As the crow flies
31 Mar 2013 09:13 - 31 Mar 2013 10:41 #56432
by ghaznavid
As the crow flies was created by ghaznavid
After various plans for the weekend it comes down to this, just myself and Hobbit setting out to do some khulu bagging on top of the Amphitheatre. The weather forecast for the weekend was pretty bad, so we decided to head up on the Thursday and return on the Friday.
Now according to Best Walks of the Drakensberg, it’s a 13km hike from RNNP to the top of the Chain Ladders. I look at the map and the distance seems to be further, but I don’t give it a second thought.
So the question arises, why drive 170km extra each way to save 10km of hiking? Anyway, it will be nice to do some small berg hiking at RNNP.
We arrive at reception where we are told that we are only allowed to park there, not anywhere else. So we get our permits and head off up the road. After just over 1km we hit the parking area for hikers. My degree of annoyance over this is fairly great. But any way, nothing we can do now, just fill in the mountain register and head off.
Ribbon Falls as seen from the car park
I don’t know how many of you have done the Chain Ladders with a RNNP start, but if I designed the path it would be about 5km, not 10km. The path is long, almost flat and for the most part, very slippery.
It winds in and out of gullies, through forests near waterfalls – all of which were flowing in full force. The description of the route that I had read before the hike stated that it was 5km to Witsieshoek, but as the distance walked kept increasing I began to wonder. I had planned the hike off the old Singsby map which wasn’t clear about distances, but at reception I had bought a Geomap Series map. I added the distances together and realised that it was actually 10km.
As we neared the top, 3 large waterfalls came into view. The map refers to the middle one as Mahai Falls and the other 2 seem to be unnamed.
We pass the turnoff for the Nek (which I imagine is still closed based on the fence at the turnoff) and followed “Gudu Pass” up to Witsieshoek. If that is a pass, then so is my driveway.
Releaved to finally reach Witsieshoek, we briefly stop in to get some nice cold water (although the Mahai river also could have provided us with this!)
We now reach the road. It is already past 2:30PM, it’s starting to rain and our only real hope of getting up the chain ladders would be if we can get a lift to Sentinel carpark. Hobbit is clearly really tired, so I take the part of the tent he is carrying as well as his sleeping bag. He can manage a bit better with less weight, but still isn’t looking too great.
A car drives past, but in the wrong direction. I know that it’s not logical to expect that someone will be driving up to the top in the rain on the late afternoon before a public holiday, but I keep praying for it anyway.
About 500m past Witsieshoek, what do you know. A couple comes driving up the road, I flag them down and they kindly agree to give us a lift provided we don’t mind squashing in the back of the car (it really wasn’t squashed at all). As we drive up to Sentinel Car park they tell us how they are visiting from Spain and want to get to the top of the escarpment today.
A very friendly couple – and I don’t think they can appreciate how much of a difference they made! On the way up their car got stuck on loose rock, so we jumped out and helped push it over this tricky section. But otherwise the trip was uneventful.
Suddenly we were back on track, the Sentinel car park. We signed their mountain register and told them we already had hiking permits from RNNP.
We began the walk to the zigzags. Hobbit couldn’t help but stare at his favourite freestanding peak, and who could blame him? There in front of us stood the mighty khulu with routes such as Here Be Dragons, Blood on the Rocks and Paradigm Shift. I had remembered this view from day 11 of GT, but by day 11 you are not in the most cognitively aware state of mind.
As we walk up I see the fences, signs, eyesore of a path and its many shortcuts. I think to myself how sad it is that such a beautiful peak has that massive > shaped line straight under one of the most impressive rock faces I have ever seen.
The extra 3kg of weight that I am carrying for Hobbit is making a substantial difference, I can feel a lack of energy, require frequent breaks and quickly start to worry about time. It’s around 4PM and we still need to summit and cross the entire Tugela valley.
We agree that we should stay in Sentinel Cave and then either summit at about 8PM under moonlight or just summit really early the next morning.
We slowly get higher and eventually we are under the rock faces of the Sentinel. The rocky bits of the path are incredibly slippery, the path is basically a river – this combined with the extra weight is not helping our speed. The Spanish couple who gave us a lift have now caught up with us. This heavy pack isn’t sustainable, but at least it has given Hobbit a chance to recover.
Under the start of the Angus-Leppan route, the Spanish lady decides that her husband should go ahead as she won’t make it. He asks me about shorter routes, I point to where the chain ladders are and say the only other way up is Beacon Buttress Gully. He decides to go for the gully.
