Elandshoek Giants Castle pass loop – 8 to 10 Aug 2026

The weather report looked promising. A light dusting of snow on Sunday evening and a bit more on Monday morning. Not much according to the Mountain Forecast website, but at least enough to make a good crunch under your hiking shoes. With a bit of wind thrown in for good measure. The weather report was completely wrong.

Saturday 8 Aug 2026
The four of us (RiaanG, SG “SG”, ASL and Van) left Joburg at 5am on Saturday morning, arrived at Giant’s Castle at around 10am, signed in, paid the overnight fees and started up the southern path onto the ridge immediately south of the camp, the same one from which the Meander hut path branches off. It was a hot morning and my sunscreen stick came out within the first few meters of hiking. I’d filled up with about 1.8L of water, and I was hoping it would be enough to get me close to the foot of the Giant. A cool breeze blew from behind, offering some relief alongside the incredible views of the Giants Castle area. We grabbed a quick snack at the vulture hide and pressed onward.

The ridges on the lower berg was bone dry. There wasn't a drop of water anywhere, and even the usually marshy section before the Giants Hut turnoff was completely parched. Shucks, I really hope that there would be some water in a side stream when we turn south to go around the higher areas towards Elandshoek pass else we’d have a problem. From here I could definitely see some left over snow on the higher peaks and inland into Lesotho, but nothing on the lower berg. We continued onwards and once we got to the “path” to Giants hut we turned left and basically followed some sort of game track. About 1km further on we found the track again and that made walking much easier. Couldn’t see it earlier in the burnt off section. Soon we started crossing small dry streambeds. One of these had a small stream where we could fill up. It was fairly close to our previous campsite from a few years ago. We didn’t have the freestanding tent with us today; the hiking pole tents would be difficult to pitch on a predominantly rock plate ledge. We carried on for a few hundred meters and found another flat and level spot, covered with more grass and a bit more usable soil to drive our tent pegs in. Had to walk back for water though, but as I took a shortcut back to the tents I found a tiny stream with water right next to the new campsite. We set up camp, made dinner, watched the stars appear, tracked a few satellites and even saw a shooting star. We were ready for bed by 8pm and soon drifted off to sleep.

 
 
 
 

Sunday 9 Aug 2026

We woke up wondering what Elandshoek Pass had in store for us. It had snowed quite heavily in this region about 10 days ago, but since this is a south facing pass there was a high probability of finding some leftover snow or ice at the top. We took a shortcut over the ridge to join the footpath, enjoying stunning panoramic views before dropping into the colder, windier side of the mountain. We could see white patches higher up in the pass itself. The wind was noticeably colder on this side. It was nice in the sun with the wind blowing, or nice in the shade with no wind blowing, but every now and then we contoured back into a little gully where we were in the shade with the wind blowing, and it was cold. A large section of rock had fallen off and crashed onto the footpath about 500m from the bottom of the pass. Some more looked ready to drop, so we hurried through this section. Once we got to the bottom of the pass itself we stopped for lunch. SG didn’t want to eat anything and started feeling a bit nauseous. Mmmhh, this is not good. You need energy to get up this pass. It’s not very high, with about 550m of vertical ascent but definitely on the steeper side. 

After lunch we hoisted our packs onto our backs and headed up slowly. We were definitely going slower than usual and I was watching SG closely. She was not looking good. Eish!!! About 200m or so from the top, just after a rocky outcrop section, whatever was left in her stomach came out. Rather violently as well! Fortunately she felt better afterwards and we made good progress to the top. We stopped at the top for a quick breather and then made our way onto the escarpment. Stunning views of the Hawk and Tent from here. We walked past Makaza and saw a couple of guys ice climbing, or at least I assumed that’s what they were doing. The side closest to the escarpment was covered in ice. Someday I must also go and try this out! We continued onwards, and as we got closer to Giants Castle pass head we started to search for water. We didn’t find anything anywhere along the path, but once we got directly below the pass head we dropped down lower into Lesotho to look for some melted ice water. Usually there is some to be found under rocky ledges basking in the sun. We had to search quite a bit to find a meaningful amount of melted snow water, but eventually found a small pond about 15cm deep and 1m long, just perfect to dip a Nalgene water bottle into and not stir up the bottom silt too much. We had to fill up with enough water to last us the rest of the afternoon, the evening and the next morning till we got lower down to water on the SA side.

