Ntonjelane Pass North
25 Oct 2020 12:13 - 26 Oct 2020 15:29 #76247
by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic Ntonjelane Pass North
Over the Heritage Day weekend, myself and DynamoDave did a 4 pass Mnweni Traverse - story posted on the Mini Hike Reports thread and my blog.
Our final pass was North Ntonjelane Pass. I had been warned this pass was steep, so I went into it expecting a bit of difficulty - and admittedly B&T Pass 2 days earlier had not helped my confidence.
The initial gully is a fairly pleasant grass slope. Steep, but not insanely steep - i.e. coming down it at reasonable pace is possible. It would be painful to come up!
After a lot of descent on this ground, the gully narrows. The scramble Tony described is bypassed by a set of stairs next to the waterfall, a bit exposed, and slippery - but nowhere near bad enough to require a rope or passing packs for a team likely to try this pass (i.e. a beginner probably wouldn't enjoy this route).
Just below this, you leave the gully and start traversing to the path that comes down the main pass. This traverse isn't as bad as I expected, but careful line selection is required as a fall could be bad in a number of places.
The final 200m till the trail is actually on a decent trail - looks like people are heading down from the pass to get water at this spot.
Once you hit the main trail, it is fairly easy - baring a lot of sliding on the severely eroded trail.
In good weather coming down, navigation is very easy. We didn't bother following a GPS track. In mist, navigation could get tricky.
As with all the passes in the valley between Cathedral Peak and South Saddle - the views were really good. I have always enjoyed the view of the Cathedral Ridge from the north, it is generally more cliffy and dramatic from that side.
Probably overall a 6/10***
Admittedly the pass isn't on my to-repeat list, but it was worth doing. Then again, most Mnweni passes aren't on my to-repeat list.
My 4000th post. That's just sad
Our final pass was North Ntonjelane Pass. I had been warned this pass was steep, so I went into it expecting a bit of difficulty - and admittedly B&T Pass 2 days earlier had not helped my confidence.
The initial gully is a fairly pleasant grass slope. Steep, but not insanely steep - i.e. coming down it at reasonable pace is possible. It would be painful to come up!
After a lot of descent on this ground, the gully narrows. The scramble Tony described is bypassed by a set of stairs next to the waterfall, a bit exposed, and slippery - but nowhere near bad enough to require a rope or passing packs for a team likely to try this pass (i.e. a beginner probably wouldn't enjoy this route).
Just below this, you leave the gully and start traversing to the path that comes down the main pass. This traverse isn't as bad as I expected, but careful line selection is required as a fall could be bad in a number of places.
The final 200m till the trail is actually on a decent trail - looks like people are heading down from the pass to get water at this spot.
Once you hit the main trail, it is fairly easy - baring a lot of sliding on the severely eroded trail.
In good weather coming down, navigation is very easy. We didn't bother following a GPS track. In mist, navigation could get tricky.
As with all the passes in the valley between Cathedral Peak and South Saddle - the views were really good. I have always enjoyed the view of the Cathedral Ridge from the north, it is generally more cliffy and dramatic from that side.
Probably overall a 6/10***
Admittedly the pass isn't on my to-repeat list, but it was worth doing. Then again, most Mnweni passes aren't on my to-repeat list.
My 4000th post. That's just sad
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