We walk together as if he is in our group for that stretch from the Sentinel to Beacon Buttress, he turns off at the gully and we continue toward Sentinel Cave.
At 5:30, in rain with sounds of lightning we reach Sentinel Cave. At first it seems to be a really nice cave, well sheltered, flattish, and fairly dry (well, compared to the marsh that is everywhere else right now). After about 10 minutes – and a packet of mini-cheddars – I am feeling fairly energetic again.
I consider the cave properly, there is dripping water everywhere, only 1 area is sufficiently rock free to sleep on, so we need to clear another area for Hobbit, the cave is actually freezing cold – and as we all know, it comes with a security warning. The sole of a worn out shoe at the entrance seems to also imply its use by locals.
We agree that we need to get to the top. Maybe the hut or otherwise the planned camping spot.
We reach the chain ladders at 6PM, the sun setting over the Free State mountains is an impressive sight, but not phenomenally great news since we still need to find a camping spot. It has started to rain again and the chain ladders are all slippery and wet.
I take the 2 lengths of accessory chord in my backpack, show Hobbit how to tie it into a harness with a 50cm sling loop, I do the same myself. We each place a carabiner into the tied in loop and I instruct him to take it slow and careful.
On my way up the higher of the 2 ladders I do almost slip at one point, but otherwise my rope harness setups don’t end up getting tested – a matter I am very happy about.
We hit the escarpment and I tell Hobbit that we can’t take a break, in less than an hour it will be completely dark and we are still a good few km short of the Bilanjil campsite.
The path from the top of the chain ladders is basically a marsh. In failing light we walk through mud. We soon cross the Tugela and start up the Bilanjil ridge. The path goes near the hut – maybe we should pitch tents in there instead. I look at the surrounds in the almost complete dark, I know exactly where the hut should be – I remember its surrounds from going past it on GT, but I can’t see it.
A call needs to be made, and we make it – Bilanjil campsite it must be. I have a GPS co-ord for the approximate spot, and if we see something before it, we’ll camp there.
As we are almost on top of the Binanjil ridge the last light of the day is completely gone. The moon will be up soon, but I don’t want to sit around and wait. With the imminent moon rise it is possible to make out the shape of the ground we are walking on. I know where we are and I can see enough that we won’t walk over a rock face or something like that. That being said, it feels like we are walking in a river!
Slosh, slosh, slosh. The sound of muddy shoes walking in the marsh of the escarpment is all we hear in the silence. I hear Hobbit groaning and know he wants a break. But with a massive thunderstorm visible over Mnweni, and no guarantee that the associated cloud won’t block the moonlight where we are – we must keep going.
We cross the top of the Bilanjil ridge and I tell him that the first flat dry spot we see is our camp for the night.
did I mention that the entire escarpment felt like a marsh!
We keep going until at around 2960m, in almost complete blackness I see a flatish spot that isn’t reflecting any of the moonlight starting to light the Cradle of Rivers.
Immediately I say “get your headlamp on and lets start putting the tent up”. I hear a reply of “I forgot my headlamp at home!”
‘n Boer maak ‘n plan, maar ek het a plan. We both have cellphones with flash lights on them. No trouble. By around 8PM we have a tent on flattish ground. The moon is now making the escarpment pretty bright, the thunderstorm at Mnweni goes on.
We agree to sit on the rocks outside the tent to eat supper, enjoying the silhouetted views of the Eastern Buttress lit up from behind by the almost full moon. We eat quickly and start to get really cold. Before I know it, we’re back in the tent, ready for a really early start tomorrow morning.
At about 1AM I wake up, I look out of the tent and the entire escarpment is brightly litten up by moonlight. What a view!
4AM: beep beep, beep beep… Time to get up. The target for the day: khulu bag Bilanjil Bump, try to find Amphitheatre Peak (which is supposed to be between Bilanjil Bump and Crows Nest), bag Crows Nest, Mont Aux Sources, Beacon Buttress and go down Beacon Buttress gully.
Just after 6 the tent is packed away, we have both had our breakfast and we are off – after watching the sunrise behind Eastern Buttress that is.
What we thought at the time to be the Bilanjil Bump happened to be around 400m from where we camped, so it was the first khulu to fall for the day. My 21st, Hobbit’s 7th. The view from it is pretty good. Neither the best, nor the worst that I have ever seen. After some investigation and research subsequent to the hike I figured out that this is actually Murch’s Amphitheatre Peak – 3056m (according to my GPS – Murch didn’t have an accurate altitude for it).
We follow the ridge to the escarpment edge to gain the customary view of Tugela Falls – very much in flood.