We took a quick group photo at the top of Giants pass and then started the descent. Is it just my imagination or has the top section noticeably worsened over the last year or two? Right at the very top you now have to negotiate a nearly 2m high rock plate, but with nice hand and foot holds still available to make getting up and down it easy. Could get really interesting if wet or iced-up though. All the large rocks are neatly piled up on the true left, as if a giant hand had placed them on the side. We proceeded down the step and then down the pass. We were aiming for Giants Cave as the weather prediction was for snowfall to start tonight, and we weren’t sure how bad the top section of the pass would be. Rather do the steep part today than tomorrow in snow. We were making decent progress but all of a sudden SG’s pace started to slow down. She was not feeling well (again!!!) and had another violent hurling session. Shame, this was her second hurling session for the day, and she couldn’t keep anything down. She had started the day on 2 rusks, but up Elandshoek everything in her stomach came out, and since then she hasn’t eaten anything except a few Jellytots. Her blood sugar was probably running dangerously low and she was definitely almost out of energy. She simply couldn’t go any further and had to stop and sit down. More puking followed. Wow, this was now turning into a real problem as she literally couldn’t even stand up, she was so weak. ASL continued on further down the pass closer to the caves, Van stayed with SG and I carried my pack a bit further down, dropped it, and came back for her pack. Between myself and ASL we switched between backpacks to carry the 3 packs down to the cave. Hard work taking a pack down, then climb back up to get the one at the top, bring that down, back up again to check up on SG, back down with another pack, and so on and so forth.

Van stayed with SG and walked ahead of her, basically making sure she didn’t slip or fall. Every time I came back up for a backpack I chatted with them, checking up on SG and seeing that she recovered a bit of strength before tackling another 20m’s or so of the path. The going was slow, but fortunately we didn’t have far to go and it would be foolish to try and get down fast with her feeling so weak. She managed to recover a bit of strength again and slowly made her way down the pass to the caves. On my last up climb to check up on her, she was looking noticeably better, even managing a smile! That really lifted my spirits! She asked me to put her mattress and sleeping bag out in the cave as she was feeling cold and needed to lie down. I did that and by the time I was done she and Van arrived at the cave. I was wondering how tomorrow would go, in snow and cold conditions, if today was this difficult for SG. After resting and lying down for a bit I could see she was feeling better. I can’t imagine how hard the day must have been on her without eating anything after 7H30. Not sure I would have been able to do it, but she is one tough lady! She had a cup of soup, sipping it slowly, and remarkably everything stayed down. Some Saltycracks followed and they stayed down as well. We’re making progress here! The slice of cheese though wasn’t such a great idea, so she stopped eating after that till much later, but it stayed in.

We were wondering if it was actually going to snow, because the weather didn’t look like it was changing. The wind was cold though, but had been the whole day, but the streaky clouds earlier never lie. We were in bed by 8pm.

 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Monday 10 Aug 2026

A rustling noise woke me up. There was a small mole/mouse creature running around in the cave, but this was a different kind of noise. It repeated and then I knew what it was. ASL was busy brushing snow off his bivvy bag. I looked outside and everything was white. Nice. This is what we came for. I made SG’s bed in the lower roofed cave section, the one closest to the head of the pass as it had the flattest floor section of the 2 caves. I was sleeping on a bit of a side slope so every time I rolled over on my right side I slipped down a bit. Great core workout, but I eventually figured that if I move my legs a bit sideways to the right I’d be lying straight enough to stop sliding down. It worked. By about 3am ASL and Van had to move deeper into the cave as the wind was blowing a fair amount of snow into the mouth of the cave. ASL was lying closest to the opening of the cave so he took the brunt of the snow blast. Amazing how quickly and easily everything can get covered in snow. Where we were sleeping we had little snow blowing into the mouth of the cave, but we got blasted by snow being blown in from the other cave opening as the 2 sections were linked at the back. Quite cold when one of those snow blasts makes its way into your sleeping bag! Fortunately my Nanga sleeping bag is tall enough that I can cover my head completely with the cowl, so I could position it in such a way that most of the snow hit the back of the cowl and not being blown into the bag.

When it became light enough to see without a headlamp, we realized we were in a complete whiteout. It looked like the inside of a ping-pong ball. The wind was pumping down the pass, and every now and then you could see waves of snow being blown down the pass. It started forming a wall in front of the cave, and slowly but surely it started to cover the grasses in front of the cave. The weather prediction was for 17cm of snow in the morning with winds of 45km/h, and then 4cm of snow in the afternoon with winds of 30km/h. That sounded quite reasonable, but what we were seeing outside the cave looked like a completely different animal altogether. We had coffee and rusks for breakfast and decided to wait a bit for the conditions to improve. It never did. We had to decide if we were going to: 
A) Stay another night in the cave,
Go early in the morning or
C) Start the hike in the afternoon.

