Dragon's Wrath 2024

30 Jan 2024 04:35 #78874 by intrepid
Dragon's Wrath 2024 was created by intrepid
This is the place to gather and discuss all accidents and rescues in the Drakensberg for 2024. The most common are hiking related, though they can also result from other activities such as climbing and paragliding. This title of this thread is inspired by the book "Dragons Wrath" by Reg Pearse & James Byrom, and is an endeavour to continue on in that spirit.

The purpose of this is to:
* concatenate all information about these accidents to keep a concerned Drakensberg community informed;
* express solidarity and concern for those involved in the accidents;
* learn from mistakes made and to heed warnings of risks;
* maintain a publicly accessible historic record.

The purpose of this is not to:
* criticise or embarrass those involved;
* create media hype;
* create undue negative publicity for the Berg.

For a list of historical annual threads of Dragon's Wrath from 2008, please visit this index link .

Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.

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05 Mar 2024 14:16 - 05 Mar 2024 14:17 #78914 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic Dragon's Wrath 2024
The post and photos below were posted on the MCSA Search and Rescue facebook page last week. 

Mountain Club of SA - Search And Rescue
6d   · 

Rescue at Tugela Falls, Royal Natal National Park. Drakensberg.A male and female canyoner/abseilers became stuck on the falls, about 140m from the top. A 12 person KZN MCSA team, and 2 local guides, hiked in and rescued them in 2 pick-off operations. Gavin Raubenheimer (Rescue Organiser)

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Last edit: 05 Mar 2024 14:17 by tonymarshall. Reason: Correct formatting
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10 Sep 2024 12:10 #79226 by BergDog
Replied by BergDog on topic Dragon's Wrath 2024
Not sure this qualifies as a rescue, but came across a hiker a few months back who wanted to overnight in Crow's Nest cave (Amphitheatre/Mt Aux-sources escarpment area).
Mist had rolled in and this was around 3pm, with visibility limited to about 10m.

A solo hiker, he had gotten spun around in the mist, no map, phone or GPS and was wearing only a T-shirt and shorts, with temps dropping fast.
To cover ground more quickly in an attempt to find the cave, he dropped his bag near a prominent rock, which he quickly lost sight of.
He had been heading towards the ridge that runs more or less from the Tugela Falls to Mt. A-S, completely in the wrong direction.

When I found him he had started shivering and was getting panicked. Still, he insisted he was heading in the right direction, despite my watch's nav and map clearly showing Crow's Nest was in the opposite direction from where he was heading.

But after some convincing, I said I remembered seeing the prominent rock and we backtracked on my watch's route, got the bag. This made him listen and I got him to the Crow's Nest cave. Thorough talking to, and he assured me he has cell reception and GPS on his phone.
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10 Nov 2024 21:57 #79336 by andrehayward
Replied by andrehayward on topic Dragon's Wrath 2024
Info from the MCSA Facebook page of 68 yr old hiker assisted at Monks Cowl:

Facebook link: www.facebook.com/MCSASAR/

Summary below:Injured hiker carried out in bad weather in the Monks Cowl / Champagne Valley area (KZN Drakensberg, 24-10-26)A 68 yr old hiker and his son were out on a day walk when the man slipped and fell on the wet path at the top of the Sphinx, a popular day hike starting from the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife's Monks Cowl Camp. He could not put pressure on his leg or walk and called for help. Fortunately, a 12-man MSAR team was in the area on a joint training exercise with the SAAF 87 Squadron at the Dragon's Peak Airfield, a short distance down the valley. Bad weather had already ruled out flying for the day, and the team was ready to respond immediately. The rescue team, paramedics, and Ezemvelo rangers carried the hiker in a stretcher down some 2 km to the Monk's Cowl office.
Our rescue response time for the Drakensberg is often significantly longer than elsewhere in the country due to its remoteness and distance from major cities (our KZN team is based in Durban / Pietermaritzburg). This time, having a team ready to go only a dozen kilometres away turned this into one of the fastest 'Berg response times for our KZN team in recent history. The team also had the opportunity to put a newly acquired roll-up stretcher, which is lighter and more compact than the traditional wilderness stretchers, to the test. Because of the long distances and significant elevation gain of the hikes in the Drakensberg (which boasts some of the most significant elevation gain hikes in the country), lightweight equipment is a high priority for the team.
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04 Jan 2025 14:21 - 04 Jan 2025 14:42 #79411 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic Dragon's Wrath 2024
The post and photo below were posted on the MCSA Search and Rescue facebook page last week.

