you planning to use?

At this of year, it often happens that the escarpment is misty and wet, while 100m back it is sunny and dry.

Have options such as the Jarateng or Yoddlers valley loaded on your GPS in case

Hi there, can someone please assist with the current fees associated with doing a DGT?

Entrance fees to Amphitheatre region: R40pp?
Overnight camping fees: R70pp?
DGT Permit?
Accommodation at Sentinel Car Park pp/pn?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!