Mnweni Buttress Pass

Last year while ascending Hanging Valleys Pass with Stijn, I had a good look at the gully on the opposite side of the Mnweni Cutback. Well, it goes!

It has a few exposed grass traverses and one waterfall is bypassed by a scramble about as long and hard and steep as the one in Corner Pass. So, it will not be for everyone. For those that do try it, this might be the most scenic pass I have done. Mmm, maybe I will call it Greenland Pass.
This shows the gully I came up. The asterisk marks a possible way to doge the crux.


To get into the base of the pass, head up the river leading into the depths of the cutback. Somewhere above 2500m, you are forced left into dense bushes to dodge a waterfall. The only sensible escape from this is a narrow hole under 2 rocks to crawl through, pushing your bag ahead of you. From here head a little higher until able to break left through more vegetation. Fortunately less dense. Just ahead of you is a enormous chockstone blocking the main valley, which is also the point where Hanging Valleys Pass starts heading up.

Head up a steep slope (on the true right) to a small saddle then drop into the river to your left. This is the first view you get looking up the pass.


Dodge the first set of waterfalls on the right by some steep grass traverses and a little higher up you reach the ramp to climb up, also on the right. I had a lot of snow about which may have made things harder.

As you head up, look behind you at various pinnacles and yes, that insanely steep gully opposite and a little higher upstream of you is Hanging Valleys Pass.



After a while the valley opens up a bit and it is obvious that you are through the crux. Here, I broke out right into a side gully running almost parallel to the main gully. This was to dodge snow, but as it is narrow and curves you cannot see for sure if it will really go, making for an exciting finish.



Looking back down from just below the top

That's really awesome! More Mnweni passes to add to the bucket list!

Biomech wrote: That's really awesome! More Mnweni passes to add to the bucket list!

That list is getting rather long!

In September 2022 after my ascent of Rwanqa North (Tata Ma Chance) Pass, I went down Mnweni Buttress Pass, having tented in the Mnweni cutback near the top of Hanging Valleys Pass the night before. 

Before setting up my tent the previous afternoon, I passed by the top of Hanging Valleys Pass, and had the view across the Mnweni Cutback to Mnweni Buttress Pass with it’s two gullies in the photo below, taken from the top of Hanging Valleys Pass. The peak immediately to the left of the pass is Mnweni Outer Buttress, the 3024 m peak on the hiking maps, and the peaks in the background are Mponjwane (the top of this peak is the bump at the left), Rockeries, and North Saddle.  



 In the morning I went around the cutback after getting onto the path that passes the top of the Mnweni cutback gully, and was soon at the top of Mnweni Buttress Pass, where I had decided to descend the side gully (the same way AndrewP had ascended), on the left (true left) of the main gully, with this view down the pass.  

 

A short way down, I had this view across the cutback to Hanging Valleys Pass, and most of the way down various views of Hanging Valleys Pass were visible.  

 

A view down Mnweni Buttress Pass.  

 

A view back up Mnweni Buttress Pass  

 

The photo below shows the view up the main gully of Mnweni Buttress Pass, from the ridge between the two gullies.  

 

Taken from the same spot, the photo below shows the view up the side gully.  

 

The grass slope went smoothly, and I had a morning break where I entered the boulder bed of the lower section of Mnweni Buttress Pass from the upper grass slopes, down a grassy ramp, which was also where the two gullies joined and another also joined from the left (having carried water with from my overnight spot, as the pass was dry).  

A view down the lower boulder bed section of Mnweni Buttress Pass.  

 

A view back up the pass, with the grass ramp above the boulder bed visible.  

 

I expected a scramble or two in the boulder bed, and was quite surprised to find about five places with quite committing, dodgy scrambles at the waterfalls, which were dry. Strangely there was also a clear animal track leading to all the scrambles, and in places I could see the marks where the small antelope slipped and left hoof marks on the rock in the steeper areas. I did all the scrambles with my pack on, as I hadn’t brought a rope to lower my pack (which would have made things a lot easier), and with every one completed I hoped the rest would go as I really didn’t want to have to scramble back up, or look around for another way down. 

The photo below shows one of the waterfall scrambles, where I went down the right side ramp (true left) which shows some animal hoof slip marks near the bottom.  

 

Another of the waterfall scrambles, where I went down the left (true right). The photos make the scrambles appear a lot easier than they were to do, and I’ve used photos looking back up the scrambles as the ones looking down didn’t give a good perspective.  

 

Soon a side stream with water flowing entered the gully, and not far below, in the sun in the photo below, I could see the gully joining the stream of the Mnweni cutback (Mnweni River).  

 

I did the last scramble down, again following the animal track, and was soon on familiar ground from the 2018 abseil descent of the cutback, although I was above a waterfall and the route was below the waterfall. I down climbed the waterfall, in the photo below, again assisted by the animal track.  

 

The view up the Mnweni cutback, with the water of the waterfall where the Mnweni Buttress Pass joins the Mnweni River in the bottom left of the photo below.  

 

I headed downstream, pleased with a successful completion of Mnweni Buttress Pass, but was puzzled about the scrambles which Andrew hadn’t mentioned in his write up, and lower down I realised that this was because he had taken a slightly different route on the true left at the bottom of Mnweni Buttress Pass. I hadn’t passed the large chockstone, or the bush and hole through the rocks which he describes, but I could remember them from the 2018 abseil descent, and my assumption was that these are slightly upstream from where I joined the Mnweni River, and that I had gone straight out down the Mnweni Buttress Pass gully and Andrew had entered the pass from further upstream up the Mnweni River and traversed into the gully. Either way, the lower section of Mnweni Buttress Pass is quite tricky, and this is where the crux of the pass is. 

Downstream I came to the top of the waterfall near the bottom of Manxome Pass, in the photo below, and traversed out right onto the grass slope to descend and bypass the waterfall.  

 

I had lunch where I got back into the river, and crossed, and after lunch it was a short walk down the grass on the left to where ChiChi Bush camp was, it was washed away in the 2021 floods, and the devastation in the Mnweni valley was quite remarkable, with all the vegetation in the riverbed washed away. I found it very difficult to comprehend how much water must have flowed down this valley during the floods. 

After getting onto the Mnweni Pass approach path downstream, I thought about where to overnight; I had planned to stay in Five Star Cave, but it was early and maybe I should go 5.5 km further to Mlambu’s Shelter, where I had never overnighted before, as being alone I would be fine there in the smaller shelter. I decided to do this, but as I approached the Rwanqa stream crossing realised that I was quite tired and would actually welcome an early afternoon, so I would go back to the original plan of Five Star Cave. As I approached the cave, there was smoke coming out of the cave, and two shepherds were staying there. They invited me in for a quick chat, and then I headed off to go to Mlambu’s Shelter after all. I took a long break at the river crossing near the Icidi River confluence, I was quite tired but still moving well, and then set off on the last leg to Mlambu’s Shelter, which was right next to the river, behind some bush and trees. 

The next morning was misty and damp for the walk out, and I was back at Mnweni Cultural Centre before 09h30, to conclude an enjoyable, but tough, hike.