Who is doing or has done the Grand Traverse

Correction to this post: Our resupply days are the 13th and the 19th of September.

Dylan wrote: Myself and two to three others (plus two for the first 4 days) are setting off on the GT on the 10th of September 2014 from the Sentinel Car Park. We are giving ourselves 13 days to complete the route including two resupplies. The first resupply is scheduled for the 14th (Day 4) at the top of Organ Pipes Pass and the second resupply at Sani Top on the 20th (Day 10).

Our itinerary at this stage is:

Night 1 (10/09/2014): Ifidi Cave
2 (11/09/2014): Pins Cave
3 (12/09/2014): Easter Cave
4 (13/09/2014): Ndumeni Cave
5 (14/09/2014): Ndedema Cave
6 (15/09/2014): Leslie's Pass
7 (16/09/2014): Bannerman's Pass
8 (17/09/2014): The Tent
9 (18/09/2014): Mkhomazi Pass
10 (19/09/2014): Sani Top
11 (20/09/2014): Stones Pass
12 (21/09/2014): Mzimude Pass
13 (22/09/2014): Finish at Bushman's Nek border post

Thanks Bobby, that's quite nostalgic. I shared a tent with Lawrence on the 1999 MBC GT when he was leader and I sub leader, and we spoke quite a bit about that first GT in 1986, it was north to south. Do you know how Lawrence is these days?

Do you perhaps remember what weight your stuff was at the start of your half GT? In the 90's I carried about 25 kg, which was standard for a man, with some guys packs being around or over 30 kg.

Dylan, have a great GT. Just hope it rains a bit before the time, you'll have to carry water far for Ifidi, Pins and Ndumeni Caves. Also Ndumeni Caves (I assume you mean the lower, but equally applicable to the upper) will be quite a squeeze for 5 - 6 people, even using both caves. Consider using Roland's Cave, by far the best in that area.

Hi Tony. Not much is heard from Lawrence nowadays. I have heard that he does the occasional day hike with the Midlands Hiking Club, and sometimes someone has phoned and asked him questions pertaining to past matters in the club, so he is still around. It was a big loss when he stopped serious hiking.
I don't recall ever weighing my rucksack back in those days. It didn't matter much. We were young and strong. The clothing wasn't that heavy as the primary fabric was thick heavyweight wool. I still have some grey woollen Dachstein mitts and socks somewhere. Warmth was obtained from a couple of thick Shetland cable-knit jerseys. My first fleece was a North Cape in the early 1980's. Rain cover was from plastic raincoats and sou-wester hats, just like sailors wear at sea. The heavy items were tents and stoves. I recall a classic from George Carr who came from England, and in the 1950's used a sleeping bag filled with layers of blanket material which weighed over 10kg.
The heaviest rucksack that I can remember was 26kg at the start of the 2007 GT.

Hi Guys

I am hoping the recent deluge of snow on the top of the Berg will improve the water supply for our GT between the 10th and 23rd of September. Can anyone tell me if there are any rivers/streams where we are guaranteed to find water? This may be a very ignorant question but I will take the risk. Just trying to work out how much water we should keep on us from day to day.

Another question... what is cell signal like up there? Is there one network that is better to use than others? Considering taking a phone with good battery life and buying a sim card for it.

Advise/guidance always greatly appreciated!
Cheers.

Dylan wrote: Can anyone tell me if there are any rivers/streams where we are guaranteed to find water? This may be a very ignorant question but I will take the risk. Just trying to work out how much water we should keep on us from day to day.

The mouth of the Amazon perhaps

It's hard to predict, but I would say a good rule of thumb is that they get better the further south you go. 3 valleys that stood out as being dry in April 2012 when I did the GT were:
- top of Organ Pipes Pass
- top of Tseketseke/Cockade Pass
- Senqu

Biggest rivers I recall:
- The ones between Ndumeni Dome and Yodeler's Cascades
- Mohlesi River
- River behind Rhino Peak, assuming you follow the valley and not the escarpment ridge

Dylan wrote: Another question... what is cell signal like up there? Is there one network that is better to use than others? Considering taking a phone with good battery life and buying a sim card for it.

