Moncs Cowl circumnavigation Nov 2024

I’ve often looked at Moncs Cowl and daydreamed about walking around it. Problem is, we were always on our way somewhere (i.e. up Grays pass and then North or South somewhere) and a trip around Moncs Cowl would involve quite a bit of effort without getting anywhere, really. You get up to escarpment level but seeing that there is no water at the top, you’d either have to carry the water up, or descend back down to Keith Bush Camp.This all changed for the first weekend of November 2024. We had two goals in mind. Circumnavigate Moncs Cowl, and check out the face of Champagne Castle as I still want to do that sometime in the future. 

Day 1: Moncs Cowl office to Keith Bush Camp
Seeing that we only had to walk to KBC on the Friday, we could afford to leave Joburg quite a bit later than usual. We arrived at Moncs Cowl campsite at around 9am, paid our overnight fees, signed the mountain register and started walking at around 9H45. The weather was pleasant and the walking easy. We took our time going up the Sphinx and then had lunch at Breakfast stream. It was sunny but not too hot as a pleasant wind was blowing. Blind man’s corner was quickly disposed of and we then contoured around and back down to the river. There was quite a bit of water in all the small side gullies, which helped to cool us off a bit. We took another quick rest before entering the riverbed section, and then hit the final +/- 2km section up the uneven and often rocky section up to KBC.
On a really hot day, this last stretch can make you work hard as it steepens towards the end, and the scree field right before KBC isn’t always the easiest to get through. We arrived at around 4pm, so still had quite a bit of time left to set up camp, wash up in the river and enjoy the sunset. As we were enjoying dinner, an unexpected visitor made its appearance: a muskeljaatkat (genet). Never seen one of these in the berg, so it was quite a sighting for us. We watched it walk around the campsite, catch an akkedis (lizard) and scavenge around for more to eat. It probably circled us twice before it disappeared into the night. Amazing how silently and quickly they can disappear into the tall and lush grass. We climbed into our sleeping beds and went to sleep. We apparently had something larger also visiting us that night as Wildingo heard something outside his tent that made fairly loud and deep noises. Since he was camping on a grassy spot, there were no footprints to determine what it was. Sanet’s one hiking pole disappeared during the night, so not sure if it was a porcupine, baboon or human that also came to visit. It was the only thing I left outside the tent; the rest was packed away in my backpack which was tied to and stored in the bell of the tent. No big loss fortunately as the tip had broken off earlier in the afternoon, and it couldn’t be replaced or fixed, so we would have had to throw it away once we got back home in any case. Still, a reminder not to leave items unattended outside the tent.

Day 2: KBC to….KBC

We got up early on Saturday morning, but only got going at around 7am. The plan was to go in an anti-clockwise direction (thanks for this bit of advice Andrew Porter) as there were bigger rocks and scrambles in this gully. It was also still early and cooler and we weren’t tired yet, which would make traversing this terrain at the beginning of the day a bit easier. Before I continue, for the sake of ease and simplicity, I’m going to refer to the section between Champagne Castle and Moncs Cowl as the “West Gully”, and the section between Cathkin and Moncs Cowl as the “East Gully”.

So, early on Saturday morning we started up the West gully. The first part out of KBC over the flat grassy section was easy going. We aimed for the large rock in the direction of the West gully (it’s the largest one around, very difficult to miss). We passed it and stayed on the right, eventually dropping into the riverbed when the terrain started forcing us in this direction. Plenty of cairns around here to help you find the way to go (no path in sight), but it is fairly obvious where to go. We then climbed out on the opposite bank (on the left, true right) and stayed medium high to avoid lots of boulder hopping. The terrain eventually forces you back into the riverbed in any case, but we could walk a bit faster on the side. Man, this gully was super pretty. Large rocks strewn around everywhere, lots of pools, steep dramatic walls on the sides, everything green, greener and greenest all around you. The going was painfully slow now, but the views were so spectacular that nobody cared about the time. We eventually came to the spot where a steep gully from Champagne Castle terminated in the West gully. I suspect this is the spot where you need to climb out the Western Gully to go up the face of Champagne Castle, but I wasn’t paying too much attention as my focus was on the obstacle in front of me. Mmmhh, Smurfatefrog posted a picture of where a guy scrambled up the rocks, but I wasn’t sure of this route as the rocks were wet from the waterfall to the right (its spray was very refreshing when the wind blew down the gully). Thanks for this pic Smurfatefrog. The sort of obvious route looked to be the chimney section up on the Champagne Castle side. There is a bit of a gap to the right of the spot where Smurfatefrog went up, so the obvious route to the left isn’t possible from where we were on the Champagne side. The chimney was quite narrow, but deep. Top to bottom was I would say 6m high, but the floor was sloping upwards so no point was more than 4m off the ground. I’ll post an image of the routes we took. I went up blue, Sanet opted for red, but the easiest route could possibly be the green route?