Next stop – Crows Nest.
Now, Crows Nest peak is strange one (well, in my opinion anyway). The peak is far from the escarpment edge, yet entirely in SA. The Tugela river also happens to flow on 3 of its flanks.
We sat on the summit and ate our morning snacks. We saw only 1 sign of other human life up there – a tent between Crows Nest and Mont Aux Sources (we would later meet Steve who had slept in that tent).
It was almost 9AM already, there were storm clouds visible in the distance and climbing Mont Aux Sources would take us almost 2km in the wrong direction, not to mention the substantial altitude gain required. We knew the trip home was long and we can’t assume we’ll get a lift. So we decided that Mont Aux Sources was out – hopefully next time. Like I have ever needed an excuse to return to the Drakensberg escarpment!
We dropped down to the Tugela marsh/river and soon were slogging back up from 3000m to a 3100+m khulu. This time the khulu that is probably the second easiest to bag (if considered by easiest overall approach to bagging a khulu) – after Sani Peak that is, if you drive up Sani Pass.
The great Beacon Buttress Peak. It was more difficult to climb it from the Tugela river than what I thought it would be, but it doesn’t change the fact that an unfit non-hiker could drive to Sentinel car park, climb the chain ladders and walk up its not particularly steep slopes.
We sat on the summit, made the massive cairn 2 rocks larger and admired the view as we watched the weather close in once more. Hobbit was clearly enjoying the view of the South East Arête route, the Standard Route and Blood on the Rock’s Route on Sentinel. The view across the valley to the Eastern Buttress, Tooth etc was also quite something.
After about 20 minutes on the summit we began the descent down Beacon Buttress Gully. People often talk of the chain ladders as “scary”, and of Beacon Buttress Gully as the way for those who suffer from altophobia to avoid having to do the chain ladders.
Good joke – Beacon Buttress Gully was way more of a concern for safety than the chain ladders. It was wet, very eroded, tons of loose rocks. Not a gully I plan to redo any time soon! I am happy I did the gully, but I really don’t need to do it again.
The gully is also covered in spots to anchor ropes for adventure racers. Often in spots where a nasty fall would land on these rusted eyesores. Between the horrible looking fences on the approach to the chain ladders and these things, it really ruins the beauty of the area.
Anyway, after about an hour we hit the path that leads to the chain ladders. It looked vaguely reminiscent of a shopping centre on the Saturday after pay day! Tons of people everywhere.
As we hit the saddle between Sentinel and Beacon Buttress I told Hobbit that we would be taking a short detour to check the view from the saddle. I heard a voice in the distance shouting back “thanks for the advice” in a German accent.
The person at the saddle happened to be a German born UK living political auditor on assignment in SA. He had a few days off and decided to go hiking. He was the one whose tent we had seen from Crows Nest. His name was Steve.
He more or less hiked with us/near us for the balance of the route to Sentinel car park.
We must have passed over 30 hikers on the way back to the car park. Hobbit was carrying all his own gear plus about half a kg of the tent, but I could see he was taking strain.
Once again I was hoping to get a lift down the road, but on reaching the car park we found a huge number of cars and not a single person. I told Hobbit that we can’t rely on someone else, time is short, we need to walk.
We stopped for a short break just past the car park, and Hobbit told me he was out of food. Fortunately I had some biscuits and dried fruit that I could spare. There was a dassie sitting right by where we stopped. Don't worry - we didn't feed it.
We walked for close to 3km of the road section, until right near the Pudding there was a car. They had been parked there for a long time, but were about to leave when we got there. We asked if they could give us a lift (both of us as well as Steve), and they agreed. This time we were genuinely squashed in the car. I was wedged between 3 packs and the driver’s seat, very little of me actually being on the chair itself.
On the drive, the couple driving told us about how when they were younger they had climbed Mont Blanc, Killi, Mount Kenya and various other peaks across the world. They were very impressed that Hobbit had managed such a distance.
The dropped us at Witsieshoek. I could see that Hobbit was exhausted and I knew we needed to motor the last 10km to RNNP. It was already past 2PM and time wasn’t on our side.
Steve headed off toward RNNP while myself and Hobbit went to the restaurant. I thought to myself, if he at least eats a proper lunch he’ll have the energy to hike the last stretch at a good pace. After all, the 30 minutes it takes to eat lunch quickly are lost by taking three 10 minute breaks on the way down.
We ordered cheese sandwiches (because they said that’s the quickest thing to make) and a milkshake each (in retrospect the milkshake probably wasn’t my best idea ever, but it didn’t end up being a problem).
