Winter hiking in the Drakensberg

My advice: Base yourself in Durban, its warmer than most other places in SA in winter. From there you can make excursions to the Berg, Umfolozi or the beach. Prepare for the time of your life.

My Winter hiking gear:

Hiking gear in bag

Bottom
Down Sleeping bag
Cape Storm Down Jckt
Inflatable Down Sleeping Mat
Sleep shorts and t-shirt
Fresh pair of socks hiking
Fresh pair of socks inner

Mid pack
inner jacket
beanie &muff
food
plate & mug and fork spoon knife thing
water bladder
first aid kit
90mm lens
head lamp

Floating Hood
Shell jckt
Shell pants
Blue ear muff
Gloves inner
Gloves outer
Outside Pack in straps
snow gaiters
tent inner and outer rolled on outside of pack

Walking gear not in pack
camera & 28mm lens
spare battery and release
hiking poles
boots
socks inner and outer
helly hiking shirt
hiking pants

Thanks ST.
My winter kit is based mainly on the kit I have from Kilimanjaro, which I'm mostly happy with. This includes thermals, fleeces and trackpants, snow gaiters and waterproof/goretex pants and jacket. I've also bought some newer, better cold-weather since, like a polar buff, smaller fleeces, better socks etc.

My main worries are my tent - 360 Degrees Trek II (from Outdoor Warehouse) which is rated as 3 seasons. I potentially could borrow a 360 Degrees Cool Mountain II (which I personally rate quite highly); and being able to carry all the cold-weather kit. I did the Rhebok in Golden Gate 2 years ago, which is a single night, hutted, 3 days after a big snowfall and my pack was heavy (without tent and mattress).

joshilewis wrote: I potentially could borrow a 360 Degrees Cool Mountain II (which I personally rate quite highly)

The Cool Mountain is a great tent - Mine has done a few escarpment nights now without any trouble. I think its the best value for money tent at the moment, especially with a Cool Mountain II (John Pickup - the group leader) and a Cool Mountain III (Tony Marshal and Ruan) having been used on GT last year and both holding up well, including in snow.

Yeah, if only my wife would let me buy it
(it would be my 5th tent but only my 2nd hiking tent)

Here is a basic kit list that I developed to ensure I don't forget anything and more importantly, that I don't overload my pack.

You will notice that for the Berg my winter vs summer list is very similar except for the down jacket. The reason for this is that you can experience ice/ snow at almost any time of year at the top of the escarpment. I do use slightly heavier boots if I know there is snow and add waterproof gaiters too.

Hope this is useful. Happy hiking!

Cheers

It's a pleasure to share info. I find that I learn something new every year, especially if I experience different conditions or environments. It's very useful to read about other people's trips and experience too.

I subscribe to Backpacker magazine from the US and it's a mine of information on all conditions. They also test and benchmark gear all the time so if I ever want to buy something I read up and do some analysis to see it fits my intended purpose.

Backpacker does some great issues like "how to do everything" outdoors. They cover things like building a platform for pitching a tent on ice/ snow with articles and videos online. Check it out at www.backpacker.com.

Going up Organs and down one of the passes to the North on the long weekend.

The last time I was there we had 30cm of new snow on ice (refrozen melted snow) this made things very trecherous, and caused us to turn back.

Due to the current conditions up there I am considering doing some roped up walking etc. (With harnesses) Anyone done much of this in the berg? The ridge lines here are not really wakled on so not too sure how much this will really help the situation? There will probably also be little to no pro so I'm in two minds here?

Also will the extra kg's make things safer or will it actually do the opposite?

Any thoughts?