Cathedral Peak hikes - 3 days

I did this route over 3 days with a bunch of beginners back in July; they all handled fine. The Didima staff gave us a lift to the Cultural Centre, which is obviously not as good as getting a lift to the top of Mike's Pass, but if you take the path directly up the ridge from where they drop you off, you'll cut out a significant portion of the distance of Mike's Pass. I'm sure they'll give you a lift, just ask nicely!

Our distances and times for each day, just for interests sake:

Day 1, Cultural Center to Old Fire Lookout: 7.6km, 3hours walking time
Day 2, Old Fire to Roland's Cave (near top of Windy Gap): 6.1km, 3hrs 35mins walking time
Day 3, Roland's Cave down the Camel and then down to Didima via Tryme Hill: 12.2km, 4hrs walking time

As I said, this was with a group of beginners (one of them only 12 years old) and they all handled fine. I see no reason for a fit group not to combine what we did on day 1 and 2, into one day.

Cool, thanks for all the info!

I spoke to the Didima office yesterday, and they indicated to me that Mike's Pass has been closed due to the pass being washed away at some parts and not accessible by vehicle.

I am also looking at going up to Cleft peak in one day during December, via the Camel from Didima and spending the night near the peak. So far I have read allot about dangerous parts along the Camel where you are very exposed (And even saw some pictures ) which looks very dangerous. These exposed parts might be okay in dry weather, but we all know that during December it rains allot in the Cathedral area and wet rocks combined with steep exposed areas... Not a good setup. I have also read recently that the exposed areas have now been washed away and now it is not so exposed anymore, although it is not confirmed.

Since you were there in July, could you please give some feedback on what the route was like up near where the Camel route joins up with the Organ Pipes Route? Thanks in advance.

Firstly; I don't know why Didima staff are telling that story. In March this year, they gave us a lift all the way to the top without a problem, but when we went back in July, the staff at the front desk told me the same story you mentioned about parts of it being washed away. Anyway, they ended giving us a lift to just after the Education Centre. Once in the car I quizzed the driver about this (happened to be the same driver from March!) and he told me that he could easily take us all the way up, but the Conservation Manager would see his vehicle from across the valley at Didima and he'd be in trouble when once got back. He also wasn't sure why they weren't allowing people to drive up any more.
Once we got to the top of Mike's Pass, we saw another vehicle driving in the distance and there were fresh vehicle tracks all over the place, even as far as Old Staff Accommodation, so I really have no idea what the situation is.

Secondly, the Camel route: We descended it in really good conditions; while snow had fallen a few days earlier, it was mostly sunny and dry during our trip. I'd hyped myself up for exposed, dangerous sections quite a bit, but I really think it wasn't too bad. However....there IS one dodgy section that I think may have been spoken about in another thread on this site, but I'll detail my personal findings here. Refer to the pic below. The yellow arrow marks the dangerous spot, if one were to slip and fall there, it would be disastrous. It's basically a short traverse, literally 4 or 5 steps, over angled rock. In dry conditions, I don't think many people (average, fit hikers) would be too stressed about walking across there. However, in wet or icy conditions, it's becomes pretty treacherous. When we arrived there, despite the weather being perfect, it was WET...... and ICY due to the snow still lying around.
A couple of us scrambled across, but once on the other side I realised the danger and knew that some of the beginners in our group were really going to battle. They were still 100 metres or so back, so I began looking for options. That's when I discovered the gully marked by the blue arrow and red lines. 4 people in our group ended up scrambling up that gully, across and back down the grassy slope to rejoin the path. While they certainly were grumbling about having to go up again, while we were supposed to be descending, I feel it was a much safer option than the icy traverse across the rocks.
Other than this, Camel Route is superb, I highly recommend it, just take plenty water!
There is a bit more scrambling in the gully higher up (in fact, just behind where the pic was taken from), it's a bit tricky, but not as dangerous as the section detailed above.



Bonus extra: Apart from my two nephews in the pic, can anyone spot another group of hikers?

Excellent pic of the Camel.Thanx Dillon.

With regards the pic and the yellow arrow.

At the risk of being shot down for suggesting a 'via ferrata' , would it be a an idea to rig a permanent safety rope over that small section for the times that it is in a poor condition, i.e. wet or iced?

There are similar small safe sections on Cathedral Peak, so the precedent has already been set.

Here we go, I managed to find pics from a previous thread of the dodgy section:

tonymarshall wrote: On the Camel Route there were the usual several places where the path was washed away requiring a step over nothing below, or a tricky negotiation of a narrow sloping ledge. The sequence below shows probably the trickiest of these, particularly so in the damp, misty conditions after the previous nights rain, although the drop off isn't very high.

Personally, I wouldn't have anything against a piece of chain appropriately bolted to the rock for a couple of metres there.

Awesome pictures. Shot