Corner Pass / Judge Pass, Mafadi, Leslie's Pass Loop

Shot guys.

Any camping spots further on from Centenary Hut? Might try and push as far as possible on day 1 - in a bugger it, let's pack the tent sense...

Hi Dave

Centenary Hut is right at the bottom (start point) of the Northern High Traverse into Corner Pass. As you sit on the stoep at the Hut you look up right at it (a path is visible right up the ridge in front of you). This is the shortest route into Corner Pass, and in my opinion, the easiest in daylight and good weather. Tony Marshall did a great write up about this a while ago.

So, Centenary hut is the best start point for Corner Pass.

Spots further on from Centenary?

There are two routes up Corner Pass - one directly up the slope from Centenary (new) and one which takes the contour path for 35 minutes or so towards Giants Castle before turning right up Corner Pass.

Centenary is optimal with regards to the more direct (new) route.
Centenary is probably also the best bet for the one which takes the contour path for 35 minutes or so to the base of Corner pass. There may be a spot along the contour path or at the intersect of Corner Pass river and the contour path but it won't be as flat and open as the Centenary hut spot and isn't a big deal either as its only 35 minutes of warm up along the contour path in any case.

The tent still might be useful for UIC if the cave is occupied (as happened to us once) or if the mist makes the walk in a real trial and the walk to fetch water difficult.

Sweet!

Hi ho, off to the download section we go, then. Planning for 29 Jan '15, so the holidays will be over - nice and quiet... Can't wait.

Thanks dudes! Write-up to follow...

Once you ascend the first steep ridge from Centenary Hut, there is a large flat area where you could camp, but no water there. Will be tough carrying water up the ridge for overnight and the next day, so probably just better to go with Centenary Hut.

The hut was fairly intact a year ago, just most of the windows broken out, and very 'grimy' inside, broken glass, animal droppings etc on the floor, although there were still the frames of the steel bunk beds. We all stayed outside, some in tents and some sheltered on the stoep.

Speaking of water...

Is there any water in the pass, or close to the pass? And on top? I'd like to follow the ridge of the Trojan Wall towards UIC... so need to plan accordingly.

Do you perhaps have a GPS track that I may use please?

Haven't been following this thread properly - you are talking about Corner Pass, right?

There is water at the bottom of the gully approach. I assume you will take the high approach. This joins the pass very high - myself and Viking used a plastic packet shoved into a tiny crack below a drip to collect water (right before the first scramble). I imagine this will be running this time of the year. The river does run much lower down, but that won't help if you take the high approach.

At the top of the pass you can drop down to the river. There is a trail that keeps altitude nicely and crosses quite a strong flow just after it starts ascending towards Mafadi.

Yup, Corner Pass indeed...

Thanks for the feedback

Careful of water in Corner Pass, DD, esp if as Ghaz points out, you take the high road in. The Pass can be dry in my experience, even in summer. I think it has something to do with the orientation of the Pass (ESE) away from the main influx of subtropical Indian Ocean air.

In contrast, its prone to icing in winter.

The account of when I did the pass from Giant's side is at www.vertical-endeavour.com/forum/drakensberg-trips/55534-giant%E2%80%99s-castle-traverse.html

How we got water on the pass - March this year:

Viking wrote:

Our water retrieval tool

There is also a thread on Corner Pass with tons of photos about both routes. I remember Tony posting a very detailed account of the High Approach route earlier this year, I also seem to recall Stijn having posted a writeup in the blogs section.