Based on the incorrect weather report we decided to wait till 1pm, then start the hike out as conditions were supposedly going to improve. We left some food in the car at the camp as we were planning on overnighting at Meander hut on Monday evening, but this now meant that if we overnighted in the cave, we would probably not have much food left for Tuesday morning. That could be a problem as walking through thick snow is hard work, and remembering what SG looked like yesterday didn’t make me jump at plan A. So, we gave ourselves a cutoff time of 13H00 and then we’ll make our decision. It was properly cold sitting still in sub-zero temps in the cave with the wind blasting through the cave every now and then. We nibbled on snacks and would watch the snow wall in front of the cave grow by the minute. After 11am it looked like the wind was dying down ever so slightly. The snow drift wasn’t hurtling down the pass like before, every few minutes there would be a lull of sorts in the wind and then the snow would drop down to the bottom of the pass in front of us.

At some stage we heard and saw 2 guys descending the pass. We shouted and whistled at them to get their attention, but they didn’t seem to hear or see us. They were on the opposite side of the valley and were soon out of view. Ok, so if they could hike down then surely we can as well. We still waited a bit and when 13H00 arrived we decided on option C – hike out now. We kitted up and walked out the cave. Oh my goodness, the wind hit us like a freight train. The spindrift right in our faces made it hard to see. It felt like the wind was trying to blow us off the mountain! Just staying upright was hard work. We were cold from sitting still for the last 5 hours so it made it feel extra cold outside. When I later reviewed the data from My watch it indicated temperatures between -15 and -20 Deg C! Some of the members of our group got slight frostnip in their fingers.

We made it down into the gully safely. We now had to decide if we were going to hop over to the other side and walk over the scree section, which could be loose and slippery, or if we were going to stay on the true right hand side where it could be more rocky but more stable underfoot. We chose the latter. In hindsight this was probably not the best decision. Every now and then we were forced to climb out of the riverbed section and onto the side slopes. This was hard work as there were often deep pockets of snow, which we would have to wade and dig through, and then we would be forced back into the riverbed section again. Some more deep wading awaited us. We eventually got tired of all this hard work and spotted a section of a ridge in the middle of the riverbed. There were some greenery sticking out at the ridgeline and we thought these were low growing shrubs. It looked like we would finally be in for a section of easier walking! We had to once again wade through very deep snow pockets (easily 1.3m to 1.5m deep) and climb up the ridge section in the middle of the valley. Once we got on top of the ridge we realized that what we thought were green shrubs, were in fact one of the abundant types of woody shrubs which often grows to between 1.5m and 2m high. This discovery was very disheartening. We couldn’t properly identify the plants through the spindrift and now we not only had very deep snow to contend with, but we also had to fight through these bushy shrubs which made the effort even harder than before. We were simply too tired to wade back across through the snow to the side bank where we came from. We stopped for a few minutes to rest and determine the best route forward.

The shrubbery snow section was mercifully short but brutally hard to get through. Once through it, we found we could roughly stay on top of the ridge and our line had fewer obstacles in the way. Back to just wading through deep snow every now and again, but at least the terrain under foot was easier than before, which made the going easier.

It’s interesting how quickly you learn to move more efficient through snow. We developed/discovered a few interesting techniques that helped us a lot. I’ll share them below, maybe they can help somebody if they ever encounter snow like this in the Berg. We started out with just trying to walk through the fresh powder snow, but we quickly realized that this was the least efficient way of moving forward. It simply takes too much effort. Often we would cross a little depression where the snow was over 1.5m deep. If you hit the bottom of a section like that and there were no solid rocks underfoot or a stable grassy riverbank, you would have to shovel the snow away with your hands, literally moving all the snow in your way just to move forward. You couldn’t climb out of this depression, because the moment you put any firm pressure on the snow it collapsed and you ended right back where you started. Maybe one step forward, but the vertical effort of compressing 1.5m of snow with every step made it super hard work.

Myself and Van sort of discovered the leopard crawl technique at the same time. Here’s how that worked: You extend your hiking poles to their full length, and with one in each hand, put them down flat on the snow facing forward at a 45 degree angle. This increases your surface area by quite a bit, meaning you could often move forward without sinking all the way through the soft snow. Then you would crawl forward on your knees. The 45 degree angle helps when you bring your knees forward. So, first position your hiking poles, then start crawling. If you felt yourself sinking through the snow you would drop down on your chest and stomach immediately to stop yourself from sinking. Then you kick backwards and slide on your belly. Of course, having 15kg on your back does make this hard work as well, but much less so than digging through the snow like before.

