Leslie’s Pass

We did Leslie's pass (up) with Carlos from SpanAfrican Adventures last year end of May. It is indeed beautiful enroute to the pass as well as the pass itself. Just some notes.

1) The route between Marble baths and the foot of Leslie's is quite a maze. Had it not been for Carlos's presence it could've been many hours of finding our way up there.
2) Leslie's itself, whilst completely non technical, is quite steep and I certainly remember chuffing badly on several sections with the 20kg pack on my back. This is not to be attempted by the completely unfit with a heavy pack. If not fit, I would rather plan a route that includes descending Leslie's as opposed to ascending it.

However, the pluspoints are many:
1) The foot of Leslie's where we camped must be one the most isolated spots in the berg, which is offcourse quite lovely and peaceful. I certainly did not even worry about smugglers passing by, I could be mistaken here but I believe they would rather use Judge's to the south or Grey's to the north as these are significantly easier (take into account the slog below Leslie's foot back to potential 'buyer's', and the route does not make sense for smugglers.
2) this area is also incredibly beautiful and rugged, with views dominated by Scaly peak and Injisuthi buttress as well as some incredible waterfalls down the escarpment wall.
2) Marble baths enroute to Leslie is well, marvelous.

All in all a thumbs up to this pass and its area, and remains a key option for those wishing to ascend Mafadi (eish, us peakbaggers...)

Looks like a very scenic pass. Hope to be ascending it in July.

Can't wait to get out into the berg!!!

We are a group of 5 that are going there in August, we will descend down Leslies Pass from Mafadi. Can't wait either.

We just attempted Leslie's Pass this past weekend. Great weather for winter tome. Fairly warm at night as well. We started the day from Injisuthi Camp and headed up to Marble Baths, seriously COOL pools, good place for early lunch. Clean sweet water with tons of place to swim and sit and rest. The Marbles baths cave is right above these, pretty place to stop if divide the trip up and down into 2 nights. This cave is rated for 12 people, but i would say more like 6 comfortably. Just my thoughts, i like to sprawl when i sleep. The slog up the river to the foot of Leslie;s wasnt bad,actually much easier going up the river than trying to find the path on the side banks, these were quite grown and bushy making going slower when attempted.We had one member take to a stomach bug and vomit continuously for the next few hours....A real trooper he carried on....5.20pm rolled and around and light was at almost none, and our slow going but us about 400m from the top of Leslie's when we called it off. It was a little icy and our mate was pale as ever.The danger didnt warrant the risk. Rather peed off we turned around..and learned a humble lesson..the mountain wins and our bodies tell us when we need to take it easy. We back tracked half way down to a flat ish spot and set up tent. A warm night and great views for the morning we awesome and a moral booster. After light breakfast we trotted back to camp. Great views on this hike...you see the Trojan Wall on the way up and we saw tons of snow, but blessed with WARM winter days and nights...!!!! Soon Leslie's Pass will be another knotch on the belt...

Yeah sometimes the berg 'wins'! The important part is that whenever you return you are safe.

I had serious cramps 2 years ago +-300m from the top of Mweni pass & the sun started to set. I was in the shade by that time & it didn't help with the cramps. Prayed & pushed on. Reached Ledger's during the night & were nauseous, so didn't even prepare food, just went to bed.

We also ascended Leslie's this past week. We saw one cloud in four days of hiking and only met one other hiking party the entire time too. It was fantastic!

Unfortunately one of my mates also struggled - he developed excruciating blisters across both feet. They were so bad that when he took to using hiking poles on the way down, to support his weight, he ended up with monster blisters on his hands! But he was a solid stoic and trudged on, to make it home without further problems.

This was our first trip up the escarpment and we all enjoyed it in a huge way!















Also, was it just us or does this rock formation uncannily resemble a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle? We thought Donatello.

Richg wrote: Also, was it just us or does this rock formation uncannily resemble a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle? We thought Donatello.

Picking up on an old thread here, but, here's another rock Ninja Turtle - Hidden Valley, Garden Castle:

We are leaving on Saturday 18 Aug for Injisuthi Camp.
The weather seems to be good for that week.
Our goal is to summit Mafadi on 21 Aug.
Will post some pics.

I'm just gonna tag my post onto this thread rather than starting a new one...

I'm considering doing a 4 day loop between Grays Pass and Leslies Pass. I have enough info about day 1 and have hiked most of day 2 (although the other way round), but day 3 and 4 I need some info about.

Basically day 3 starts at either Upper Injisuthi Cave or on that camping spot behind Leslies Pass. The goal will be to do the Mafadi ridge + the Greater and Lessor Injisuthi Buttress. So that's 6 khulus and then head down Leslies Pass and overnight at either Marble Baths or in a tent near the contour path.

Day 4 would be from wherever day 3 ends back to the Monk's Cowl car park.

How difficult is this? Day 4 seems like one hang of a push - how difficult is this push?