Leaving Witsieshoek at around 2:40PM was not an encouraging sign and I had already made peace with the fact that we would probably end the hike at night.
We motored the first 3km stretch to the turnoff to Dooley’s. We took our first break of the last 10km stretch here. Hobbit was looking much more fresh and alive than he had been at Sentinel car park. And he was still carrying his full weight in gear plus half a kg of the tent. He didn’t need me to take any of his weight from his pack on the way down.
With 7km still to go and it now being just past 3, we agreed that there would be time for 1 more stop, at the river crossing just past the mudslide where we had to de-shoe on the way up. We agreed that we would sit there for a few minutes with our feet in the water.
As we motored the next section and soon caught up with Steve (who had a 30 minute head start on us by not stopping at Witsieshoek). My plan had clearly worked!
Along the way, while trying to fill his bottle, Hobbit partially fell in the river, his one leg was soaked, the other was fine. Fortunately his cellphone was in a zip lock – it would have been 2 hikes in a row that he would have lost a cellphone to water!
We hit the river crossing and stopped with our feet in the water. Steve decided to have a quick swim while we were there.
On the last stretch he fell behind (although we planned to drive home, he was staying over at Mahai campsite that night), and we didn’t come across him again. We stopped briefly for Hobbit to climb a large boulder with massive jug holds on its inverted slope. He always enjoys a quick bit of bouldering! I even joined in on this boulder and did the first 2 moves– really easy with the size and quality of the holds.
Before long we were back at the mountain register signing out, ready for our last 1km stretch to the car park.
The sun had set behind Surprise Ridge, the smell of braais from the overcrowded Mahai campsite was making us very hungry, but the end was in sight.
Having signed out on both the Sentinel Car Park and RNNP mountain register, we thought there was no rush to get back to the car. We had a long chat with a young couple who planned to take their very young children up to Sentinel Car Park (by car) and climb to the top from there. The grandfather tested Hobbit’s general knowledge and Hobbit was up to the task. The grandfather then went on to tell a very inaccurate story about the first ascent of the Sentinel – he had the first ascent of Angus Leppan and Standard Route muddled, but any way. Both Hobbit and I knew he was wrong, and we didn’t want to be rude, so we just smiled and nodded. The young couple where very impressed with Hobbit’s hiking and general knowledge.
We kept going. Soon we were standing by my car, ready to drive home when the one EKZN guy shouted that he didn’t know we were back – he was busy phoning mountain rescue to come and look for us. We had said the previous day that we would be back by 5PM and it was 6PM (even though we signed back in at the register at 5:40 – remember we parked at reception). Anyway, no harm done, he hadn’t called them yet. But a few minutes longer and some volunteers’ time would have been wasted on looking for a perfectly fine and safe group of hikers.
As we drove back it began to rain pretty hard, so a good thing we did get back when we did.
All in all a good weekend.
We covered roughly 50km (13km of which was by car), bagged 3 khulus, 2 passes, and I got 279 photos. Most interestingly, for the first time in ages I got home with almost no wet gear!
Now according to Best Walks of the Drakensberg, it’s a 13km hike from RNNP to the top of the Chain Ladders. I look at the map and the distance seems to be further, but I don’t give it a second thought.
So the question arises, why drive 170km extra each way to save 10km of hiking? Anyway, it will be nice to do some small berg hiking at RNNP.
We arrive at reception where we are told that we are only allowed to park there, not anywhere else. So we get our permits and head off up the road. After just over 1km we hit the parking area for hikers. My degree of annoyance over this is fairly great. But any way, nothing we can do now, just fill in the mountain register and head off.
Ribbon Falls as seen from the car park
I don’t know how many of you have done the Chain Ladders with a RNNP start, but if I designed the path it would be about 5km, not 10km. The path is long, almost flat and for the most part, very slippery.
It winds in and out of gullies, through forests near waterfalls – all of which were flowing in full force. The description of the route that I had read before the hike stated that it was 5km to Witsieshoek, but as the distance walked kept increasing I began to wonder. I had planned the hike off the old Singsby map which wasn’t clear about distances, but at reception I had bought a Geomap Series map. I added the distances together and realised that it was actually 10km.
As we neared the top, 3 large waterfalls came into view. The map refers to the middle one as Mahai Falls and the other 2 seem to be unnamed.
We pass the turnoff for the Nek (which I imagine is still closed based on the fence at the turnoff) and followed “Gudu Pass” up to Witsieshoek. If that is a pass, then so is my driveway.