Every now and then, but way too infrequently to everyone’s liking, we would find a short section of knee deep snow. Oh, these felt so good. It felt almost effortless to walk through them compared to the other techniques. However, we soon found an easy way to power through this level of snow as well. Here’s how this worked: Say you take a step with your left leg, as you bring your right leg up, don’t pull your left leg out of the snow, simply lean forward and it will, with the help of gravity, push through the snow. This is a very controlled movement and creates a soft landing for your right foot, especially helpful if the terrain underfoot is rocky or if there are holes in the ground.

There was a small break in the weather, and by the grace of God it stopped snowing so hard, the wind dropped a bit and I could see the faint outline of the path where it exits the river gully. We had the gps track of where to exit, but trust me, seeing it with my own eyes lifted my spirits a lot. About 500 more meters of suffering and we’re out in the clear! It took us 3H45min to cover the roughly 2kms from Giants cave to the contour path. This is a new record in slowness for us! The climb out wasn’t easy as we had to get from the middle of the river gully back to the side bank, and it was steep. When we were all on the contour path where it basically levels off we took a short break to eat a snack and recover. Goodness me, that took like forever. From now on it will be smooth sailing back to camp. We were all looking forward to a bit of easy walking. None of us had eaten much since we left the cave. Everything was frozen and cold, and my trail mix Ziplock bag was difficult to open with thick shell gloves on. I ate about ¼ of what I would normally consume, it was just too much effort to stop and try and get food into your mouth most of the time. Not to mention too cold. Also, we haven’t had a drop of water since leaving the cave as the mouthpieces of our bladders and the feeding tubes were frozen solid. Due to the cold we didn’t sweat at all, although we still losing moisture with every breath. I wore a merino T-shirt, fleece jacket, down jacket and over it all my hardshell, and I didn’t sweat one little bit. Ok, everyone ready? Let’s hit the contour path and get back to camp. We realized by now that we would probably not make it to Meander hut before dark and decided to rather book a chalet at camp. What’s not to love about a warm hamburger and a hot shower after a day like this? We got going again and withing a few hundred meters the path wound into one of those small side gullies you typically cross in the lower berg. Right in the middle of this section the contour path completely disappeared for 60m or so and it was covered in deep snow. Oh no, more of the same conditions we had to endure in the river gully. Nobody was quite prepared for this turn of events. We were looking forward to easy walking, and now it was back to hard work. In fact, it was possibly harder than before, not only due to us being a bit tired at this stage, but also because the path now went uphill at times. Ever tried working through waist deep soft powder snow on an uphill? I have a newfound respect for mountaineers who face these types of conditions with much fiercer winds at much higher altitudes. They are a different breed altogether, that’s for sure. We now had to rotate the lead position faster than before. We were moving forward at a snail’s pace. My “Fun-O-Meter” was registering a rather low score by now! Thankfully these deep, snow covered gullies were intersected with a few hundred meters of easier walking. We even figured out a technique to walk these sections more efficiently. At this point ASL was walking in front, and I was wondering why he was walking besides the footpath instead of in it. Then it hit me! The path itself was a bit lower than the sides, which means the snow is deeper in the path. By walking on the side you are basically waking on the grass polls, and the empty space between these are covered by snow, and once compressed means it becomes much more even underfoot and the walking is easier than in the path. So from that moment on we were walking next to the contour path, until we were out of the snow.

When we were about a kilometer from the turnoff to Giants camp, we hit the worst section on the contour path. We had to drop down about 30m or so, but in this small mountain fold/valley the snow was super deep and we couldn’t see the footpath at all. We could see where it exits the valley about 80 meters ahead, but we had no idea how to get to it. It was clear it was crossing a stream of some sorts, and it looked like there were steep side banks we had to cross to get through the valley. There was a possible shortcut straight through a small boulder field, maybe 8m wide and 40m long. I decided to attempt to get through it unscathed. We’ve crossed a few of these before today, and if the rocks aren’t iced up they were not too slippery. I was about 2m in when I poked around in front of me with my hiking stick. Nothing. I couldn’t feel anything solid. I started hitting the snow and what I saw gave me a proper scare. We were right on top of some big rocks, and I couldn’t even touch the ground with my hiking pole. If you slipped on the rocks and fall here, the chances of breaking a leg were very real. I told everyone to back off and go around this area. I still had to turn myself around and nearly lost my balance as I stepped onto an icy patch. Wow, that was too close for comfort. Steady now, we’re nearly off the contour path, don’t go do something stupid now!

