Bannerman Pass - Langalibalele Pass Loop

We went ahead and did the route this past weekend and overall it went very well!

Friday was scorching hot and unfortunately large parts of the little berg was burnt recently, but at least the hut was in excellent condition like everyone said. That night a terrible wind picked up and for a few brief moments I wondered whether the hut's roof would hold. Not much sleep was had that night. We went up Bannerman's on Saturday and it was smooth sailing all the way, except for a terrible wind once we reached the escarpment. We camped close to the river just below Bannerman's Cave in a fairly sheltered area so we slept quite well on Saturday night. We saw a local sheep herder in the area, but we didn't have any problems from him or anyone else. We awoke to a bitterly cold Sunday morning with mist setting in from all sides. It was so cold that my bladder's hose and water bottles froze while hiking towards Langalibalele. Luckily the pass itself was extremely easy, even in the wet mist, and we reached the camp in quite good time.

Thank you for everyone's advice and feedback!

I remember a bad wind we had while in the Giants Hut one year. There were times that night when we also thought that the roof was going to go. The next morning, we saw that the wind had rearranged a fair bit of the thatch on the mountain side of the hut. Looked a bit like a thatch version of a bad bed head!

Good Day Guys. I am planning to do this loop with 3 other dudes 1 - 4 Nov 2014. Starting from Giants Castle Main Camp we have 3 nights to do this route. Any advice from anyone familiar with this route to make this an awesome hike would be appreciated.
Just thought I would paste this responce from Merv Gavin on my question on (FB on) security in the area.. "There haven't been any reported issues in the Giants Castle area for quite a while, I've encountered a few locals up there but they aren't any hassle. Just take normal precautions and you should be fine. With the dry conditions lately a lot of them might still be in lower valleys"..hope you don't mind Merv!!?
Thanks Brendon

Was planning on camping at Bannermans Hut 1st night, somewhere top of Bannerman's Pass (cave - possibly) 2nd night and the 3rd night I haven't identified a spot yet..

Awesome thanks a lot that thread is great!!

Plenty of threads on this topic!

Bannerman and Langies are both easy, just make sure you know how to find the top of the one from the other. Failing which, you can always use the rivers to find the top of the pass. The route up Bannerman is obvious, and Langies has a good trail from right near the top.

Myself, Firefish and Hobbit camped 2 nights in a row in sight of kraals with locals around and had no trouble. Just be nice and friendly to them, chat with them for at least 10 mins if they come up to you and laugh a lot - that way they feel they have an obligation to protect you. Added bonus: most locals are actually really friendly people, so you get to spend time hanging around with them

There is water near the top of Bannerman Pass, above the pass you walk north towards Gypaetus Point and you'll hit a river with some nice flat camping ground near it. Above Langies there is also a great camping spot on the river below Thumb Spur Peak (un-namend on the map, but the peak straight behind the Thumb). Bannerman Cave is quite far from water, but isn't hard to find if you have a GPS or follow the correct cliff line (there are also cairns).

Smurfatefrog wrote: I agree 100% with Merv

I'd hope so....