Giants Castle Pass and Peak hike

Hi Susan,

Durnford Gap S 29 deg 18.233 E 29 deg 26.104 elevation 3278 m

Not very obvious when approaching from the south, because the issue is to descend through the rock band facing north once you are on top of the ridge, and Durnford Gap is the only place in a considerable distance where it is possible to get through this rock band. It's a lot more obvious on the northern approach, which you unfortunately aren't doing, but gather that you have gps (from your Wolkberg write up) so you should have no problem finding it from the south. Maybe ghaz has a photo of the ridge from the south he can mark up for you to see where Durnford Gap is.

Campsite next to Contour Path near base of Giant's Castle Pass S 29 deg 19.836 E 29 deg 28.743 elevation 2344 m

This is the campsite in the photo with the tents in my write up on the 'Giant's Castle Pass' thread, and is near a good stream for water too, and right below Giant's Castle Peak and conveniently near the base of Giant's Castle Pass.

View from above the bottom cliff but below the top cliff (looking towards the escarpment edge)


The red is the line through Durnford Gap (taken from the north side - so you will be coming down this side)


From the top of Durnford Gap looking towards the escarpment edge


I think the large cairn I mentioned was actually behind that rocky outcrop in the 3rd picture. You need to walk to a low point next to that outcrop, walk around the top rock band (or scramble down) and then the bottom one is easy to walk down. With Tony's co-ord you should find it easily.

The south slope of Durnford is a [long] gentle hill. If you stick to the escarpment edge you can check the views down the south and central Jarding Passes. The south one doesn't look like a pass until you walk the first few metres, the world seems to kind of end right in front of you!

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions. I will be able to get the right gap with the photo's and GPS directions. And yes i will be taking my friend's GPS with.

I think we will opt to camp at the top of Langies pass. I am also pro camping at the top rather than the contour path. Good suggestion!

Will let y'all know how it went.

Hi There

I would just like to start by saying that this is a really awesome forum and there is a lot of useful information here!

I have read a couple of the stories and it is really great to see how much the Drakensberg is being enjoyed and the decency that it is being done with by the people on this forum is something worth mentioning.

My wife and myself are planning to hike Giants Pass to the escarpment, with the ultimate goal of Giants Castle peak if time allows, over the weekend of 6-7 August (Unfortunately neither of us can get leave to turn it into a nice long weekend). I would like to hear any advice/criticism on our planned route and time:

- We plan to leave no later than 07:00 on 6 August and attempt to get at least to the top of Giants Pass and overnight somewhere on top. On this I have a couple of questions: I read on the forum of two different ways to approach Giants Pass, the Oribi Ridge and the Giants Ridge, obviously both have the same altitude gain in the end, but which would be the most time efficient(easiest if there is such a thing) speaking from experience? The other question I have is about suitable camping spots near the top of the pass or near Giants Castle peak?
- On the 7th ideally we would like to summit Giant Castle peak and then return to the camp the same way we came.

From what I've read this route is quite possible over two days albeit a bit strenuous.

In terms of security are there any issues camping near the top of Giants pass? As it will only be my wife and I, I would like to minimize any strange encounters. The other thing I had in mind was the fact that it could be made a long weekend, I assumed that because of this there should be a lot of other hikers and could increase the safety. The other thing I thought of was that it is close to the popular ice climbing spot and this could also mean a few other people this time of year. Is it wrong to assume this?

Thanks in advance for any inputs!

Thanks for the reply Smurf!

I'd say we have decent fitness, but again this might be different than what you would see as decent. Your statement does give me ease of mind in the sense that, it is possible and should we not make it we only have ourselves to blame in terms of not preparing well enough and will obviously give us a better perspective on what level of fitness is required to do this hike.

I would just like to ask a few more questions. Regarding the 6.5h it took you to reach the top of Giants Pass, I am assuming from your statement that the group had decent fitness and was not necessarily some kind of monster fitness group?

The other question I have is regarding the Makhaza camp site, I understand that it gets very cold there, especially this time of year and August, hence the name. Could you maybe advise on how long it takes to get to the camp site from the top of the pass and whether the route is clear? Should the weather seem too unpleasant, are there any other viable camp sites in the vicinity that we can use with ease of mind in terms of safety?

One last thing, I assume water can be obtained from the ice around the Makhaza area?

My apologies for all the questions, I have never been to the Giants Castle area and can be a bit overly cautious at times.

Hi DJ,

The nice thing with hiking in the Giants area is that you get to the top quickly as the walkin is not far (as opposed to say the Mnweni area).
As you top out at the top of the pass there is relatively flat areas to camp on the left but this is a bit above water - fortunately we had snow to melt.
It definitely gets properly cold here, and you have to watch the wind. Last year we were nearly blown off the pass while descending it, it took us quite a while as my wife was very uncomfortable in these conditions. Make sure your tent can withstand strong winds - there is a video somewhere on this website showing how much the wind can blow and how the one tent looked like the next morning after it was destroyed by the wind.