Rowsell's Pass

I first heard about the possibility of a pass between the Greater and Lesser Injasuti Buttresses in about 2018, from a one liner by Bill Barnes. In his book “Giants Castle – A Personal History”, on page 270 he has a paragraph as follows:
“Lesser and Greater Injasuti Buttress, and Hilton Pass
These two prominent peaks look directly south and into the Red Wall and the Western Injasuti Triplet. Between these two buttresses lies a steep pass negotiable only on foot. In fact a small amount of rock climbing is involved, and waterfalls keep one’s feet perpetually wet. I climbed this pass with Dave Cook and Des Crab in 1963, together with a party of Hilton College schoolboys. On reaching the top we pronounced its name to be Hilton Pass.” 

Although he does not specifically state that the pass is between the Greater and Lesser Injastuti buttresses, the grammar certainly suggests this is what he means. 

Some further research on the matter points out that the gully was used as a descent in the year 2000 by Paul Fatti and Mike Cartwright after climbing a new route on Greater Injasuti Buttress. In their words:
“Careful scrambling down the gully between the Greater and Lesser Injasuti Butresses and an abseil leads to easy grass slopes which are followed down and around left (facing downward) to the long grass slope leading down into the valley.” 

In 2019, when Chris, Neil and I headed into the hills to attempt a climb on Western Injasuti Triplet, we actually walked in via a night at Lower Injasuti Cave. We had a really good look up the grass slopes between Greater and Lesser Injasuti Buttress (red line)  and decided in the end to rather focus on Western Injasuti Triplet and thus went up Hilton Pass as marked on the maps instead (green line).


After climbing the peak, Chris and Neil heading back home and I stayed on top for a few days extra. In that time, I took this photo 


The top certainly seems to go so I scrambled down the upper section. I then spent over an hour trying to down climb the final 10-15m to gain the grass slopes below. I failed, and realised the solution was to approach from below in the hope that you see better looking up than down. 

Ghaznavid dug up a journal article from the 1966 MCSA July Camp at Injasuti by Rusty Rowsell. The article is extremely vague on details, other than that they did indeed ascend the gully between Greater and Lesser Injasuti Peaks, and that it was a very long day from Lower Injasuti Cave, with them topping out after dark. 

Tony dug up a description of the Hilton Pass ascent by Bill Barnes in the book “Drakensberg Ranger” by George Hughes on page 282.
“... he had agreed to take a group of schoolboys from Hilton College up to the top of the escarpment and I should come along to help. To my surprise he informed me that he intended to take them to Upper Injasuti Cave and asked if I had recently gone up the pass to the south of the buttress. This was a little-used pass that did not have a name.... and it was with collective enthusiasm that we left the Lower Injasuti Cave and set off for the pass on a fine morning.As the going got steeper, the youngsters starter to flag a bit and by the time we reached 2500m we had some tired young boys...... we had to help some of the smaller and less adventurous boys up several cliff faces...... Then we encountered the part of the climb hitherto unreported to Bill. We arrived at the foot of an 8m cliff over which spilled a gushing torrent of frozen water and after an almost frantic inspection , it became clear there was no way around it.” 

Tony dug up another article in the 2020 MCSA Journal by Barrie Ridgway on pages 26-32. This is an account of the 1966 ascent with Rusty Rowsell. This article has considerably more detail than the article by Rowsell. It includes a photo with superimposed route and a description that leaves us in no doubt that they did indeed take the gully between the Greater and Lesser Injasuti Buttresses. It also suggests the name Rowsell’s Pass as the author believes this to be the first ascent of the gully. In particular, article includes details such as heading up to the highest point of the grass slopes, traversing left (sufficiently exposed that they left a rope in place to protect the rest of the party. They then headed up another grass slope before reaching the final cliffs below the summit. Barrie gave Rusty a lead belay at this point, and they used a total of two grade D roped pitches to reach the summit. They hauled bags and gave each person a belay up. Now we know why they only topped out after dark. 

Barrie Ridgway in turn references an article by E.H. Scholes in the 1951 MCSA Journal. In pages 10-15 he describes a trip by members of Natal and Transvaal sections of MCSA over Christmas 1950. This included the first ascents of Eastern Triplet and Middle Triplet and describes the gully leading up between Eastern Triplet and the escarpment and also describes what we now know as Injasuti Pass.He also describes:
“We noticed, however, that a long steep grass ridge between the two faces of the Injasuti Butress appears to reach virtually to the top. A small party consisting of Lorna Pierson, Gillian Bettle, Charles Gloster and Scholes investigated this route the following day. We were pleased to discover that the grass ridge did give a quick way to the top of the escarpment (four hours from the cave) with only two climbing pitches of D near the end. Future parties taking this route should keep to the grass to the highest possible point, which is formed by a sheer wall on the left and a broken grassy traverse on the right. One climbs up 30 feet and to the right 60 feet at this point, and scrambles the last 200 feet.” 