If you have roaming you can get the Lesotho network from some spots. For the most part you can occasionally get signal from near the escarpment edge in the northern and central Berg, but the southern Berg tends to be bad for cell signal.

For hiking in general I use a Nokia 100, it does about 4 days if left on, so it should last for most of a GT if you keep it off when not in use. They also only cost about R100.

I believe Vodacom is better for signal on the top - but I have never owned a Vodacom sim, this is based on my experience of others getting signal when I can't. MTN is supposed to be better for roaming, I have never tried their roaming in Lesotho, but it worked great in Zambia and was relatively inexpensive (but check the rates beforehand).

A person on ClimbZA did the Mnweni/Rockeries loop this weekend. His comment on the Senqu was:

It looks like the Orange river has two originating veins 200 m apart. The one was dry, while the other one was mostly frozen over with a small stream trickling beneath the ice sheet.

We made some awesome Game/Oros/whiskey slushies out of the broken ice!

Hi All

Just some minor updates to our itinerary for our proposed grand traverse route. We are setting off on Wednesday (10th)from the Sentinel Car Park and aim to finish at Bushman's Nek on Monday the 22nd Septmeber. We are hoping there will be 6 of us starting (although 2 currently a bit under the weather) and then after Organ Pipes we will be reduced to 4 (2 guys; 2 girls).

DATE DAY START FINISH
Wed 10th 1 Sentinel Car Park- Ifidi Cave
Thur 11th 2 Ifidi Cave- Pins Cave
Fri 12th 3 Pins Cave- Easter Cave
Sat 13th 4 Easter Cave- Ndumeni Cave
Sun 14th 5 Ndumeni Cave- Ndedema Cave
Mon 15th 6 Ndedema Cave- Leslie's Pass
Tue 16th 7 Leslie's Pass- Bannerman's Pass
Wed 17th 8 Bannerman's Pass- Giants Cave
Thur 18th 9 Giants Cave- Dyke Pass
Fri 19th 10 Dyke Pass- Sani Top
Sat 20th 11 Sani Top- No Man's Saddle
Sun 21st 12 No Man's Saddle- Mzimude Cave
Mon 22nd 13 Mzimude Cave- Bushman's Nek Border Post

RESUPPLY TEAMS MEET US

I am looking at leading a GT in the next year or so, assuming a lot of things happen between now and then. Current possible options include late December this year, something including the easter weekend next year, something including the 27 April and 1 May holidays next year. It is all very hypothetical right now, mostly because I want a team of at least 4. Anyone interested in joining me - please PM me. People with no prior GT experience are welcome, but anyone I haven't hiked with in the Berg will be required to hike with me at least once beforehand.

The route will be north to south, I am undecided as to whether to start at RNNP (14 day route) or Sentinel Car Park (13 day route), but either way, I want to finish via Bushman's Nek Pass (i.e. Sehlabathebe extension at the end).

My current route concept is ending each day at the following spots:
1) Sentinel Car Park (assuming RNNP start)
2) Stimela
3) Senqu
4) Tseke
5) Yodelers
6) Leslies
7) Langies
8) Hlathimba
9) Senhlolong
10)Hodgesons Saddle
11)Wilsons Camp
12)Lammagier Cave
13)Tarn Cave
14)End via Bushman's Nek Pass

The route needs some work, basically the above is a very rough starting point (its almost an inverted list of the spots we used on the MBC 2012 GT). The Vergelegen/Thabana Ntlenyana shortcut will be avoided, hence an extra day in that area. I would like to do the Elephant shortcut, but may skip the Thuthumi/Smugglers shortcut. Undecided on the Fangs and Amphitheatre shortcuts. Assuming good weather, some khulus may be picked up along the way - but that is much easier to type than to actually do...

Update: current planned dates are 23 Dec 2014 to 6 Jan 2015.

Anyone know how Dylan and his GT team are doing? Weather has been warm to hot, and I presume the lack of water could be an issue. Anyone from VE on their resupply team that met them on Saturday?