There were a couple of natural small steps at the beginning of the chimney walls, and I went up these. Just had to do a sort of muscle up movement at the top to get out of the chimney, and then I had to negotiate a rather steep and slippery grassy section to get to the top. Best to pay attention here, you don’t want to fall off from here. I dropped my pack, scrambled down to the start of the grassy section, dropped a section of rope down and hoisted Sanets pack up. Carried it up, secured it, then scrambled back down to assist her. She put the rope around her upper body but I never got the chance to pull her up. I was still busy searching for a secure spot for my feet when she popped out of the shoot! I didn’t see any obvious hand or footholds where she came up, which goes to show: sometimes you need to find your own way through the rocks. Before ASL came up, I went ahead to see if we could proceed around the base of the waterfall. The rocks were a bit wet and steep, but furthest away from the waterfall was a section of dry rock we should be able to get over with relative ease. As we had no idea if we’d be able to get around to the East gully (what if we missed the grassy ledge and couldn’t find any way to get across?) ASL decided to stay put. We would go up, see if we could get across and if not we’d come back and he would assist us to get down the shoot safely. It was now 10H15. He would wait till noon. We had 1h45 minutes to get up to the col, explore and get back down. We were at around 2500m Asl, the col was at 3060m Asl. I gave him these times, not knowing what lay ahead. Turns out meeting the noon deadline would take some doing. Sanet and myself started out slow. The terrain was still littered with big boulders and fun scrambling sections. The higher we went, the steeper the gradient became. The rocks became smaller, but were looser, making progress slower and harder. I looked at my watch and realized that I would need to hustle. I told Sanet I’m going to shoot for the top to start looking for the grassy traverse ledge, she can go at an easier pace if she wanted to.  She politely declined.

The last bit became properly steep and slippery, but I stayed more to the right where the terrain seemed to be mostly more stable. The last bit of the gully was in the sun and it was getting hot, but at the top of the Western gully a good amount of wind was blowing, which really helped to cool me down. I dropped my pack, ate some snacks, had a few sips of water and watched Sanet get closer. When she was within hearing distance, I told her that I was going to explore the grass gullies. She was to stay put at the top of the col until I came back. I remember form reading reports about this side traverse that the Western gully was a bit higher, so I knew I had to descend a bit, but there was no obvious grassy ledge in the immediate vicinity. The only one near me was a bit higher up. I decided to check this out – maybe I could see exactly where to go from a higher vantage point. The ledge was easy to traverse, although a bit steep. There was one dodgy spot I had to cross, and with the wind blowing I had to make sure my balance was ok. I got through it and was soon staring down at the Eastern gully. This ledge was a very definite no go for a descend, but I could see the bottom of Cathkin Peak touching the Eastern gully, and a pinnacle to my right jutting out from Moncs Cowl. By keeping these two reference points in mind, I knew I would get across to the Eastern gully. By now I realized I would not be able to make the noon deadline, but that didn’t matter now that I knew I could traverse across to the Eastern gully. The next checkpoint was at 3pm – if we weren’t back in camp by 3, ASL and Wildingo would realise that we were in trouble. By the time I was back at the Western Gully col, Sanet arrived. She was quite relieved to hear that we would be able to get across. The question was just how far we would have to drop down before cutting across. She also dropped her pack and had something to eat and drink. Once refreshed, we started descending the pass.
I checked out one or two ledges, but couldn’t anything that looked passable. By keeping the two reference points in mind, I could see where we would eventually come across. It was a bit lower than what I had hoped for, but it was easily traversable and safe. A short while before I rounded the corner, I checked our altitude – 2890m Asl. Quite a drop, but safe and easy. To say the trek up to the Eastern col was a slog is a bit of an understatement. With me chasing the noon deadline I had over-exerted myself a bit and was now paying the price. It was hot and there was virtually no wind blowing. The top kind of reminded me of Tseketseke pass. Steep with loose grass, interspersed with rocks. Not the easiest terrain to ascend, more so when you are tired. Which I usually am near the top of Tseke!Anyway, we eventually got to the top of the Eastern gully. I’ve been here before so the descent would be familiar. We stopped for another food and water break, and by 13H10 were ready to start our descent. We should be able to make the 3pm deadline easily. Even if we were super slow, the guys in the camp should be able to see us descending this section. The Eastern gully offered us much easier walking. It wasn’t as steep, was broad so you could easily choose easier terrain and the grasses were relatively short.