In November 2023, I headed back to the Injasuti area and decided to try the gully between Greater and Lesser Injasuti Buttress myself, this time from below. At this point, I was still only aware of the claim by Barnes and the vague account by Rowsell. I thus expected it to go.  On my first attempt, I had an 18kg bag and had only left the Injasuti Reception at 10am, having driven down from Gauteng that morning. I made good progress and by 2pm was breaking out of the main valley. Unfortunately, thick clouds at 2400m resulted in me turning off one valley too soon. By 2400m, I had realised my mistake and traversed left (south) to a saddle on an adjoining ridge. Here I could see the correct valley to head up, but it was 500m wide and still in thick mist so I had no way to know where to go. I reluctantly dropped down to Lower Injasuti Cave for the night.

Next day I set off at 6am with a day bag. I still had mist at 2400m, but this time around it looked like it was going to clear up, so I headed up the valley as best I could. The main gully is a 30m deep chasm that you want to avoid at all costs, so I took a line up the grass on the true left. At 2550m, the cloud receded for the first time. 

This must be the most daunting view I have had in my life, but I was really excited. I knew exactly where I was and where to go. I followed the shallow ridge between the 2 gullies. Although there was water flowing, it is impossible to imagine getting wet in it, so it is unlikely this is the route described by George Hughes.I headed to the highest point of the grass, below 200m cliffs above. Fortunately, steep grass leads up and left to an exposed arete and from there a simple but steep traverse leads into a secondary grass slope leading upwards.


I aimed left and up. Scholes probably did the same.  I suspect that Rowsell stayed low, but I am not sure if that goes.


The second grass slope leading up the the D grade cliffs...Once again, I spent an hour failing to get up the cliff between me and the known scramble to the top. On one go, I backed off because a recent fire had burned the enormous grass tufts that could otherwise have been a great handhold. On another, I backed off because the rock was very wet. But, in truth I always backed off because there is no way to avoid hard, exposed moves 10m up with only dodgy grass to support you. Now, I have done moves like this before but not today. I did not look around for gear placements, but this is almost certainly a D grade climb. So, reluctantly I dropped all the way down again for yet another thrashing in the valley just above Lower Injasuti Cave. 

My findings match the description of the ascent by Barrie Ridgway, and also the abseil descent by Fatti and Cartwright, but I am inclined to believe that Hughes and thus Barnes took another line, presumably the line currently marked on the maps as Hilton Pass.As for Scholes – well, I have spent enough time in the valley both from below and on top to feel confident he could not have gone up anywhere else. So, if we allow for a simple confusion between left and right then his description matches the gully between Greater and Lesser Injasuti Buttresses. And yes, his party comprised climbers who had just climbed two of the Triplets, so it is fair to consider they would have scrambled the final rock bands.   

This Saturday, a party consisting of Tony, Geoff, Alec and myself had a go a Rowsell Pass.  This time around I was better prepared.

We spent the night at Lower Injasuti Cave and set off at 7am with day packs.  Everyone else took that to heart except me who contrived to have a heavier pack than everyone else put together.

By 10am we had negotiated the approach and started up the steep grass slopes. We took the line in yellow



By midday were having a short lunch just before the ampitheatre.  Tony was at this point questioning where I planned to go because the exit out left is not visible until you are very high up.  

The traverse out left went easily enough.  We took a line heading diagonally up and left, but you could also drop a little and traverse on a 1m wide sloping grass ledge around the corner.

Soon enough we were staring at the main event. At this point you are 3050m up and a 25m high cliff lies between you and the summit.  After some humming and hahhing, I decided to take a line near the right hand side (red line below).  I had bailed on this last time around because of a commiting move high up. 
 

I put on my climbing shoes and took off my pack.  I trailed a rope but had no gear with me to place protection or even build a stance.  The crux move is about 15m up and was as hard as I recalled.  It is possible to place a #1 (red) cam about 1m below your feet to protect this move, it is the only gear on the route and none of the alternative lines will be any better protected. This time around, the slopy right hand foothold was a bit stickier due to the climbing shoes and I was able to commit to the move.  A few m higher, I got a nasty surprise - the reddish bushes were not very strong and posed another obstacle.  I pulled and stood as lightly as I could and was soon through them.  (Geoff later found an exposed but easier sequence on solid rock a few m to the left.)  I ended up stancing on a mostly solid block that has been used previously for an abseil - probably Paul Fatti and Mike Cartwright after their ascent of the Greater Injasuti Buttress in 2000. 

