The upcoming hikes thread

Hi I might pass through..I'm planning Keith bush camp - Cowl Cave - Cowl Fork starting Thursday to Saturday

Serious tribe wrote: A lesson here for Everest climbers, what is a life worth?

They say there are over 200 bodies in the death zone on Everest. The arguement of "if we help others we die too" is always cited as a reason not to help others. I imagine at 8300+m this is true, but surely someone dieing around 8200m could be out of the death zone within an hour and thus may still have a chance. I guess people think of the costs and how difficult it is for them to get to where they are, to bail out of a summit ascent to help a complete stranger who may or may not live may be beyond what most people are prepared to do. I guess you go into an Everest attempt knowing that its a mountain on which people Ever-Rest.

Better screening for permits and limitations on the numbers that are allowed to climb Everest need to be put into place. Apparently the last 2 years have seen close to record highs for Everest deaths due to congestion in the death zone.

Maybe they should just build a cable car

Monk's Cowl might be off - so I might end up doing something different. Most likely a 4 day slow walk around the Mzimude valley, try to bag Mzimude South Pass south gully, Mzimude North Pass (Dave Gay's pass that he found near Mzimude Pass), try and khulu bag Mzimude, Isicutula, Walker, Mashai (not in mist this time), Bollard and go for some Lesotho peaks while I'm at it. Probably Thamathu, Morake, Tsepeng, Leqooa 1 and 2.

Maybe otherwise I may head up Grey's Pass down Ship's Prow or up Stones Pass, down Masubasuba - even maybe up Smugglers down Cockade. One way or another, if I do manage to get to the mountains this weekend I should get some khulus bagged.

Right now, if Monk's is cancelled, I should have a group of 3, so plenty of space for others who have also had their plans cancelled and want to join anyone is welcome to PM me if interested

Elinda, Thora, Irene, Rob and I had a tough but successful hike up Icidi Pass and down Mbundini Pass this last long weekend

I hope to post write ups soon.

@tonymarshall - sounds great! So let's have the verdict? Fangs or Mbundini... which is tougher? We need to add another vote to the pile...

Looking forward to the writeup

My plans changed.....again......We going to Injisuthi tomorrow camp there and do Mafadi,starting Wednesday. And looking at the weather it's going to be interesting Cant wait!!!
Will be doing the ussual...Corner pass Leslies

Fangs and Mbundini are both tough passes and I have been down both now, Fangs is tiring and tough because of its length and endless boulder hopping and Mbundini rough because of the scree fields at the top and the endless contouring down steep grassy slopes further down. Real sole burning stuff for the feet. My vote for the toughest? Hmmm. Think Mbundini would win by a whisker......
As for Icidi, this is a "yowzer" of a pass as per Stijn and thoroughly deserves it's 10 out of 10 rating. Watch this space for Tony's write up!

Elinda and I both did Fangs and Mbundini Passes together as part of the same groups, and my vote for the toughest of the two also goes to Mbundini.

The sustained steep grass cross slopes on Mbundini left my feet and ankles battered and gave me my first blisters in a long time (although these probably already started the previous day on Icidi), and that didn't happen on Fangs which was tough but with much better footing on the boulders.

Ok - so my Mzimude Pass hike has also been cancelled

I don't want to do a long hike with just 2 people, so myself and Hobbit are heading up the chain ladders tomorrow from RNNP, camping somewhere around Binijal (excuse my spelling ), khulu bagging on Friday morning and hiking back to RNNP.

The weather forecast for this weekend is shocking, hence the choice of tomorrow and Friday. Not to mention that my boss (i.e. me) for a change has decided not to be nasty and gave me tomorrow off as unpaid leave