Chain Ladders/Beacon Buttress Gully: Going Walkabo

20 Jul 2016 13:04 - 20 Jul 2016 13:05 #69217 by ghaznavid
Chain Ladders/Beacon Buttress Gully: Going Walkabout

Seeing as Mike and I (aka Team Ghaznahobbit) generally opt for hard long days of hiking – we decided to set out on one of the easiest Berg day hikes, but over 4 days. This is a route that everybody and their dog has completed, so nothing difficult. Well, aside from a minor detour to Ifidi and possibly Metjhantijane. There had also been talk of quick detour to the Cutback, but we scrapped this idea before the hike started.

But, jokes aside, the real reason for the hike relates to those 2016 goals I had set myself. When you have 18 non-technical khulus left, and 10 of them are within a day’s walk of Sentinel car park, it is worth making plans!

Plans changed a lot over the buildup to this hike, but eventually we ended up with a fast-and-light 4 dayer. This would be followed up by Sentinel Standard Route on the Sunday.

So, after some delays at a stop-and-go on the R74, we found ourselves at Sentinel Car Park, where there is currently no water. The chain ladders proved easy enough, with the occasional other hikers around – and us taking the high route mostly to avoid them!

We reached the top just after midday, and were happy to find a good flow in the Tugela. Lots of ice and snow about as well. This seems like a good sign to me, mayhaps the drought has broken.

Mike had never seen the hut, so we detoured to it before following the escarpment edge around the front of the Amphitheatre. It is noteworthy how much more vertical the front of the Amphitheatre is than basically any other spot in the Berg. It doesn’t require much enquiry to determine why this is such a popular spot.

Going into a hike on 149 khulus with someone on 99, you do put a bit of thought into what you want to bag first – which begs the question of why we went with Amphingati! Actually, I do know why – it was the closest khulu we both needed.

We proceeded to follow the ridge towards Singati Peak. We dropped our packs just below the saddle, and went up Mount Amery. I seem to recall reading that there was a C move on the way up this peak, although somehow we missed it. Mike was clearly taking strain, so we had quite a long break on top of Amery, although it would be getting dark soon, so we had to keep moving.

We considered climbing that steep pointy peak near Amery (the 2 pronged summit, as opposed to the 3 pronged Amery, not the Amery marked on the map, which is Singati on my list), but opted not to due to time.

From here we proceeded to the GPS point marked in the Cableway docs as the top station. My GPS told me I needed to walk forward 150m when I stood on the edge of the cliffs, but I decided to ignore its advice and remain alive. There may be differing theories on why this spot was selected as a bathroom stop :lol:

A summary of the top: it is flat and overgrazed. The angle to the 2nd station is a tad off, though, seeing as the line must go within about 20m of the cliffs on Amery. The spot is at the height of the Amphingati saddle and is very close to the Lesotho border. If they don’t build a hotel, and build a low profile summit station, it would be barely noticeable from where hikers usually hike. Notably we had already walked about 15km, meaning that a non-khulu bagger going for the Chain Ladders from the top would have about a 14k walk ahead of them if they wished to walk back to Sentinel Car Park (not to mention a 200km drive back to the start).

We proceeded to bag Singati from here, before heading off to Ifidi Cave. I confused False Ifidi with Ifidi Annex, leading us to a horrendous non-cave that would barely shelter 1 person and has no signs of use. We got to Annex Cave as it was getting dark, and Mike didn’t feel like proceeding another 300m to the proper cave, so we settled for Annex.

Day 1: 18km, 3 khulus

Day 2 we were up early, but decided it was too cold to walk before the sun was up.

We hit the top of Ifidi Peak in perfect light, reminding me why it is easily one of my favourite Berg peaks – with the smog still low, we could clearly see everything from Intunja, to Mponjwane.

From here we proceeded to Ifidi Pass Peak. The map shows the top of the ridge as being in SA right through to the peak. I don’t know what the map-makers were smoking, with the boundary terminating close to 1km short of the peak. Nonetheless the view from the peak was great, and by bagging it, I completed all the non-technical khulus at Mnweni.

We dropped down from this peak to the river behind Ifidi Pass – discussing how military technology is the biggest driver in global technology. Strange to think that the automatic gearbox and electric motor were both designed during WW2.