Releaved to finally reach Witsieshoek, we briefly stop in to get some nice cold water (although the Mahai river also could have provided us with this!)
We now reach the road. It is already past 2:30PM, it’s starting to rain and our only real hope of getting up the chain ladders would be if we can get a lift to Sentinel carpark. Hobbit is clearly really tired, so I take the part of the tent he is carrying as well as his sleeping bag. He can manage a bit better with less weight, but still isn’t looking too great.
A car drives past, but in the wrong direction. I know that it’s not logical to expect that someone will be driving up to the top in the rain on the late afternoon before a public holiday, but I keep praying for it anyway.
About 500m past Witsieshoek, what do you know. A couple comes driving up the road, I flag them down and they kindly agree to give us a lift provided we don’t mind squashing in the back of the car (it really wasn’t squashed at all). As we drive up to Sentinel Car park they tell us how they are visiting from Spain and want to get to the top of the escarpment today.
A very friendly couple – and I don’t think they can appreciate how much of a difference they made! On the way up their car got stuck on loose rock, so we jumped out and helped push it over this tricky section. But otherwise the trip was uneventful.
Suddenly we were back on track, the Sentinel car park. We signed their mountain register and told them we already had hiking permits from RNNP.
We began the walk to the zigzags. Hobbit couldn’t help but stare at his favourite freestanding peak, and who could blame him? There in front of us stood the mighty khulu with routes such as Here Be Dragons, Blood on the Rocks and Paradigm Shift. I had remembered this view from day 11 of GT, but by day 11 you are not in the most cognitively aware state of mind.
As we walk up I see the fences, signs, eyesore of a path and its many shortcuts. I think to myself how sad it is that such a beautiful peak has that massive > shaped line straight under one of the most impressive rock faces I have ever seen.
The extra 3kg of weight that I am carrying for Hobbit is making a substantial difference, I can feel a lack of energy, require frequent breaks and quickly start to worry about time. It’s around 4PM and we still need to summit and cross the entire Tugela valley.
We agree that we should stay in Sentinel Cave and then either summit at about 8PM under moonlight or just summit really early the next morning.
We slowly get higher and eventually we are under the rock faces of the Sentinel. The rocky bits of the path are incredibly slippery, the path is basically a river – this combined with the extra weight is not helping our speed. The Spanish couple who gave us a lift have now caught up with us. This heavy pack isn’t sustainable, but at least it has given Hobbit a chance to recover.
Under the start of the Angus-Leppan route, the Spanish lady decides that her husband should go ahead as she won’t make it. He asks me about shorter routes, I point to where the chain ladders are and say the only other way up is Beacon Buttress Gully. He decides to go for the gully.
We walk together as if he is in our group for that stretch from the Sentinel to Beacon Buttress, he turns off at the gully and we continue toward Sentinel Cave.
At 5:30, in rain with sounds of lightning we reach Sentinel Cave. At first it seems to be a really nice cave, well sheltered, flattish, and fairly dry (well, compared to the marsh that is everywhere else right now). After about 10 minutes – and a packet of mini-cheddars – I am feeling fairly energetic again.
I consider the cave properly, there is dripping water everywhere, only 1 area is sufficiently rock free to sleep on, so we need to clear another area for Hobbit, the cave is actually freezing cold – and as we all know, it comes with a security warning. The sole of a worn out shoe at the entrance seems to also imply its use by locals.
We agree that we need to get to the top. Maybe the hut or otherwise the planned camping spot.
We reach the chain ladders at 6PM, the sun setting over the Free State mountains is an impressive sight, but not phenomenally great news since we still need to find a camping spot. It has started to rain again and the chain ladders are all slippery and wet.
I take the 2 lengths of accessory chord in my backpack, show Hobbit how to tie it into a harness with a 50cm sling loop, I do the same myself. We each place a carabiner into the tied in loop and I instruct him to take it slow and careful.
On my way up the higher of the 2 ladders I do almost slip at one point, but otherwise my rope harness setups don’t end up getting tested – a matter I am very happy about.
We hit the escarpment and I tell Hobbit that we can’t take a break, in less than an hour it will be completely dark and we are still a good few km short of the Bilanjil campsite.
The path from the top of the chain ladders is basically a marsh. In failing light we walk through mud. We soon cross the Tugela and start up the Bilanjil ridge. The path goes near the hut – maybe we should pitch tents in there instead. I look at the surrounds in the almost complete dark, I know exactly where the hut should be – I remember its surrounds from going past it on GT, but I can’t see it.
A call needs to be made, and we make it – Bilanjil campsite it must be. I have a GPS co-ord for the approximate spot, and if we see something before it, we’ll camp there.
