Great Eastern Traverse

ghaznavid wrote: I know he planned on getting some peaks near there, and that he wasn't going to get a resupply. Plans could have changed though.

Personally - my money is a warm breakfast at Afriski!

I actually hope he did.

Day 3: Andrew is heading south - on his previous hikes he has done all the khulus at RNNP and the non-technical ones at Mnweni north of Nguza Pass. My guess is that he will head to the escarpment behind Nguza Pass. He will no doubt want to get the Saddle Rises - and probably North Saddle as well. If he doesn't, there is a good chance I will beat him in the race to bag all the non-technical Mnweni khulus - and he can't let that happen

11:30 update: And my guess was wrong, Andrew is still heading south. Perhaps he means to bypass everything till Mokhotlong?

13:15 update: I'm not even going to pretend to guess what Andrew is up to! He is somewhere in the middle of nowhere. My guess is that he will hook up with the Makheka Ridge and go inland from there - but anything is possible.

16:10 update: And Andrew is on his way back towards RNNP, after what has been an epic detour. Looks like this will be the longest Andrew has taken to reach the top of the Chain Ladders on a GT, irrespective of direction.

Looks like Andrew is back at Afriski.

Ghaz, what are the rules in respect of an "unsupported" traverse? For example, would dining (or indeed re-stocking) at Sani Top count as "unsupported" in a DGT?

When Andrew and I did that unsupported 5 day GT last year, he told me that using the bathrooms at Sani doesn't count as "unsupported".

The rules for a khulu bagging GT never specified that being unsupported was a requirement. I did lay down some proposed rules before anyone really thought this record was viable - but seeing as I didn't follow all of them on my 67 khulu GT, I really can't comment on those anyway!

Points both taken!

Day 4:

7:20 Andrew seems to be on his way back to Namahadi - that detour must have totalled around 80km. He should now be well on track to take the longest GT by kms hiked record!

It's not really a GT anymore though, is it... more like a massive ramble through Lesotho that happens to include a GT along the way!

My yet-to-be-debated rules for a khulu bagging GT require the following to qualify as a khulu bagging GT:
- You must either cross the Tugela above Tugela Falls, or summit Mont-Aux-Sources;
- You must pass through a point within 1km of Long Wall Peak;
- You must pass through a point within 1km of Walkers Peak;
- You may not have more than 2 resupplies (buying goods from a local market does not count as a resupply and may be done as often as you like) ; and
- The time limit is 14 days.

In light of the epicness of what Andrew is doing, I am happy for the second 2 to come off the list - and I rate he will do the first 3 anyway.

But there are no defined rules for the longest GT (that I know of) - I believe it is just accepted as what Thomas Wimber did when he did something similar to Andrew many years ago (minus the khulus).

Viking wrote: You would need to carry all your own food etc for the entire trip to call it that, otherwise it wouldn't be unsupported.

You are allowed to leave your pack unattended while you do something else (we did this on Giants Castle), but leaving it at Afriski won't count as unsupported.

Andrew explained what is accepted as "unsupported" as follows:
You may only use items that you are carrying and be supported by what is naturally there.

Examples of what is not unsupported:
* Any form of stashes
* Ressuplies
* Using a vacant kraal
* Using the bathrooms at Sani
* Carrying a 340ml rock to Sani and dropping it when you buy a beer there
* Having a contingency team waiting for you on the route in case things go wrong
* Throwing your litter in a rubbish bin as you walk past
* Littering in general

Examples of what you can do:
* Carry a gun to hunt for your meal
* Collect water from rivers
* Use trails or roads that exist up there
* Use existing permanent via ferratas such as the chain ladders