We stopped for a break near the confluence of the Ifidi and Kubedu – both flowing quite well. We had to break some thick ice to get to water here. After washing off in some icy water, and filling up our bottles (upstream, of course), we started the monster climb up Kubedu Peak.

It must have taken a good 40 mins to get up this peak, and for the second peak in a row, bagging it meant I had all the non-technical khulus at RNNP.

We proceeded from here to Mon-Aux-Sources. When I first stood on MAS in November last year, I joked with AndrewP about how I was probably the first person to bag 100 khulus before the first time I got up MAS (a pointless stat when so few people have reached 100 khulus) – well, Mike also joins that rather curious list.

We had lunch on top of the ridge, out of the wind – not far from Namahadi Pass.

We proceeded to bag Namahadi Pass Peak, Namahadi Y and Namahadi Z. The latter gave me all the non-technical peaks in SA above 3200m (only Monks Cowl missing from all the 3200+m peaks in the country). It also meant I had completed SA’s top 50 highest summits.

We had been hoping to use Nogrot Cave (yes, I know grot means cave, so I said cave twice), near the Transits, but it was almost 4PM and we were still far away, so we decided to take a scenic escarpment edge traverse line to see if we could find any closer caves.

Along this section, we found what looks to be a very prominent 3000+m technical peak (cough, cough, AndrewWillHaveToBagThisNow). A smaller freestander near this peak appears to be giving onlookers the finger – it vaguely reminds me of that peak in the Hanging Valley. We also found a lot of unhelpful little overhangs.

Near the top of yet another passable Free State Gully, we found a nice tunnel cave. The floor wasn’t ideally flat, but it was good enough. Seeing as it was in the slopes of Flat Top, but wasn’t flat, we opted to name it after the khulu it looks over – thus it is called Tongue Cave.

Tongue Cave proved to be less comfortable than we thought, with us both sliding a lot and shifting our positions till we eventually found it to be most comfortable when sleeping right in the entrance, perpendicular to the big drop off near it.

2 waterbottles fell out of the cave, but were caught on rocks just outside the cave, and my pack provided a useful buffer to stop me from rolling out of the cave – a possibility that probably would have ended with a bit more than a few hours extra sleep!

Day 2: 20km

Day 3. So after not sleeping very well, we got up around 7 and were moving by 8. We started the day by sitting at the top of the pass below Tongue Cave and enjoying some warm sunlight out of the wind.

As we continued to traverse towards Tongue, the freestander became more and more apparently quite a prominent peak. In some ways it vaguely reminds one of the Injisuthi Triplets (aside from there being only 1).

We bagged Tongue Rise – a non-khulu that will probably disqualify Tongue when we decide on what really counts as a khulu.

We stopped for breakfast near the top of Tongue Falls, watching beautiful ice formations crumble as the sun melted them. It was a stunner of a morning.

We found a nice view of Tongue Falls – a 400+m waterfall that should be quite spectacular in summer. We proceeded up Tongue Peak, which is vaguely reminiscent of Rhino Peak, and accompanied by (IMHO) even better views than Rhino.

From here we made our way up what we thought was Namahadi Ridge Peak, passing what might be Beengrot Cave. On hitting AndrewP’s GPS co-ord of the top, I decided I disagreed with it, but seeing as I had already done the peak I thought was the khulu when I was last in the area, and Mike being unconcerned about it, we turned left and headed for Namahadi proper. Mike decided that he wanted to have a reason to come back, so we ditched the long traverse into the Free State in favour of an easy walk back to the Chain Ladders.

With Namahadi in the bag, Mike only needs Giants to complete SA’s top 30 highest peaks (the 26 above 3300m, plus Namahadi, Durnford, Lotheni and Tareteng).

We headed up Flat Top from here, before dropping into the river valley below and making our way back towards Namahadi Pass.

We spent a while chatting about whether or not we should head down on the same day, before eventually deciding to chill on top – we could sleep in Crows Nest Cave and get up at midday on Saturday if we wanted to – so no rush at all.

