Monks Cowl security

Hi, I have done 4 trips into this area over the last 5 years but never got around to getting up Greys to the top (excuses range from being unfit and unprepared the first time to taking very unfit friends with the last time!). I will be on my own and am considering this at the end of Feb, have their been any problems in this area? My previous hikes have all be incident free but the last one was in 2009.

Is Greys pass pretty easy to find from KBC? Or if anyone has a better recommendation for a 2 day hike in this area please let me know.

Thanks for any advice.

So no news is good news then?!

This isn't an area I have done much hiking in, but between the 2 occasions I have been on the escarpment in the area, I have only seen 1 local and that was on Gray's Pass.

My writeup from when I did Gray's as a 2 day hike last year:
www.vertical-endeavour.com/forum/drakensberg-trips/55334-grays-pass-the-smoking-dragon.html?limitstart=0

There is a good trail the entire way. Actually there are tons of trails, keep looking behind you to see if you are on the clearest trail. You will often find you end up taking the wrong turnoff!

If you know how to find KBC you can find the pass - not hard at all. Just look for a thick eroded line and a collapsing bank that marks the start of the pass...

From the car park to the top in a day is really hard. We would have been fine if I wasn't both marginally unfit and slightly sick on day 1 of the hike. Started at first light, got to the top at around 5PM.

A great hike in the area is Sterkhorn. At blind man's corner you go left, take the obvious path to the right and follow it up the very slope. It is clear most of the way, and when you loose it, turn around because you missed the 80 degree turns that come at the rock bands. After the large saddle near the top you go through an easy wormhole, up an easy 3m high cliff (not exposed or difficult to climb) and you are up. Really a worthwhile hike and can be done in a day or over 2 (although camping at the base doesn't cut out much distance - personally I think its better to just get an earlier start and not carry extra weight).

Thanks, i read your report the other day, nicely written.

I suppose its still South Africa and you will always have to be awake when it comes to safety...even in the mountains!

Mojoman

I was up there a couple of months ago but coming over from Ships Prow pass, we came across a few basotho herdsman on the ridge between Ships Prow pass and Greys pass, we stayed in Nkosazana Cave. There were two other parties camping near the river and near the top of the pass none of us had any issues. Everytime I have been to this area in the last few years I have come across either smugglers coming down Greys or herdmans just back of the escarpment edge, but I have never had any issues.

Hey mojoman.
Ive done greys a few times now and have never had any problems, I've seen smugglers or Basotho's on the way home every time but they posed no threat.
Once we were camping on top next to the river in the mist when we heard footsteps that sounded like a approaching army through the darkness, we killed the MSR and sat very still and about 20 smugglers walked 10m away from us without seeing us. They probably saw us on the way back at night but we slept well.
I know a lady that runs to keith bush and back every week or so for comrades training so the bottom part should be fine.

Straightforward to navigate mostly. Around halfway up the pass when you start to traverse the berg up there are 2 paths I think, one stays low and then you have to climb up a scree slope in the end and the other stays higher and is probably better. But I never see the higher one on the way up.
Also at the end of the pass when you should be going into the gully but you reach a dead end at a tiny waterfall lower than you should be, you've missed a path going straight up. Turn around.

O, but since you are on your own and have two days I think Sterkhorn is very worthy, you can sleep at Blind mans corner. You end up just as high as Grey's but you can't sleep on top...comfortably.

Thanks everyone, am trying to get a friend to come with for safety but if not I will still go alone. Am not worried about the hiking, just being on my own if there are smugglers around and anything happens but I could just as easily get robbed at home in Magalies anyway!

I would love to get to the top, as mentioned everytime there has been a problem in the past! How is the cave at the top? Is it worth thinking about sleeping there or just pitch the tent somewhere? I am looking at the end of Feb so I assume it will still be pretty wet out there? My last hikes have either been over Christmas in Dec or August time.

Personally, solo in the Berg, I would be more concerned with mountain safety than crime safety.
Also from what I know, smugglers generally leave hikers alone, they have more important things to do and don't need the extra exposure.
If you are concerned, pitch your tent a little bit stream up from the top of greys as the smugglers path comes straight over from Vultures retreat through the valley to the pass.
End of Feb will be nice and wet, the Nkosazana stream flows through the year.
Cave might be muddy www.berg.co.za/nkosazana_cave.htm