We pretty much stayed on the left-hand side (true left) most of the way. The sun was beating down on us and I was feeling a bit nauseous. Definitely not in the mood to eat anything. I had filled up with nearly 4L of water at the waterfall in the Western gully at around 10H30, so had enough fluids to get me to KBC. The decent felt like it would never end. I was eyeing the flat spot near the river far below us, and it felt like it was not getting any nearer. At least I could see Wildingo in camp moving around, so we were definitely making progress. I was also keeping an eye out for ASL. I calculated that, if he left at exactly noon, he would be at KBC about 20minor so before us, so we should be able to spot him coming in from the left. I never saw him though, and it was a concern. We steadily dropped altitude, and at long last we were on the flat spot I was longing for. Man, what a relief to eventually have some level ground under your feet again. We made our way through the dry riverbed and cheerily hiked the last 500m or so back to camp. Where was ASL though? We should have been able to see him, but we didn’t. I rounded the rocky section to the back of KBC and walked into camp.

Both ASL and Wildingo greeted us. Man, was I relieved to see them.  But apparently not as relieved as these two, as they didn’t see us descending the Eastern Gully. They were busy discussing what to do regarding rescuing us! Apparently ASL had stayed in the riverbed and then overshot KBC, only emerging about 300m lower down. This explained why we never saw him crossing the grassy plain. I spotted somebody lower down as we got near the foot of the Eastern gully, not realizing that it was ASL. I was knackered. Not sure if it was a bit of heatstroke or dehydration or overexertion or a combination of all of the above. It was now 14H30 and there was virtually no shade anywhere in camp. The tents were too hot to sit in also. I plonked myself down in front of Wildingos’s tent and laid down for a good few minutes. When I felt a bit more human, I joined Sanet at the river. Wow, the ice-cold water was so refreshing. A bit too refreshing actually, as I couldn’t get myself submerged in the pool of water. So, I sat in the shade and lowered my legs into the water. And drank some Isotonic Game. Shortly after I felt much better, washed up and walked back to the campsite. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around camp. It made for a nice change – normally we finish a day’s hike near sunset, with not much time left for setting up camp in sunlight or washing up. I can definitely do this more often!








 

Two more images near the very top of the Western gully, looking back down it.




The markers I identified from the top ledge, once I got to the top. You can see Cathkin's base touching the Eastern gully to the right, and the pointy rock thingie on the right of the image. The first pic shows basically just the top of the Eastern gully, the next bunch of images you can see the markers lower down on the other side (towards Cowl Fork Stream)

The traverse between the two gullies, from the Western to the Eastern gully. 

From the top of the Eastern Gully, back down to KBC

Back at camp!

Thanks - super keen to do this asap!

Day 3: KBC to Moncs Cowl Office

We had an uneventful night – no hiking stick collectors around on Saturday nights it would seem, but none of us got much sleep in. We are still undecided as to who actually won the snoring contest. All I know is that it wasn’t me Sunday morning arrived way too soon. All of us could easily have stayed another day in the berg. It was so beautiful, so peaceful here. And green. Gauteng haven’t had much rain at this point in time so the veld was still dry. We had coffee and breakfast, packed up camp and set off back to Moncs Cowl campsite. Sanet and Wildingo set off 15 minutes before myself and ASL, and they were proving difficult to reel in. They were making us sweat trying to catch up with them. We eventually did, just after the turn off to Zulu cave. Boy, I thought it was hot yesterday, but it clear early on that today was going to be a scorcher.

By the time we were on level ground again, we were already up in the lower 30’s (degrees Celsius!). We had to stop every kilometer or so to wipe off sweat from our faces with a hand towel. The small streams in the many side gullies were very welcome. I find few things as refreshing as splashing a handful of cold berg water into my face. This theme continued for the rest of the hike. We stopped for a minute or two in the shade of the Sphinxs to again wipe off excess sweat and get out of the blazing sunlight. We often descend the last part via Kearlands pass, but going down via the Sphinxs today was proving to be the better choice today. We basically ended the hike by walking into the natural forest section immediately above the campgrounds. It was pretty and much cooler than what the other route would have been. We arrived safe and sound at the campsite, dropped our packs and downed the 1.5L Coke I always bring along for the end of a hike in record time. The shower afterwards was lovely. After dodging multiple potholes, we made our way back to the N3, then to Harrismith’s M&B for lunch, and then back home. It was an awesome trip which I would recommend to anyone wanting to do something different in the Berg. If you don’t mind a scramble or two, this makes a nice variation to the typical escarpment hikes in the Berg. Oh, and it certainly helps if you have somebody staying with the gear at KBC – leaving your tent and sleeping bag at KBC makes the trek up the Western gully much more bearable.

Thanks for the write up.  Did u get a peek into Cowl Cave?  Last time I stayed there was in Nov 98, and it snowed!   At the time we couldn't ge to close to the edge to look down due to the snow and ice made things a bit tricky.  Great to see that it goes, though not sure I would like to down climb what you climbed up.  That is my dad (since passed in 2017) and ST2.  Interestingly enough in the last image you can see my 'water bladder' and solid plastic bottle with fish tank tubing.  Had to have two tubes, one for liquid, the other to prevent a vacuum forming, hard enough to breath at this altitude without having to suck on a vacuum