Overnight Berg hikes with kids

I agree Captain. When i called the Injisuthi Camp Office to ask about the route between Marble Bath and Grindstone, I also asked the guy why they don't just go up there and clear the trail a bit he replied; they can not because they do not have the equipment.

I walked the path from Grindstone caves to Marble baths last year June. From M9-2240 turnoff to where the path descends to the river, the path is totally clear. No issue there. We did it after one of the big snow drops, so walked that path through about 10cm thick snow without any issues.

From the river to Marble baths, the path is overgrown. However, there are also quite a few cairns along the way. I don't remember ever loosing the path along this stretch. So I would call it a clear overgrown path. It's not too difficult to know where to go, the issue is just to push some branches out the way, get your legs scratched if they are exposed etc.

But yes, it will be a bit of climb between the two, so maybe some of the other options already mentioned will make it more manageable for the children.

haha Viking that joke was totally lost on me haha at least i went and goggled it.

thanks John for the reply

Thank you Carl.

Not sure if this as been covered anywhere else, but at what age would it be considered "sensible" to take a kid up to the escarpment.

I am planning to do the loop up Mnweni pass & down Rockeries later this year and one of the hike party would like to bring their 9-year-old along.

They have hiked a fair bit together and are quite fit, but never been to the top of the escarpment.

What are peoples opinions / experiences of kids in this age bracket in the 'berg?

The thing I always try to keep in mind is that if the conditions worsen dramatically, will I abe able to cope and get my child out safely. So, if 100cm of snow falls, what then? A more likely problem is hypothermia. Problem for small children is that they don't have enough muscle mass to generate sufficient heat, even if you put them in a really warm sleeping bag they still battle to get warm (my experience with my two children).

My son is 10 and he's been to the lower berg a couple of times. He is definitely not fit enough to make it to the top yet so I haven't had to give too much thought to this issue, but lately he has been asking me to come along. I reckon he'll get his chance in the next year or two

Without having any children of my own, I guess my opinions on this matter are mostly irrelevant - but I did first take Hobbit hiking when he was 11, and have hiked over 600km with him between the ages of 11 and 13.

Anyway - one of my uncles spent a lot of his life in the Berg before he moved to Australia. When his first child was born, his wife said that he can't leave her to look after the baby while he goes off to the mountains, so he bought a pack that had a space for a baby and from something like 2 years old his son was traveling up mountains with him. I believe he took his oldest up Rhino before his 10th birthday.

Another person I know started taking her son to the Berg from the age of 3. They didn't go far, but it did happen. Underberg High School takes their grade 2's to do day 1 of the Giants Cup Trail, grade 3's do days 2 and 3 and grade 4's do days 4 and 5. Neither of these examples are to the escarpment, but they are far from car parks, and thus exposed to certain of the Berg risks.

I would say that the question is:
1) do you have the gear for them to survive if things go bad?
2) are you strong enough to carry all their gear if they aren't as fit as you think they are?
3) do you have the knowledge of what to do if something goes wrong for them (e.g. with hypothermia they will probably not survive the at least 4 hours before mountain rescue can get to you)?
4) do you have someone else with you who can handle the situation if something goes wrong with you?
5) are you sure the route you have chosen is within their capabilities?
6) will they enjoy the trip?

I would start with a day trip up the chain ladders (which has been done by many people younger than 9) and go from there.

Remember that the youngest person to climb Kili was 9 years old and the youngest to complete the 7 summits was 15 (starting around 11 or 12 years old). The grand traverse has been done by 2 15 year olds, one of whom did another GT this year (age 17 I think). I know there is a huge difference between 9 and 15, but my point being that it depends on the person more than their age.

For Hobbit - I took him on a few trips before I ever hiked with just him. The riskier trips I took him on (the 2 Hlubis, Gypaetus and Bond Pass) all included other experienced hikers. While it was just him and myself on Thumb Pass, by this point he had done over 500km of Berg hiking and I was quite ready to backtrack if things went bad.

One of the drills I often made Hobbit do was setting up my tent before a trip. I would start a timer and the 2 of us would set up my tent - the rule was that we had no more than 5 minutes to do this. We usually averaged about 3m30 after some slower practice runs. This came in handy in September last year on the Pitseneng River. We were chilling by the (basically stagnant) river when we heard lightning. We jumped up and were sitting in the tent less than 3 minutes later, just in time for it to start raining. Admittedly this is a good drill for anyone - I am often the first one in my tent, even in Feb this year on a hike where I was the only one in the group who wasn't sharing a tent with someone else - it was raining and I was quite happy to get into my tent before everything got wet!

I stood on top of Tugela Falls for the first time when I was 5 years old. Did my first overnight hike (out to Bannerman Hut, returned via Langalibalele Ridge) when I was 9. Slept on top of the Escarpment for the first time, during quite a heavy snow fall, at 13.
I reckon kids are often tougher than we think, but need regular breaks and lots of food! My son is 5 right now. I won't got to the top of the berg with him yet, but he's handled a number of overnight hikes to caves in the lower berg.
I had my 12 year old nephew with to Roland's Cave and back down via the Camel in July last year and he loved it. However, Mnweni Pass and Rockeries might be a bit of a stretch for a 9 year old. I'd suggest something a bit easier/shorter.