As we are almost on top of the Binanjil ridge the last light of the day is completely gone. The moon will be up soon, but I don’t want to sit around and wait. With the imminent moon rise it is possible to make out the shape of the ground we are walking on. I know where we are and I can see enough that we won’t walk over a rock face or something like that. That being said, it feels like we are walking in a river!
Slosh, slosh, slosh. The sound of muddy shoes walking in the marsh of the escarpment is all we hear in the silence. I hear Hobbit groaning and know he wants a break. But with a massive thunderstorm visible over Mnweni, and no guarantee that the associated cloud won’t block the moonlight where we are – we must keep going.
We cross the top of the Bilanjil ridge and I tell him that the first flat dry spot we see is our camp for the night.
did I mention that the entire escarpment felt like a marsh!We keep going until at around 2960m, in almost complete blackness I see a flatish spot that isn’t reflecting any of the moonlight starting to light the Cradle of Rivers.
Immediately I say “get your headlamp on and lets start putting the tent up”. I hear a reply of “I forgot my headlamp at home!”
‘n Boer maak ‘n plan, maar ek het a plan. We both have cellphones with flash lights on them. No trouble. By around 8PM we have a tent on flattish ground. The moon is now making the escarpment pretty bright, the thunderstorm at Mnweni goes on.
We agree to sit on the rocks outside the tent to eat supper, enjoying the silhouetted views of the Eastern Buttress lit up from behind by the almost full moon. We eat quickly and start to get really cold. Before I know it, we’re back in the tent, ready for a really early start tomorrow morning.
At about 1AM I wake up, I look out of the tent and the entire escarpment is brightly litten up by moonlight. What a view!
4AM: beep beep, beep beep… Time to get up. The target for the day: khulu bag Bilanjil Bump, try to find Amphitheatre Peak (which is supposed to be between Bilanjil Bump and Crows Nest), bag Crows Nest, Mont Aux Sources, Beacon Buttress and go down Beacon Buttress gully.
Just after 6 the tent is packed away, we have both had our breakfast and we are off – after watching the sunrise behind Eastern Buttress that is.
What we thought at the time to be the Bilanjil Bump happened to be around 400m from where we camped, so it was the first khulu to fall for the day. My 21st, Hobbit’s 7th. The view from it is pretty good. Neither the best, nor the worst that I have ever seen. After some investigation and research subsequent to the hike I figured out that this is actually Murch’s Amphitheatre Peak – 3056m (according to my GPS – Murch didn’t have an accurate altitude for it).
We follow the ridge to the escarpment edge to gain the customary view of Tugela Falls – very much in flood.
Next stop – Crows Nest.
Now, Crows Nest peak is strange one (well, in my opinion anyway). The peak is far from the escarpment edge, yet entirely in SA. The Tugela river also happens to flow on 3 of its flanks.
We sat on the summit and ate our morning snacks. We saw only 1 sign of other human life up there – a tent between Crows Nest and Mont Aux Sources (we would later meet Steve who had slept in that tent).
It was almost 9AM already, there were storm clouds visible in the distance and climbing Mont Aux Sources would take us almost 2km in the wrong direction, not to mention the substantial altitude gain required. We knew the trip home was long and we can’t assume we’ll get a lift. So we decided that Mont Aux Sources was out – hopefully next time. Like I have ever needed an excuse to return to the Drakensberg escarpment!
We dropped down to the Tugela marsh/river and soon were slogging back up from 3000m to a 3100+m khulu. This time the khulu that is probably the second easiest to bag (if considered by easiest overall approach to bagging a khulu) – after Sani Peak that is, if you drive up Sani Pass.
The great Beacon Buttress Peak. It was more difficult to climb it from the Tugela river than what I thought it would be, but it doesn’t change the fact that an unfit non-hiker could drive to Sentinel car park, climb the chain ladders and walk up its not particularly steep slopes.
We sat on the summit, made the massive cairn 2 rocks larger and admired the view as we watched the weather close in once more. Hobbit was clearly enjoying the view of the South East Arête route, the Standard Route and Blood on the Rock’s Route on Sentinel. The view across the valley to the Eastern Buttress, Tooth etc was also quite something.
After about 20 minutes on the summit we began the descent down Beacon Buttress Gully. People often talk of the chain ladders as “scary”, and of Beacon Buttress Gully as the way for those who suffer from altophobia to avoid having to do the chain ladders.
