Itineraries for doing the Bell Traverse
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Best bet is to look for ice and snow or else small drips coming of meltwater. It looks like there has snow recently though. Take extra fuel to melt it!
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We were a relatively fit group, but we took it lekker rustig and took it all in without ever rushing. Our trip went as follows:
Day 1: Hotel to Orange Peel Gap - great campsites there, just no water.
Day 2: Orange Peel Gap to Cathedral Peak, climbed it, lunch at Bell Cave, and on to Twins Cave.
Day 3: Twins Cave to top of Cockade Pass, taking a longer route and keeping on the escarpemnt edge for the view.
Day 4: Down Cockade Pass and back to the hotel.
It was very wet and we had no problem with water. Apparently the Traverse itself is usually dry, which will probably be the case now. On top of the escarpment water is no problem.
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Something you may be aware of already, is that the Bell Traverse is a cattle rustling route, and some hikers were robbed in Bell Cave about 5 years ago. The Basotho make use of Twins Cave, as well as the annexe cave. Just be aware.
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
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I have done a number of trips in mid-June and we always take enough water from the stream above Sherman's cave to squeeze us through to Twins cave.
We have, however discovered 2 small, fairly reliable water springs along the route, which have been dry on only one of the occasions. The chances of them flowing late into July might be slim, but they are well worth keeping your eyes open for. They are both on the north-facing slopes just above the path at the base of rock outcrops.
The first one is on the left, a little before the last flat plateau (we have camped here before), which begins the scramble up the stream course to the base of Cathedral Peak (Bugger Gully).
The second one is on the left, on the slopes between the Horns and Chessmen - useful as a fillup before Twins cave.
@Intrepid: In respect of the icy conditions sometimes encountered, a colleague of mine once took a few hours to negotiate a group across the ledge immediately after the scree slope on the Bell side of the Cathedral Peak gendarme gully - it sits in shade most of the time, so snow in the area can easliy ice up.
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Ah, quite right, I can image that bit getting tricky too. The report where the ice was used was somewhere below the Horns and Chessmen.@Intrepid: In respect of the icy conditions sometimes encountered, a colleague of mine once took a few hours to negotiate a group across the ledge immediately after the scree slope on the Bell side of the Cathedral Peak gendarme gully - it sits in shade most of the time, so snow in the area can easliy ice up.
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
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Can anyone inform us if this is true or not?
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The rumour doesn't sound quite right. Orange Peel Gap gains the top of the ridge of the spur running out from Cathedral. But the description of 'over and down' bastards gully (Buggers gully) is further on - actually on the eastern side of Cathedral Peak itself, between the gendarme next to CP and the main body of the peak. The gully is eroded and a little tricky, especially on the gully facing the Bell. Over the years I have heard a mxture of things: e.g. that the route is not encouraged/not maintained/not official etc because there are some steps in places and it is eroded. I don't think it is officially closed though? Routes in the Berg have been officially closed before (e.g. Basuto Gate to Witsieshoek road in RNNP) but I dont have info that this has happened to the Bell Traverse.
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But the erosion would probably not be worse than up Organs and down Camel we did last year?
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