We went up Long Buttress – the summiting of which meant I had every non-technical khulu in the Northern Berg and Free State – before deciding to take a walk to the top of Eland River Falls. We noticed a few overhangs before seeing quite a big cave. It had an upper section which was apparently very nice – I was a bit sketchy on the climb up to it (about 3m vertical), so I didn’t have a look inside. Eventually Mike decided to join me on the flat ground below. The cave roof is very high, but it is in a sheltered recess, close to water and rock pools, and overlooks the trail immediately above the chain ladders (well, with a massive chasm in-between), so perhaps not a great summer cave.

Day 3: 20km

That night was cold – my waterbottle partially froze overnight. When the sun began to rise, I sat up inside my nice warm -16C bag and watched the Dragon wake up. Mike was awake by 6:30, and we sat in our sleeping bags while we waited for the sun to reach the back of the cave.

By 9AM we finally emerged out of our bags. We sat above Eland River Falls for about half an hour – we had planned to sing the Bear Song very loudly if we had seen people coming up the ladders, but unfortunately (or fortunately, no sure which), no one came up the ladders that early on this icy Saturday morning.

We collected water from the Eland River before walking straight past the Chain Ladders en route to head up Beacon Buttress Peak. The windy was icy, but the views were well worth the effort.

After eyeing out the peak for Sunday – Sentinel – we dropped down Beacon Buttress Gully and made our way back to the car.

We decided to drive down to Witsieshoek for a burger and chips before deciding to spend the night at Witsieshoek.

Day 4: 7km

Overall we only did 65km, and almost exactly 3km in altitude gain and loss – if we did the same in a day, the vertical would not be a record for me, and the distance would only break the most I have done in a day by 9km, so by no means a strenuous hike. Nonetheless – what I set out to do was done, and we enjoyed the trip, so it was 4 days well spent. Heading up Sentinel on Sunday was a nice cherry on the cake.

Ps. I have said this before – but the Free State Berg is a really awesome area. Most of it is hard to get to, but you can reach a sizable chunk of it from the dam, Witsieshoek can give you a lift to the base of Dagga Nek Pass or you can walk along the top via the Chain Ladders. It is worth the effort, go and explore.
Last edit: 20 Jul 2016 13:05 by ghaznavid.
The following user(s) said Thank You: diverian

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20 Jul 2016 13:08 #69218 by ghaznavid

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20 Jul 2016 13:10 #69219 by ghaznavid

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20 Jul 2016 13:16 #69220 by ghaznavid

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20 Jul 2016 13:18 #69221 by ghaznavid

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20 Jul 2016 13:20 #69222 by ghaznavid

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20 Jul 2016 13:22 #69223 by ghaznavid

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20 Jul 2016 13:23 #69224 by ghaznavid

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The following user(s) said Thank You: Serious tribe, Stijn, tonymarshall, Viking, kbresler, AdrianT, Macc, Coeta

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21 Jul 2016 07:30 #69228 by AdrianT
So many photos, I do like - thanks for posting!

Just curious, will you still hike once you've "bagged" all these peaks? :P

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21 Jul 2016 09:38 #69230 by ghaznavid

AdrianT wrote: Just curious, will you still hike once you've "bagged" all these peaks? :P

Lesotho must have over a thousand peaks above 3000m - so I doubt I will run out of peaks any times soon :laugh:

Random statistic:
- khulus I have done once 160
- khulus I have done twice 73
- khulus I have done thrice 30

The nature of what I do will probably change a bit - khulus have been my focus since I took up hiking in 2009 (even though I only got my second khulu in 2012 - took a while to figure out how to do it properly). Plenty of peaks that I wouldn't mind going up many times - there are also about 130 documented Berg passes, of which I have only done 63, so plenty of routes that I still need to do, not to mention the mass of undocumented gullies - especially in areas like Vergelegen, Lotheni and the Free State.

There are also some records I have my eye on as well - most notably the most khulus on a GT and the most GTs record (currently 8 if I have my facts right, not 100% sure). I currently hold the former, but the record has massive grounds for improvement. I also still want to have a go at doing a GT faster than Stijn's time (which was the fastest when he did it) - so I am far from finished with the Berg. The concept of a Free State to Eastern Cape GT has also been on my mind for years (even before my first GT), but that does require a lot of time. Other minor projects include Giants Cup Trail in a day, a lot of Lesotho 3400+m peaks, maybe even a Western GT (the Berg is made up of 3 ridges, we are all used to the Eastern Ridge - I doubt a Middle or Western Ridge GT has ever been done).
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