We bypassed the boulder field and reached a properly steep section. I forgot to mention it earlier, but we employed another technique for the really steep sections. It’s called the bum slide. Lots of fun, just make sure, if possible, you don’t slide over a pointy rock! I went ahead and slid about 6m or so down, right into the river. Which was fortunately frozen solid. But now I was in another snow pit with really slippery and steep side walls that I had to get out of. SG was right on my tail and before I could tell her to wait at the top, she slid down and crashed into me. Now we were both trapped in a deep snow pit. I struggled for a bit, but used the handles of my hiking poles sort of like tent pegs; I’d plunge them into the snow bank, pull my weight up on them, and try to kick a foothold into the hidden grass at my feet. After quite a struggle, I managed to break out of the hole, but SG couldn’t get herself out. She was simply too short to reach and didn’t understand how to leverage her hiking poles to hoist herself out of the drift. I had to down-climb back into the hazard section and physically pull her out. Once that was done we had to climb out to the top of the little hill and join ASL and Van. Fortunately we could easily follow them as we just had to follow their footsteps. Since they were initially behind us, and passed us as we went into the snow pit, they were now leading and had to find an alternative exit. Van led the way and found a shallower section in the riverbed where we could safely cross over to the other side. After another short, exhausting climb, we were finally back on the contour path. I was starting to wonder how much longer this was going to continue. I noticed a flat area just ahead and to the left of us where I proposed we might tent, but the rest of the group could already smell the hamburgers and there was no stopping them now. We were going to march to the hotel, even if it took all night!

My main concern now was that it was very easy to wander off the contour path due to the thick snow. Up to now we’ve had the benefit of daylight so we could look ahead and see the path in the distance, but once the last light was gone, things could turn south pretty quickly if we found ourselves in another snow pit situation like before. We had a quick rest and lo and behold, the ice in our bladder’s mouthpieces and feeding tubes had melted so we could finally drink some (very cold) water. It tasted sooooo good! Van pulled out his phone and showed us that the turnoff was literally just around the corner. Ok, from here on I’m very familiar with the route and the chances of thick snow was much lower, so we decided to proceed. Headlamps would be sufficient for this section of the path. Sure enough, within a few minutes we arrived at the turnoff and turned left, saving us from a long walk to Lotheni if we continued onwards on the contour path.

This section was mostly uneventful. We still encountered a bit of lingering snow, but the lower down we got, the more it changed into a mess of snowmelt and mud to trudge through. Then a couple of raindrops started to fall. Oh no, please, not now. Not 5km’s or so from camp! That would just be the pits, to arrive back at camp properly wet, cold and dirty. Thankfully it stopped as suddenly as it started, an answer to a silent prayer. We arrived back in camp at 20H37 and while the restaurant staff had already shut down the kitchen, they agreed to open it up to make us a few hamburgers. They tasted absolutely incredible and were wolfed down in no time at all.

 
 
 
 


 

 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday 11 Aug 2026

We had breakfast at the restaurant, packed up, paid for the chalet and left for Joburg. The weather was still looking a bit ominous but at least there were no rain or snow. I think I’ve had my fill of snow for the year. Van Rheenen had the typical truck crashes on the downhill section (the way these guys drive I’m really surprised there are not more incidents). Once outside Harrismith it started snowing again, but by the time we got to Warden we were out of the worst of the snowy conditions. We saw a bit of blue sky again, which was very welcome, and then about 150km’s from Joburg the heavens opened up with heavy rain. We hit Joburg early afternoon traffic, and I was very glad I wasn’t driving. Van, you did a super job getting us back home safely!

Ultimately, it was an unforgettable adventure for the four of us, and despite the rough and wild conditions thrown our way, we couldn't be prouder of how everyone handled the challenges—the rest of the group did an absolutely incredible job keeping their spirits high, helping one another and pushing through to the very end! You are amazing guys!

Ps: After leaving the cave, none of us took any photos until we exited the gully at the contour path level. So, all the pics you see of us outside in the snow was at the lower altitudes, the conditions were simply too hectic to take photos at higher altitudes.

 

Some proper type 2 fun! Glad everyone made it back safely.

Thanks for the write up.  The solution to a 2012 deep snow in Sleeping Beauty Cave Valley I found worked well, is similar to yours however i used the poles and created a X shape in front of me used that to take the weight and then pushed of this and repeated the process.  Your other process for less deep snow also worked and it seems that we humans adapt and work out a system.