Mountain Club of SA - Search And Rescue  is at  Maloti-Drakensberg Park .
oetrdopSns2b40fa 04e122h00g ecgaD:a1m304 h0102169r42uutem 0f352   · 

A foreign hiker with no map to complete a 70km Drakensberg hike was rescued when his phone stopped working (24/12/26)On late Thursday, US friends of a foreign hiker phoned the Mountain Club of SA Search and Rescue after not hearing from their 20-year-old friend who had been hiking alone in the KZN Drakensberg for several days. The hiker set off on 21 December from Witsieshoek, attempting to complete the challenging approximately 70km, multi-day Drakensberg Mini-Traverse to Cathedral Peak. The hiker was last heard of three days prior when he checked in with his friends and passed on the coordinates of his location.With little remaining daylight, the search could only start the next day when a ZAR Aviation Helicopter with an experienced rescuer from the Mountain Club's KZN Rescue Team, who also knew the hike and area, set off on an aerial search from the Dragon Peaks Airfield (Monks Cowl/Champagne Valley). On the way to the last known location of the hiker, the helicopter landed on the escarpment in the 'Mweni to interview a pair of hikers who confirmed seeing the missing hiker. The hiker was found near his last communicated location, where he took shelter under a small rock overhang. He was slightly dehydrated but otherwise in good health. He was flown back to Dragon Peaks Airfield.
Advice
Although it is easy to be critical of some mistakes, let's start with what the hiker did right: first, he communicated his intended hike and gave progress updates to friends. Secondly, after realising he could not navigate his way back, he decided to remain where he was. These two factors prevented the search area from expanding into a daunting search of hundreds of square kilometres that would have extended far into Lesotho.
Never rely on a single phone/device as your sole form of navigation in a wilderness area, especially where there are no marked trails. Carry a good map and compass. A reliable means of keeping your navigation devices charged is recommended (esp. to call for help), but this should not replace carrying a map and knowing how to navigate using a map and compass. We generally recommend hiking in groups.
Photos: Jo Nieman - ZAR Aviation, Gustav Greffrath 



I presume the photo is of the rescuer talking to the other two hikers mentioned in the post. Other photos in the original facebook post included some local scenery photos, and a photo of some of the old EKZNW Geomaps, which I didn't feel contribute anything to the rescue information, so I'm not reposting them. Ironically these horribly out of date and inaccurate EKZNW maps do not show the Mini Traverse route, while the new Slingsby map series does.

I don't totally agree with the advice to use paper maps and a compass for navigation, I feel a young tech savvy hiker from the USA would do much better with a gps track of his intended route on his phone or device, and that better advice would be to have a back up power source for the phone or device, or a spare device. I can't imagine anyone struggling to navigate a mini traverse in the modern era with a map and compass, especially the old EKZNW maps, which don't even show the Mini Traverse route. Just my 2c worth.

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Last edit: 04 Jan 2025 14:42 by tonymarshall. Reason: Correct formatting
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05 Jan 2025 09:37 #79414 by grae22
Replied by grae22 on topic Dragon's Wrath 2024
Given how frequently the rescue team assists "tech savvy" lost hikers (the western cape team, in particular) - with presumably multiple phones per group - I'd say having a phone gives a false sense of confidence. I know several people who simply can't navigate a marked trail run WITH a GPS track

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I'm not saying these people would be better off with a paper map, but if they were advised to have a paper map and be able to use it then they'd probably make better decisions realising they lack the necessary navigational skills.

