Ledgers Pass

@Serious Tribe,

Do you perhaps have the gps track for Ledges pass? It seems straightforward enough, but in thick mist or rain a track helps a lot

Thought you might all be interested in how we planned the trip.

After ST2 had look down the pass and though it might go, it was few years before we actually were able to do it.  In the planning, I recalled an image I had taken in 2012 from an escarpment trip and thought it might be useful to get an idea of the what the gradient looked like from a different angle.  Using GE side by side also helped to give us the view that it would work.  

We have a hike planned in March and we’re thinking of doing Ledgers Pass as a new thing to do in the Mnweni area for us

Anyone have a gps track of the pass yet? 

Thanks in advance 

Hi Grandeur,

I have a track, created by my Fenix 3 and it lost signal in places so the tracks looks a bit like spaghetti, but  the upper portion is mostly fine, it's mostly atthe bottom near the Mnweni river that it went haywire.

PM me if you want a copy.

Riaang wrote: PM me if you want a copy.

Thanks a ton Riaan
PM sent 

It was on  a photographic hike with Serious Tribe and ST 2 a few years ago that I first heard about a possible route up to Ledges Cave via the ridge opposite Shepherds Cave.  So when they made a successful ascent last year, it became an item on my ‘to do’ list.

We planned the hike over the Easter weekend and as the trip grew closer, we watched the weather forecasts anxiously.  Our Easter hike last year was dominated by wet  cold conditions - surely with Easter falling later this year, we would be in for sunny, settled weather? Unfortunately the forecast was for rain, and quite a lot of it at that, especially towards the latter part of the weekend. We would take our chances in the hope that it would not be too bad.

We enjoyed hot sunny weather on the first day and the team consisted of old friends with many years of shared hiking experiences - myself, Richard, Stephan, Christine, Thora, Tony, Farouk, Darrell, Rinaldo and Gert-Jan.  We set up our tents across the river from Shepherds Cave and after admiring the spectacular moonlight bathing the peaks around us, settled in for an early night.
We wanted an early start and were ready to leave just after 7.00am.


Our tenting spot

After the rosy skies of sunset, it all changed very quickly with the clouds rolling in accompanied by gusts of wind and squalls of rain could be seen high up on the escarpment.  Things were not looking encouraging. However, we pressed on and by the time we had walked to the side gully from where we would start the ascent of the ridge, conditions changed again and it now looked more promising.



Approaching the side gully before the ascent of the ridge



Exiting the gully and starting our ascent of the ridge

We continued up the undulating ridge, easy enough walking on grassy slopes although steep in places and never ending.  We were rewarded by spectacular views all around and it was awesome to see the sights from this angle.



Getting closer but still a long way to go....



View looking back of the Mnweni valley



We would eventually exit at the upper grassy section


As we got closer to the top we needed to find the best place to traverse in to the gully and eventually did so.  The wind became a lot stronger at this point and we were nearly blown off our feet when we crossed over and down into the scree gully below.



Traversing in to the scree gully

 

Scree gully



Looking back down


From here it was two hours of scrambling ever upwards, nothing technical although the scree was loose and care had to be taken.  We reached the crux mentioned in ST2’s write up.  Tony elected to scramble up the rocky ridge and advised the rest of us to rather take the other route to the immediate left of this, the grassy ramp.  Except it was very steep and much steeper than the photograph suggests.  It did have grassy handholds and places for your feet so could be tackled fairly easily. I am not sure how easy this would be though in icy, snowy conditions.




Approaching the crux section



The crux - a lot steeper than the photo suggests


From here it was more steep grassy slopes until the upper cliff band was reached and it was here that it started raining.

 

The last section after the crux


 

Top of Ledges Cave pass



Traversing around to Ledges Cave


We traversed left along the grassy ledge that leads in to Ledges Cave and stopped for a lunch break.  By the time we climbed up the gully to the escarpment, the weather had changed for the worse with the rain coming down harder and an icy wind accompanying it.  We trudged towards the Mnweni pass as the intention was to tent in the Hanging Valleys before descending Manxome Pass the following day.  However, with the worsening conditions setting in we made a call to stop and put up tents.  We had heavy rain during the night and the next morning we decided to go down Rockeries and out.  A good call in the end as the rain and mist we experienced on our descent  would have meant we saw nothing of Manxome - a pass that deserves to be seen in fine weather.

But thanks to the  mountain weather gods for allowing us  just enough time to experience  clear conditions for Ledges Cave pass. The views are highly recommended!

Tony will be giving a more informed write up some time  which will give all the technical details

Aaahhh, so now we still don't know if that higher exit point on Manxome will work

Just pulling your leg Elinda, no ways I'd attempt Manxome down (or up for that matter) in the wet, that exit point we took would be very dangerous on wet grass.

I'm struggling to place your camping spot near Shepherds cave. Am I right with the following assumption:
As you hike up towards Mnweni pass, it is on the terrace on the left (i.e. true right) of the Mnweni river
It is before the gully leading to Fangs cave (i.e. before 5 star cave), so it is not opposite Shepherds cave, but say about 400m or so downstream?