Close calls in the berg

I was thinking of my last hike down tseketseke pass the other day,we ended up overshooting the entrance at the top to descend.theres a few little gullies that descend after tseketseke if coming from the bell side(confusing because the pyramid is still on your left).half way down we realised our mistake,but was too late to go back up,so decided to contour across sheer cliff,standing on nothing but tufts of grass growing out of the rock,with no rope.one slip or tuft ripping out and it would not have been good.luckily im here to tell the tale.still get cold shiver when think of it.

another friend of mine was in monks cowl area on those dodgy paths where one step wrong and you will just roll down those steep grass banks and off the edge.And thats what happened.he tripped and started slipping down the grass bank towards the edge,and he could feel his pack was too heavy for him to stop,so he managed to get it off and it went off the edge.he ended up sharing buddies sleeping bag for 2 nights and got back with frost nip on ears and nose(mid july).2 years later he got a call from a hiker who found his bag at the bottom of the cliff,evrything in shape,even cell phone still worked.it landed face down so totally faded on the back.he used it for years after that. Any other hairy close calls????

Hmmm close calls, I never have those

Short summary:
- an ugly traverse across a wet rock while lost in the mist on Mashai Pass on my first overnight hike, the exposure was about sufficient for some serious injury if I fell.
- sleeping in "I'm sure its not a" cave after ending up nowhere near Mzimude Cave, we thought the cave above us was Curtain Cave. That was my second overnight hike.
- While I didn't feel like I almost fell, the approach to Roland's Cave is still probably the scariest thing I have ever done.
- Being unable to talk or open my eyes on day 1 of GT last year. Hearing the group discuss the prospects of requiring a body bag was particularly encouraging!
- Getting lost in thick mist on day 5 of GT last year while checking out the Hlathimba Passes and spending a decent amount of time trying to find the camp (which was over 1km away from the passes)
- Not being able to figure out where the GT team was on day 11 when I had gone and climbed Ifidi Peak. It turns out that this time the team was in SA and I was looking for them in Lesotho.
- I don't think setting up a tent at 2500m on Gypaetus Pass in falling hail was particularly hairy, but the team that was with me may disagree
- Gypaetus Pass did include a hairy moment (aside from 2 of the 3 of us being really sick at the top and the fact that we were opening a new pass in thick mist). We were at about 3000m and Fitness was a bit behind the team, so I sat down to wait for him to catch up. I put my pack down and as I turned around I saw my pack rolling at quite a speed. Fortunately Fitness has really good reflexes!
- While going down North Hlubi Pass (as good as a first ascent as we were unsure of previous ascents so we knew very little about the route) we were hit by a fairly bad hail storm. Fortunately Peakrunner was fast thinking enough to pull a tarp out of his pack and we all huddled under it.
- About an hour later, when Hobbit fell about 10m on North Hlubi Pass while doing a rather hairy traverse on melting hail. I almost fell at the same point.

- Lightning.....We were on top of Cleft peak, having lunch and being generally ignorant at the view towards Lesotho, I mean... the view towards RSA from there....so a sizable storm was approaching from the west which we saw perhaps 5-7 minutes before it hit. On top of Cleft peak there is not a lot of places to go. One of our party members knew the area a bit and suggested us sheltering below a rock ledge about 300m west from the top, which meant we had to run directly into the approaching storm.....it wasn't much of a shelter but we had a tarp to hide beneath and the rock face (SSE facing) at least sheltered us from the hail that was driven by the wind. However lightning soon started hitting around us and what felt like hitting the rock face directly on top of us. It was scary scary and felt like it lasted an eternity. I have no idea how long it took to move beyond us, our senses got pounded that day into oblivion. Not long before this (2006) some Basotho's got killed and injured by lightning behind Organ Pipes pass, a very real reminder that one can easily get into major trouble in summer up there.
- speaking of dodgy routes above vertical edges. One route up Ribbokpeak in Goldengate is on a NNE facing ridge, however one gets stopped about halfway up, and both left and right going alternatives has these dodgy type traverses above a loooooong vertical drop. The route to the left meant traversing above the very high NE Ribbokwall (the vertical wall one can see from high vantage points on the standard GG hikes near Brandwag etc). So my friend, who was a SANparks ranger at the time, insisted we take this route above the Ribbokwall. Probably 60 seconds after turning left he slipped and fell, and stopped himself less than two meters from the plunge. He was so shaken by this experience that he not only abandoned the ascend there and then, he also suffered from nightmares for some time and eventually stopped climbing all-together. (Note: there are easier ways up this peak, we really took some bad route decisions that day, which nearly ended very badly).

I for one took a lot of lessons from both these experiences.

I recall reading about a party that set off down the wrong start point of Tseke in quite deep snow and got to a point where they could not go up or down and had to be rescued.

I've spent the odd half hour from time to time in the sporadic mist at the top of Tseke or near the top of the false start of the pass mulling things over. Its an easy mistake to make.....

have any of you been in a pass during a rock fall?was descending mbundini in snow once when there was a rock fall in fangs next door,didnt see but heard it,sounded like an earthquake.thats my biggest fear up there ....lightning a close second?been in ifidi with soccer ball size chunks of ice falling around us,was a nightmare.also one day coming down that open ridge from orange peel gap off cathedral with lightning hitting ground around us,with nowhere to hide....i have never walked that fast down a hill in my life.dont know why i keep going back

that story sounds like a nightmare

FYI... There is a great book by RO Pearce (Barrier of Spears author) called Dragon's Wrath which describes the history of incidents and rescues which occured in the Berg pre 1978.

I think it was re-printed about 5 years ago but you may find a copy in a 2nd hand store too.

It's amazing to know that people got into trouble or in some cases died on routes we frequently hike. The Sentinal car park to chain ladder hike is more dangerous than you think.

ive read that book 3 times,love it.