Good joke – Beacon Buttress Gully was way more of a concern for safety than the chain ladders. It was wet, very eroded, tons of loose rocks. Not a gully I plan to redo any time soon! I am happy I did the gully, but I really don’t need to do it again.
The gully is also covered in spots to anchor ropes for adventure racers. Often in spots where a nasty fall would land on these rusted eyesores. Between the horrible looking fences on the approach to the chain ladders and these things, it really ruins the beauty of the area.
Anyway, after about an hour we hit the path that leads to the chain ladders. It looked vaguely reminiscent of a shopping centre on the Saturday after pay day! Tons of people everywhere.
As we hit the saddle between Sentinel and Beacon Buttress I told Hobbit that we would be taking a short detour to check the view from the saddle. I heard a voice in the distance shouting back “thanks for the advice” in a German accent.
The person at the saddle happened to be a German born UK living political auditor on assignment in SA. He had a few days off and decided to go hiking. He was the one whose tent we had seen from Crows Nest. His name was Steve.
He more or less hiked with us/near us for the balance of the route to Sentinel car park.
We must have passed over 30 hikers on the way back to the car park. Hobbit was carrying all his own gear plus about half a kg of the tent, but I could see he was taking strain.
Once again I was hoping to get a lift down the road, but on reaching the car park we found a huge number of cars and not a single person. I told Hobbit that we can’t rely on someone else, time is short, we need to walk.
We stopped for a short break just past the car park, and Hobbit told me he was out of food. Fortunately I had some biscuits and dried fruit that I could spare. There was a dassie sitting right by where we stopped. Don't worry - we didn't feed it.
We walked for close to 3km of the road section, until right near the Pudding there was a car. They had been parked there for a long time, but were about to leave when we got there. We asked if they could give us a lift (both of us as well as Steve), and they agreed. This time we were genuinely squashed in the car. I was wedged between 3 packs and the driver’s seat, very little of me actually being on the chair itself.
On the drive, the couple driving told us about how when they were younger they had climbed Mont Blanc, Killi, Mount Kenya and various other peaks across the world. They were very impressed that Hobbit had managed such a distance.
The dropped us at Witsieshoek. I could see that Hobbit was exhausted and I knew we needed to motor the last 10km to RNNP. It was already past 2PM and time wasn’t on our side.
Steve headed off toward RNNP while myself and Hobbit went to the restaurant. I thought to myself, if he at least eats a proper lunch he’ll have the energy to hike the last stretch at a good pace. After all, the 30 minutes it takes to eat lunch quickly are lost by taking three 10 minute breaks on the way down.
We ordered cheese sandwiches (because they said that’s the quickest thing to make) and a milkshake each (in retrospect the milkshake probably wasn’t my best idea ever, but it didn’t end up being a problem).
Leaving Witsieshoek at around 2:40PM was not an encouraging sign and I had already made peace with the fact that we would probably end the hike at night.
We motored the first 3km stretch to the turnoff to Dooley’s. We took our first break of the last 10km stretch here. Hobbit was looking much more fresh and alive than he had been at Sentinel car park. And he was still carrying his full weight in gear plus half a kg of the tent. He didn’t need me to take any of his weight from his pack on the way down.
With 7km still to go and it now being just past 3, we agreed that there would be time for 1 more stop, at the river crossing just past the mudslide where we had to de-shoe on the way up. We agreed that we would sit there for a few minutes with our feet in the water.
As we motored the next section and soon caught up with Steve (who had a 30 minute head start on us by not stopping at Witsieshoek). My plan had clearly worked!
Along the way, while trying to fill his bottle, Hobbit partially fell in the river, his one leg was soaked, the other was fine. Fortunately his cellphone was in a zip lock – it would have been 2 hikes in a row that he would have lost a cellphone to water!
We hit the river crossing and stopped with our feet in the water. Steve decided to have a quick swim while we were there.
On the last stretch he fell behind (although we planned to drive home, he was staying over at Mahai campsite that night), and we didn’t come across him again. We stopped briefly for Hobbit to climb a large boulder with massive jug holds on its inverted slope. He always enjoys a quick bit of bouldering! I even joined in on this boulder and did the first 2 moves– really easy with the size and quality of the holds.
Before long we were back at the mountain register signing out, ready for our last 1km stretch to the car park.
The sun had set behind Surprise Ridge, the smell of braais from the overcrowded Mahai campsite was making us very hungry, but the end was in sight.
