Cathedral Peak hikes - 4 days or longer

Thanks guys

A leisurely pace is more my style...

I think what we'll do is leave a car at Amphitheater backpackers and drive to CPH. We'll start with the Bell Traverse to Twins, and then see how everyone is feeling and how the weather looks the next day. If it is clear we'll do the Rolands and Camel plan, if not then we'll take a bail out option to Easter Cave and then come down Ntonyelana. Agrippa at the MCC said he can organise a ride back to the backpackers, which is where we plan to stay over on Monday the 14th in any event.

I have seen pics of Easter Cave and it looks pretty sweet, so it would make a pretty cool plan B if anybody feels a bit wobbly or the weather isn't great.

As always thanks for the input and look out for the trip report.

Hey... I belong to the MCC = Morningside Country Club!

Hahaha!

Hey everyone!

I'm relatively new to mountaineering and hiking, however I recently did some fantastic day hikes, getting progressively more challenging in the cathedral peak area. Needless to say the bug has bitten and I'd planning my first multi day hike up the escarpment with a buddy or two, in November.

Here's what I have planned, day one Cathedral Peak Hotel Are up to Tseketseke hut, (if it's still habitable!) Day 2 up Tseketseke pass and camp on the escarpment, day 3 down the Cockade Pass and overnight in Xeni Cave, day 4 back to the hotel.

While I am no where near an experienced mountaineer per say, I'm pretty fit and eager, perhaps a little too eager!

Any advice from you guys, do's and don'ts, hints, tips on anything relating to my little trip would be greatly appreciated!

Johnny

Welcome to VE Johnny

Xeni Cave is fairly close to the car park. I take it you will take the ill-defined-way-to-go marked on the map to get from the contour path to the cave, rather than Neptune Pools and slogging back up the hill?

Tseke and Cockade is quite a tough route for your first overnight trip - so I hope you are prepared for a challenge! I did this loop the other way round with a mostly inexperienced group earlier this year. Full story at www.vertical-endeavour.com/forum/drakensberg-trips/55787-on-biting-off-more-than-you-can-chew%E2%80%A6.html

Some thoughts on it:
1) The top half of Cockade Pass is quite possibly the most beautiful spot I have seen in my entire life, from the Xeni split to the top the pass is amazing and IMHO probably the most worthwhile bit of Berg, well, out of the bits I have seen anyway. There are still around 70 recognised passes and 78 khulus I haven't done (plus almost the entirety of exploring Lesotho).
2) The Xeni split to contour path, plus the last bit of the contour path before Cockade are not fun, they are badly overgrown in places and generally very slow going. The bottom of the pass is best done by boulder hopping in the riverbed. There are cairns and vague trails next to the riverbed, but they are no worse than the riverbed. If this section of the route wasn't like this, I would easily rate Cockade Pass as my favourite. This is enough to make me downgrade it out of my top 5. With the dry winter, I rate the overgrowth won't be too bad at the moment.
3) The bottom section of the pass is slow, and Tseke can also be a tad slow, so allocate plenty of time for this. Seeing as you have allocated full days to each pass, I take it you already know this - so I rate that's a good call. Enjoy the passes, Tseke is also a really beautiful route.
4) There is a small summit right next to the top of Tseketseke Pass, called Tseketseke Peak. It is a great spot to sit and enjoy the view. There is also another great lookout spot on the north side of False Tseke Pass.

It is a brave call to use this as your first overnight route, but you know your own abilities, so all the best! A more traditional starting point would be to go up Organ Pipes or Mlambonja Pass (both are also great passes).

Thank you so much for the for the reply guys! I've had a closer look at the links you sent me which I gained a lot from! ...also glad to hear the hut is in good condition, I've traipsed about quite a bit in the Mlambonja Wilderness Area both as a boy and lately which is why I planned on doing my first overnight in the area. I have heard numerous tales about the overgrown state of Cockade and state of Tseketseke Pass following the flash flood a few years back.

Thanks for the link Smurfatefrog and ghaznavid!

Bearing all this in mind, Would this sound a bit more reasonable for a greenie like me?

Day 1: Mikes Pass up to the Old Fire Lookout for the overnight.
Day 2: Old Fire Lookout up Organ Pipes Pass overnight on the escarpment.
Day 3: Down Tseketseke Pass and overnight in the hut.
Day 4: Back to the Hotel via Tyrme Hill?

It should be said that the two fellows I'm planning on doing this with are mountain folk with big beards, weather beaten brows and a far off look in their eyes whenever they see a hill. So I won't be ''alone in the wilderness'' so to speak. However they are just both from the Cape and have never visited the Drakensberg.

Would it be advisable to get a GPS for this? I'm generally not a fan of them but in the interest of not being rescue case?

Viking wrote: With respect to Tseke Pass - in my opinion it has been the subject of some rather unfortunate and unnecessary hype in recent times. If you follow the descriptions for that pass as written by TonyMarshall then you will battle to go wrong.

+1 on the above



I went up Tseke Pass just under 2 weeks ago; it was perfectly fine the whole way, there weren't any dangerous parts and there was a path most of the way up. The description by TonyMarshall was spot on.