So, to me, the advice to carry a paper map (and be able to use it) is sensible as it's more likely to prevent people getting into situations they're not prepared for.
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05 Jan 2025 14:38 #79416 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic Dragon's Wrath 2024
Agreed, to navigate effectively it is essential that hikers can properly use whatever navigation method they have, be it gps, phone or maps.

I could probably have used a better term than 'tech savvy', but in the specific context that I used it, I meant that this hiker could use his phone to navigate and had done this successfully until his battery died, or whatever caused his phone to stop working. So he was 'tech savvy' in being able to use his technology to navigate, versus people who are 'tech savvy' and can do many things with technology on their phones, but probably would lack navigational skills as you point out, when suddenly faced with being lost and trying to use their phone to navigate. 
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07 Jan 2025 10:42 #79421 by Riaang
Replied by Riaang on topic Dragon's Wrath 2024
I fully agree with the advice above regarding carrying a paper map. If your phone or GPS fails for whatever reason, and this is all you use to navigate with, and you don't know the area, well, then you are in for an adventure. I rarely use my paper map but I always pack it, just for in case I need to use it. I normally hike in a group of at least 3 peple, and we all have watches with maps, as well as a handheld GPS and phones, so it's maybe a bit over the top, but believe or not we've been in situations where all devices except one failed (due to extreme cold and flat batteries), and in the dark so we couldn't really see where we were going, and then things become interesting pretty fast.

My view is very simple, I try to be as prepared as possible. I'll plot the route, check it out on Google Earth, look at trip reports on VE and specifically look at photos of the area in the trip reports, take paper and e-maps and have so far never been lost. Slightly off track at times, sometimes taking a detour, but even though my wife would disagree, the group were never lost, at worst we had a general idea of where we were, just not always knowing the exact route of where we needed to go, which makes for a bit of adventure.

Whatever you take, just make sure you know where you are going and stay safe.
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07 Jan 2025 13:32 #79422 by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic Dragon's Wrath 2024
I'd say the key is not to have a single point of failure. A GPS with sufficient spare batteries is great - but on my most recent hike, my GPS was cold and kept turning off for the first hour of the third morning. I was on ground I know well, so it didn't matter, but if I had needed it, it wouldn't have been that useful. When I did Ntshintshini Pass back in 2020, my GPS crashed about an hour into the hike and never worked again for the entire trip - Garmin ultimately gave me a new one as they were unable to fix it. Tech can fail, and one must be prepared accordingly.

Two people in a group having a GPS should be fine. Maps are only useful if you know where you are and have visibility. I don't think many people can navigate by compass these days in any case. With some visibility and route knowledge, a map can be very useful even without a compass. Admittedly I rarely hike in the Drakensberg with maps these days, but I do always carry a map (when I can get one) when hiking in a new location. Studying the map in advance, including possible route variations, is also important.

On day one of my recent traverse, we crossed the Senqu around last light - we had been using headlamps for about 15 mins by that point. Mist came in as we started up the Koakoatsi towards Nguza Cave - anyone who has navigated in the dark in thick mist will know how little one can see. At one point I had to reach down to see if there was a drop between me and the river, as it turns out, my foot was basically in the river. That section is on a decent trail, although we struggled to follow it in places. Without a GPS, there's no way I would have been able to navigate that valley in those conditions - a compass and map may have given me a straight line to aim for, but that line would have been wildly inefficient and wouldn't have followed the trail. Also, it is about 6km in a straight line from the confluence to Nguza Cave, being off a degree would mean ending up 105m off from the cave - and one would be doing very well to only be a degree off navigating by compass up a winding valley in the dark.

Knowing how to use a GPS and understanding the valley one is navigating through is also key. E.g. a coordinate for Ifidi/Ledgers/Rolands Cave isn't that useful - one needs a coordinate for the access point. Approaching Upper Injisuthi or many others from above will put a hiker on the wrong side of the cliff band the cave is found in. Naturally experience helps - one learns to ensure they are below the cave before they approach, paying attention to contours in the region and making sure they are on the right side of the ridge.  Equipment isn't useful if you don't know how to use it correctly.

My point being: I'd say it's more complicated than a map and a compass vs a GPS.
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