Leslie’s Pass

ghaznavid wrote: 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?

Ghaz - getting from Marble Baths back to Monk's Cowl car park is do-able but a bit of a hassle in that you'll pass through Injisuthi camp and then haul up Van H pass, on to Blind Man's Corner and then back down to Monk car park. Its a bit of an arble really and a lousy way to end a nice hike.

So, I would suggest that you start and finish the planned hike at Injisuthi. I've done a similar loop from there before and it worked well.

Day 1: Injisuthi to Keith Bush via van H pass and BMC- nice scenic hike
Day 2: Gray's Pass to somewhere south of Champagne. Gray's will be squashed in 3 and a bit hours, then amble on as far as you like to the Buttress
Day 3: Butresses and descent to Marble Baths
Day 4: Marble to Inj Camp (1 hour 14 minutes if you're George L)


In the past I have gone from Inj Summit Cave down Leslies to Inj camp and reached the camp by 1-ish in the afternoon (with an early start and no breaks)so you could do that bit on day 4.

Done this same route 3 times.Only 1 time did we make it to the starting point on day 4. Plan to bailout at Injisuthi with transport back to Monks Cowl.Its a stiff hike for the last day when everyone is tired and hungry.Plan on at least 6 to 8 hours hiking at a brisk pace.

On the December long weekend, elinda, Richard Hunt, warwick shaw, Sabine, Thora, Tish and tonymarshall descended Leslie’s Pass after our ascent of Corner Pass using the Northern High Approach, and escarpment exploration.

We had arrived at the top of Leslie’s Pass just before midday on Sunday and commenced the descent on the upper grass slope with the path zigzagging down across the width of the pass.



Lower down the path turns to the right and gets flatter as you head towards the top of a scree slope.



At the scree, the path heads steeply diagonally down to the left, and is well marked with cairns every few metres. There are several false paths above and crossing the scree, beware of these and ensure that the correct route marked by the cairns is followed. From the scree the route heads down into the valley, crosses the valley just upstream of the dark green bushy area at the centre of the photo below, and heads gradually up to the crest of the ridge on the left of the valley, before following the ridge down.



Below the scree, the route goes through a bushy area on a clear trail. The frequent cairns which marked the route through the scree become less on the trail through the bush. A view back up to the top of the pass showing the bushy area below the scree.



As you approach the valley the slope becomes steep and the route is again marked by regular cairns. The route crosses the valley just to the left of the centre of the photo below, and heads gradually up the slope on the opposite side.



We took a break at the stream crossing, which was the first water on the way down the pass. A view back up the pass from the stream crossing; just out of the photo to the left there is a cascading waterfall.



After crossing the stream, the panorama to the south of Leslie’s Pass unfolds with the spectacular view to the ridge on the left where the high point is the Injisuthi Greater Buttress, with Scaly Peak just below to the left. It was hard to believe that some of us had stood on the top of the Buttress earlier that morning. On the right is Leslie’s Pass, with some of the group visible on the path on the ridge at the bottom right of the photo.



A view down the ridge, where the path follows the crest of the ridge, before dropping steeply down at the end of the ridge.

A view back up the ridge to the top of Leslie’s Pass, the low point on the skyline to the left of the ridge. The Molar is the prominent peak at the head of the ridge.



At the base of the ridge there are two small level tenting areas, Leslie’s Campsite, and we tented overnight here. The one is just behind elinda and Richard, with the blue shirts, while the other is at the right of the photo below, just in front of the trees. The path downstream passes through the right hand campsite, around the right of the bushy, treed area and into the stream, before following the stream downstream. There is also another path straight on through the left hand campsite into the bushes, and this may be the cause of all the confusion surrounding the path down to Marble Baths from the campsite. Either of these paths can be used to access the stream for collecting water and washing from the campsite.



Monday morning dawned overcast and misty, with the escarpment obscured in the mist and cloud. We headed downstream as described above, with the short path to the stream through the long grass quite indistinct, but from the stream well marked with cairns.



The route from the Leslie’s campsite to Marble Baths is about 3 km long, and we had no difficulty in following the trail the whole way. The trail mainly follows the left hand side of the river, but does cross over to the right hand side and back several times, sometimes in the river bed and quite far from the river at some places. There are also two or three other campsites about 1 km downstream from Leslie’s campsite, right on the path. As with the upper section of Leslie’s Pass, the trail is well marked with cairns in the rocky riverbed area, but not really marked in the grassy and bushy areas, although in these areas we had no difficulty in following the obvious path. There was a short section of forest on the route.



Where the trail entered the river bed just after the forest area (ie: where you would leave the river bed if heading upstream), a cairn clearly marked the route.



Just upstream from Marble Baths, Marble Baths Caves are visible across the river in the rock band, in the middle of the photo below.



The group at Marble Baths; Warwick, Richard, Elinda, Thora, Tish, Tony and Sabine.



At Marble Baths, the path crosses to the right hand side of the river, climbs up out of the riverbed, (it is also possible to follow the river on this section, past Junction Cave), passes below both Marble Baths Caves and then contours downstream, quite high above the river, before rejoining the river further downstream.

Thanks for the writeup and pics

I always love how easy passes look in photos...

Tonymarshall wrote:

There is also another path straight on through the left hand campsite into the bushes, and this may be the cause of all the confusion surrounding the path down to Marble Baths from the campsite.

That path crosses a stream coming down from the Molar and then becomes the Terrace route down to Marble Baths, avoiding most of the boulder-hopping of the alternate route. It essentially hugs the base of the ridge on the left in the picture all the way down to Marble Baths and ends up at the Marble Baths campsite on the opposite bank to the caves. It seldom ventures further than about 50 metres from the base of the ridge. The path varies in it's clarity, and is harder to follow on the route up to the Leslies campsite.

Can anyone tell me their experience of going up Leslies pass from Injisuthi camp? And maybe the route and distance to Summit Cave?

I'm considering doing it this weekend.

That's an awesome hike! Not straight-forward due to the final approach to Leslie's Pass in the riverbed above Marble Baths, but a nice all-round adventure.

Injasuti to Marble Baths (7.7km) - Good path, easy going.
Marble Baths to the bottom of the Leslie's Pass ridge (3.6km) - many vague paths or boulder-hopping up the river. Slow-going.
Up Leslie's Pass (2.7km) - steep, but on a decent path most of the way. I believe it does get bushy/vague in a few places.
Leslie's Pass to Summit Cave (7.5km) - escarpment traversing along some high ridges with spectacular views.

If you're going light, it's certainly doable as a 2-day hike, with a night in Summit Cave. Or otherwise you can have a crack at George Louw's record for the return trip to Mafadi from Injisuthi Main Camp... 9h57m!

Enjoy

Ho f#&¥£ ho! Thanks Stijn that's awesome info!

Sounds like something worth doing. I can test my new lightweight pack. Can't wait...

I'm envious