First Ascent of pinnacle on Ncedamabutho Ridge

Lock-stock Standard Route.

Definitely will do those variations sometime, as Mponj is a really enjoyable peak. The S-crack variation seems to be popular. As far as I can tell, the abseils go down the Des Watkins Variation. Will start an Mponj thread in due course, I have some great footage of the abseils.

Pitch 4

This was the most aesthetically pleasing pitch of the entire route - right on the West Arete - grade F2. The climbing was good, and the views grand: Inner Mnweni Needle in the background with Mponjwane and the surrounding cliffs towering above. The West Arete itself rises steeply over the stance and looks both stunning and intimidating at the same time.

This is Andrew on the crux slab, with the Inner Mnweni Needle in the background:

Both Andrew and myself found that after some moves on very thin holds, the crux section ended with a kind of "falling forwards" to catch yourself on the rock at the end of the slab. Neil managed to find some critical footholds to make this sequence easier - goodness knows where - perhaps because he is taller than both of us.

Neil belaying Andrew (visible on the arete):


Andrew on the arete:


Looking down at Neil, perched on the spectacular stance at the base of Pitch 4:


My GoPro footage of this pitch:

Pitch 5

By now it was around 14h00 and the pressure was mounting to summit the peak and then still to find a way down in daylight. We had a hunch that if we stuck to the arete for too long that it would probably result in a hard F3 pitch just before the summit. The decision that needed to be made was when to leave the arete, since we knew we could traverse the North West face at some point across to the Northern skyline where it seemed a doable line would take us to the summit.

It was my lead, and I set off on slabby traverse leading around the corner to the left of the arete which was the obvious line to take. This was probably only around a C+ though with exposure. There wasn't any gear except for a tiny horizontal cam placement (which we didn't have), so a piton was placed and left there. Once around the corner there were three options: 1) continue with the arete at about F2, which I could see would get harder than F2 higher up; 2) angling up and across the North-West Face at about F1; 3) traverse at the same height across to the North Arete, which seemed the easiest. I did try option 2 but down-climbed it again since there wasn't good gear. To save time, I simply traversed the North-West Face at more or less the same height until a very obvious recess and chimney was reached - this we had seen from photos and was marked as a possible way up. The pitch was around 45m long.

For future explorations and climbs on this peak I think climbing the West Arete all the way to the top would be a pleasing line to take, though harder. I also think that with less time pressure to find the best route, option 2 can also be done - this would probably also bypass the chimney in pitch 6 (which, it turns out, is graded at F2/F3).

I only have GoPro footage of this pitch, which isn't hugely interesting unless you are planning to repeat the route.

Pitch 6
This was the crux pitch at F2/F3 (16), though I would say Pitch 4 is more "technical" whereas this pitch was more strenuous. It involved a chimney which takes a mix of chimney-ing, stemming and lay-backing, and true to the Berg, it has an awkward exit. Andrew powered up this pitch in good time, as we were now even more anxious about running out of daylight.

This is Neil stemming across the chimney:


Thereafter there is some vegetation and another sequence which can be a tad awkward or strenuous. Then it is time to leave the recess and traverse left around the corner. The traverse around the corner isn't obvious and it looks like it will get really hard and exposed, but as soon as you do get around it, everything suddenly opens up and the rest is a straightforward scramble to the summit.

The Summit

Summit waypoint (WGS84): S28.88548 E29.03069, 2909m

We reached the summit at about 15h30. This was after setting out from our bivy below the neck at about 07h30. After reaching the neck and stashing our packs we set off on the actual route at 09h30, meaning the climb took us 6 hours. Now that the route is established it should be quicker in future.

On reaching the summit of course the big question was: is there cairn? We saw one block with a rock on it which had broken into 2-3 pieces - it looked too natural to be a cairn. In addition we did not see any pitons or abseil tat. We were under a lot of time pressure, with only 2 hours of daylight to spare to pioneer a way down, so we did quickly build a cairn, but had no time to rest or for a team selfie.

The summit is an oval shape, and very roughly about 20m wide, demonstrated in the pic below (looking North-East):


A summit cairn was built and a summit box was placed:


Looking South-West, the escarpment edge leading towards Ledgers Cave visible in the background:


Looking East, towards Saddle North Peak and Cathedral Peak:


The overshadowing North Face of Mponjwane looming over the summit to the South - possibly the reason this peak remained under the radar for so long:


The view North to the Inner Mnweni Needle which we climbed the following day: