The upcoming hikes thread

Bye bye mattress

We saw two guys who were hiking with BergAttie do some serious "bum sliding" down Giants Pass, the one however complained of a serious "wedgie" when we saw them at the bottom !!(excuse the pun) They must have made up at least 30 -45 minutes on us by this technique. I considered it but it just looked too steep and scary.

@Boerkie, not if your mattress is a Thermarest!

@diverian: ja it makes up a lot of time. I haven't needed to do this much in the Berg, but in Canada I use three techniques: standing/skiing but without skis (very dependant on snow quality and slope); squatting and controlling direction and speed with ice axe or collapsed hiking pole (glissades); and lying down with your pack on your back, lifting your bum up and controlling speed by how much you dig your heels in (this method can pick up serious speeds but is probably the most fun!). Problem with the Berg is the snow slopes are rarely consistent enough, and the passes have some serious obstacles.

Boerkie wrote: @Chris

I have it that "No camping is permitted" at Junction cave? Have this changed or is my info incorrect?

It has occurred to me that you may be talking about the Junction Cave at Ndedema Gorge - this one has rock art and should definitely not be used. The one we used is at Injisuthi and had no rock art.