Having signed out on both the Sentinel Car Park and RNNP mountain register, we thought there was no rush to get back to the car. We had a long chat with a young couple who planned to take their very young children up to Sentinel Car Park (by car) and climb to the top from there. The grandfather tested Hobbit’s general knowledge and Hobbit was up to the task. The grandfather then went on to tell a very inaccurate story about the first ascent of the Sentinel – he had the first ascent of Angus Leppan and Standard Route muddled, but any way. Both Hobbit and I knew he was wrong, and we didn’t want to be rude, so we just smiled and nodded. The young couple where very impressed with Hobbit’s hiking and general knowledge.
We kept going. Soon we were standing by my car, ready to drive home when the one EKZN guy shouted that he didn’t know we were back – he was busy phoning mountain rescue to come and look for us. We had said the previous day that we would be back by 5PM and it was 6PM (even though we signed back in at the register at 5:40 – remember we parked at reception). Anyway, no harm done, he hadn’t called them yet. But a few minutes longer and some volunteers’ time would have been wasted on looking for a perfectly fine and safe group of hikers.
As we drove back it began to rain pretty hard, so a good thing we did get back when we did.
All in all a good weekend.
We covered roughly 50km (13km of which was by car), bagged 3 khulus, 2 passes, and I got 279 photos. Most interestingly, for the first time in ages I got home with almost no wet gear!
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07 Apr 2013 18:39 - 07 Apr 2013 18:40 #56569
by ghaznavid
I do partially agree with you
not great having a via ferrata like that in the Berg (after all - by definition the chain ladders are a via ferrata)
Although, that being said, because its there I'll use it...
my 1200th post - now that's just sad
Replied by ghaznavid on topic As the crow flies
Highlands Fanatic wrote: I do not like the presence of Chain ladders, but that is just me, let me leave that one there.
I do partially agree with you
not great having a via ferrata like that in the Berg (after all - by definition the chain ladders are a via ferrata)Although, that being said, because its there I'll use it...
my 1200th post - now that's just sad
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04 Sep 2013 17:46 - 04 Sep 2013 18:03 #58364
by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic As the crow flies
IanD wrote (via PM):
Accessory chord can be bought from some outdoor shops - pretty much any of the ones that sell climbing gear. 6mm should be thick enough. For the biners make sure you get something rated (usually 23kN), accessory biners will be dangerous - if weight is put on them they will break. Hardware biners are also no use.
This is how we did it, but its a bit different with 2 carabiners (recommended).
Step 1 is to make a big loop in the rope - start with it being too big, you'll reduce its size later. For 2 biners, put the loop in the middle of the rope.
Hold both ends of the rope and tie an overhand knot in the rope:
Flip over the ends of the loop with the knot in the middle:
Fold the 2 loops into the bigger loop:
Step into the small loops and pull the rope up as if it is a harness:
Pull the end of the rope tighter and feed the excess rope through the overhand knot to tighten the setup:
Very difficult to get a photo of the next step, but take the end of the rope, loop it through each of the leg loops and fold this rope under the start of it (a bit like a tie)
Tie a second overhand knot in place as a backup for the main knot:
Tie a loop into the rope using an overhand knot (if using 2 biners you would do this on both strands of the rope):
Put a biner through [each of]the loop(s):
Hope that helps
I am returning next week with my now adult (early twenties) children and want to take them up it for the first time. I am a little nervous about getting the young girls in the group up the chain ladders, so think your solution where you created a sling with accessory rope would help with their confidence and my peace of mind. I am not a climber at all so would you be able to describe how to do this or refer me to links where there is more information. Is the accessory rope you used commonly available in the outdoor stores?
Accessory chord can be bought from some outdoor shops - pretty much any of the ones that sell climbing gear. 6mm should be thick enough. For the biners make sure you get something rated (usually 23kN), accessory biners will be dangerous - if weight is put on them they will break. Hardware biners are also no use.
This is how we did it, but its a bit different with 2 carabiners (recommended).
Step 1 is to make a big loop in the rope - start with it being too big, you'll reduce its size later. For 2 biners, put the loop in the middle of the rope.
Hold both ends of the rope and tie an overhand knot in the rope:
Flip over the ends of the loop with the knot in the middle:
Fold the 2 loops into the bigger loop:
Step into the small loops and pull the rope up as if it is a harness:
Pull the end of the rope tighter and feed the excess rope through the overhand knot to tighten the setup:
Very difficult to get a photo of the next step, but take the end of the rope, loop it through each of the leg loops and fold this rope under the start of it (a bit like a tie)
Tie a second overhand knot in place as a backup for the main knot:
Tie a loop into the rope using an overhand knot (if using 2 biners you would do this on both strands of the rope):
Put a biner through [each of]the loop(s):
Hope that helps
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