From here steep and still fairly exposed grass leads to a ledge leading out left just below the final rock band.
 

In early September AndrewP, Geoff, Alec and tonymarshall did an ascent of Rowsell’s Pass. Andrew has already done a brief write up of our trip, and provided much detail on Rowsell’s Pass in his previous post. 

We overnighted in Lower Injisuthi Cave the night before, leaving most of our things behind in the cave and used day packs for the trip. We started the hike as a group of seven, with two planning not to do the pass, and later on after they had turned back another member of our group also turned back quite high on the pass. The photo below shows the group heading up the Injisuthi valley towards the pass, which goes up between the Injisuthi Buttresses. 

 

We started on the true right (left going up) of the gully, and the photo below shows the view back down the lower section of the pass and the valley below.  

 

Higher up we crossed the main gully and continued up on the right (true left). 

 

Most of the way up we had spectacular views to the Injisuthi Triplets. 

 

We continued up on a low grass slope ridge on the true left of the main gully, and with a secondary gully on our right. At the top of this grass slope we followed steeper broken grass slopes up to the left as per the red line in the photo below, closely following the base of the cliffs to our right. This way up was not obvious or visible until we were almost there.

 

A view of the steeper grass slopes we went up, with some scrambling required in places. 

 

Once up these slopes, we continued to traverse left on a narrow, quite exposed grass ledge, although with day packs it wasn’t too intimidating. 

 

At the end of the narrow ledge, we went up a grass ramp to the base of the small ‘amphitheatre’ described by Barrie Ridgway in his Rowsell’s Pass write up of the ascent of the pass in 1966, published in the 2020 MCSA Journal. The photo below shows this amphitheatre, and is courtesy of AndrewP, from his previous attempt at Rowsell’s Pass. 

Our group at the base of the amphitheatre, with Andrew on the left looking for a suitable way to climb up the broken rock slope to the right of the amphitheatre.  

 

Without pack and in climbing shoes Andrew ascends with a rope to assist the rest of us to get up the D grade climb.  

 

Andrew made a stance on a block which had a piece of old tat and a carabiner around it, and we assume that this was the top of Paul and Mike’s abseil on their descent after climbing the Greater Injisuthi Buttress in 1999. Geoff ascended next, on belay, and took up Andrew’s pack which was attached to the rope just above him.  

 

Above our climb we continued to ascend steep grass slopes upwards.  

 

Below the upper rock band, a grass ledge led to the top of the pass, basically at the saddle between the Greater and Lesser Injisuthi Buttresses.  

 

A view back along the grass ledge at the top. Mist and low cloud had been coming and going during our ascent, and the Greater Injisuthi Buttress is hidden by mist in the background of the photo below.  

 

Our summit photo at the top of Rowsell’s Pass, fltr Geoff, Andrew, Alec and Tony.  

 

We headed off to summit the Lesser Injisuthi Buttress, and had this view back to the upper section of Rowsell’s Pass. The mist was partly obscuring the view, so I have used one of Andrew’s photographs from his previous attempt from above to show this. The red line shows the route of our climbing pitch, and the amphitheatre, upper grass slopes through the cliffs, the grass ledge to the top of the pass and the Greater Injisuthi Buttress are all visible.  

 

We had left Lower Injisuthi Cave just before 07h00 that morning, and topped out at just before 14h00, so the ascent took us 7 hours. After summitting the Lesser Injisuthi Buttress, we descended Hilton Pass, and were back at Lower Injisuthi Cave at 19h15. Not bad for two of the most difficult passes in the berg on the same day! About our last hour was in the dark, so we used a path I knew about that went from the valley onto the ridge above Lower Injisuthi Cave, and joined the path to Lower Injisuthi Cave from Battle Cave near Lower Injisuthi Cave. Although this was slightly longer and involved some ascent, and steep descent, it certainly saved us a lot of time and hassle struggling along in the riverbed in the dark. 

Special thanks to AndrewP for inviting me to join the trip, and for doing the solo climb that enabled the rest of us to get up the pass. Thanks too to Barrie Ridgway for his belated write up on his 1966 ascent of Rowsell’s Pass which captured our attention and imagination, and inspired us to have a go at Rowsell’s Pass.