DGT gear list

@Papa Dragon - the bags are 700 fill down with an enclosed foot area. The method explained above would work well.

Viking wrote: Slightly off topic but in light of recent events please take care in choosing overnight camping spots and be aware of the issues involved in making that choice.

Unless misunderstood, Ghaz will be the guide on their trip, so should be covered from that angle.

Don't go easy on sleeping bags - I would say you need to be looking at around -5C, and don't believe the "adds 15 degrees" claims on some of those liners.

If your sleeping bag isn't comfortable, you will not sleep well. A GT requires more psychological effort than physical effort, and not sleeping well will end your GT early. Also be aware of the procedures to be followed if you are too cold, and remember that you don't wait for the early stages of hypothermia before implementing these procedures. The Messner brothers survived a -30C bivvy in the open on Nanga Parbat above 8000m with just the clothes they had on (and that was 70's gear), it is never necessary to die of hypothermia in the Berg.

Personally I have done 3 GTs with my Mountain Hardwear Pinole 20 (a -7C bag) and once with my K-Way Killi II (I packed the wrong bag by accident - joys of working the day before you start a GT).

Coeta wrote:

Viking wrote: Slightly off topic but in light of recent events please take care in choosing overnight camping spots and be aware of the issues involved in making that choice.

Unless misunderstood, Ghaz will be the guide on their trip, so should be covered from that angle.

First I am hearing of that

a few small things that may help..

putting a space blanket under your sleeping mat makes a big difference in warmth
if you do hit snow you can use shopping bags as over-socks to keep the wet out

@Coeta: Nope, our "guide" so to speak is a Durbanite with one three-day September escarpment hike under his belt (and many in the lower berg, which probably doesnt count). The other member is a doctor with Comrades and Cano Marathon experience. And I have about 20 years' hiking experience with multi day hikes in the WC (Boland90, Swellendam, Tsitsikamma, Amatola, Outeniqua, etc). If theres an experienced Berg hiker with idle time, though, we do need another team member

@ Viking: We plan to leave our camp every day by 3/4 am (or at least an hour before sunrise) and set up camp after sunset as best we could to avoid attention. We also plan to start early on day 1, and only camp well after Amphitheatre and Fangs Pass areas (hopefully at 30-35km mark). We plan to follow the record route, which runs along Fang's river on Lesotho side and bypasses the Fangs Pass area on the escarpment. And I plan to buy online and read the book "Sheperd Boy of the Maloti" before our trip, to get into the Basotho mindset.

That said, I havent started my research on danger areas, escape routes etc. A post on that topic will follow when I have enough questions. At present, gear and fitness are our main focus areas.

Thanks everyone

gerhardsnorbaard wrote: At present, gear and fitness are our main focus areas.

I know this is slightly off topic, but I'm just curious what you're doing for fitness? Maybe I"ll bump into you on the mountain here. Very jealous of the trip!

Hi Adrian. All three of us live in Cape Town, so we hike Table Mountain. Apr-June was base building months (trail runs and mtb), July we will increase distance and weight, August is back-to-back distance hikes on weekends (up to 40km/day) and September will be tapering down. We will also attempt the higest peak in WC (Seweweekspoort, 2000m +) as training. I have a nifty 10kg sand bag to load my pack for some weight.

Basically, try and keep with the normal regimen of 1-2 trail runs and mtb's during the week, and long hikes / bike rides on the weekend. This past weekend we did our first real preparatory hike - we did the Three Peaks of Table Mountain (Devils Peak, Maclears Beacon and Lions Head) - started at 4am sharp to get used to cold/dark. Ended up being 25km with 2200m elevation gain. We aim for 5km/h on our training hikes, to be ready to keep 3 km/h in Berg conditions.

Awesome! It sounds like you'll have no hassles on the traverse.