Cockade Pass

I always find it amazing to see how much bundu bashing can slow you down. Took a couple of newbies up Mlambonja pass this past weekend, they actually went faster up the latter parts of the pass than the early stages due to figting vegetation. Same last year on Ships, man, the dense bush there reduced our speed to lower than 1km/h, which is slower than going up a typical pass.

Anyone gone up Cockade recently? I'm keen to do it in April and spend the first night in Easter Cave..

Any comments on your experiences would be appreciated!

Hi Ian,

Our group intrepid, climbykel, Harry and me did Cockade Pass two weekends ago. I just haven't got round to doing a write up yet, but a few comments were made on the 'Rain cover in Twins Cave' thread.

A big ask (but not impossible) to do the pass from Didima/Cathedral Peak Hotel in one day and end at Easter Cave!

Hi Tonymarshall,

How difficult is the route up from where the contour path splits off away from Mlambonja? The first section on the map seems fine (say the first 1,5km's or so), but thereafter small red dots indicating more tougher going. Say if comparing to Mlambonja's first section through the dense vegetation?

Riaang wrote:

How difficult is the route up from where the contour path splits off away from Mlambonja? The first section on the map seems fine (say the first 1,5km's or so), but thereafter small red dots indicating more tougher going.

We did this route pretty much exactly a year ago. The contour path between C5 and C6 was perfectly fine, grass was a bit long here and there, but you shouldn't stray off the path.
The section between C6 and the split between Xeni and Cockade Pass was absolute hell; completely overgrown with little to zero pathway. From that split to the top of Cockade was better, just very steep and taxing, with quite a few loose rocks.

Thanks for that. Stijn's write up does make it sound like a doddle but he is built a little differently to the rest of the human race!

I quite agree with Dillon's assessment.

The last 200m or so of Contour Path before C6 does get very overgrown, and this is comparable to the overgrown section of the Mlambonja route around C4, you can stay on the path but are constantly dodging bushes and shrubs, fighting your way through dead tree branches etc.

The first section up the Xeni River to the Cockade campsite is quite open, but then a few hundred metres from the campsite upstream is the absolute hell described by Dillon, with the same shrubs and bushes but also some trees thrown in to frustrate you more. The valley/gully is also quite steep sided here, and you have no choice but to stay in the bush. We later managed to get out of the bushy valley onto the true left side, onto a sort of terrace with low bushes that were quite easy to step through, and that helped a lot up to the Cockade - Xeni junction.

The pass itself involves three distinct different terrains; the lowest is bushy with a bit of a trail and some boulder hopping, the mid section is boulder hopping where you are forced into the boulder bed of the narrow gully, and the upper section is mainly grass slopes with a hint of a trail and some minor rock slabs to walk on. The transition area from the boulder bed to the upper grass slope has the loose rocks/scree and steep bouldery/rocky slope.

It really isn't a very difficult pass, bear in mind Stijn rates the pass itself and not the walk in/out, although I agree that he is wired differently. The difficulty aspect of Cockade Pass is the looong walk in/out, and the bushy area in the Xeni valley.

I will post a write up with photos as soon as time permits.

Hmmm... I have a feeling that river bush has intensified in recent years.

Hi Kevin

Please see link below to my website for a write-up I did on Cockade Pass. We went up the pass in November 2014

www.rawcuriosity.com/adventures/cathedral-peak-hike

Thanks!