VE Berg Trip 7

03 Sep 2015 06:53 #64915 by tonymarshall
VE Berg Trip 7 was created by tonymarshall
VE Berg Trip 7 was held on the last weekend in August at Tseketseke in the Didima Area. Six VE members attended, intrepid, Andrew P, Viking, smurfatefrog, Lorinda and tonymarshall, and we were joined on the second day by Neil Margetts. This was another pine tree trip, and we would also start painting the Tseketseke Hut, and for the fun part would attempt a first recorded ascent of a pass south of Tseketseke Pass towards Cleft Peak.

Due to the large number of people interested in this trip, who contacted the leaders in advance, we didn’t advertise the trip on the forum, as we originally had eleven people for the trip. In the two weeks before the trip four withdrew, and the seven who attended was still the largest group on any VE Berg Trip so far.

On Friday morning we followed the Mlambonja route from the Cathedral Peak Hotel car park and turned off up the Tseketseke valley, past the Blue Pools area to the well known pine forest, where we took a short break, while Andrew sawed off three nearby pine trees on the cliff above the river as his introduction to pine tree work. There are hundreds of trees in this forest, and as we walked along we pulled out small trees varying in height from about 5 cm to 1 m. We pulled out too many to count, but conservatively estimate that 200 trees were uprooted.

We then walked upstream to the Tseketseke Hut where we would overnight, and settled in after having lunch. Later in the afternoon we hiked about 1 km upstream to the Upper Tseketseke pine cluster which we had worked on previously in 2012 and 2014, to continue working on these trees. The photo below shows some of the trees left in this pine cluster on the south bank of the Tseketseke River. We cut down twenty-five pine trees and ring barked two larger trees before returning to the hut.



The next morning we would head up the valley and attempt the pass ascent, continuing with the Upper Tseketseke pine cluster work on our return in the afternoon. Neil was expected to walk in to the hut carrying rope access equipment to start painting the hut roof, with the red primer that we had carried in the previous day. The group posed outside the old look hut for the last time before we set off, fltr Chris (intrepid), Carl (Viking), Andrew, Merv (smurfatefrog) and Lorinda.



The group heading up the lower section of Tseketseke Pass on the trail on the true left side, with Column above. We would then cross to the true right side of the valley before traversing left (south) below the escarpment cliffs in the background.



The photo below, which was taken from the Contour Path on our walk out the following day, Sunday, shows the pass we would attempt to ascend, which we called Tseketseke Pass South Alternative, in relation to Tseketseke Pass.



The grass slope we traversed below the escarpment cliffs.



The final bit of the grass slope traverse to the pass, with the Camel and the cliffs of Cleft Peak in the background.



At the start of the pass gully, with Pyramid in the background.



The Tseketseke Pass South Alternative gully on the left, with the grass slope we ascended on the right.



A view back down the pass, with a rock feature similar to the donkey above Fangs Pass.



The ascent was mostly on steep grass slopes.

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The following user(s) said Thank You: intrepid, kliktrak

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03 Sep 2015 06:56 - 03 Sep 2015 07:01 #64916 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic VE Berg Trip 7
Andrew and Lorinda nearing the top of Tseketseke Pass South Alternative.



At the top of Tseketseke Pass South Alternative. We are sure this pass must have been used before, but are not aware of any recorded use of it, so our ascent is the first recorded ascent.



We had a short break at the top of the pass, and chatted with two other hikers passing by, before traversing north along the summit to the top of Tseketseke Pass and descending Tseketseke Pass. We stopped for lunch at the river opposite the Upper Tseketseke pine cluster, which was looking considerably smaller than when we approached it the previous afternoon.



After lunch we commenced work on the trees. The photo below shows two dead trees that had been cut down on a previous VE pine trip.



Lorinda ring barking the stump of a sawed down pine tree.



Tony sawing off a pine tree that had been partially ring barked on a previous VE pine trip but which hadn’t died.



We completed all the work on the Upper Tseketseke pine tree cluster that afternoon, cutting down seven pine trees and ring barking five. We carried back several pine tree trunks to the hut to use to make a ladder for the painting of the hut, and as we approached the hut could see that the highest section of the roof had been painted with red primer by Neil.



The next morning some of us built the ladder, while the others continued with painting. Here Neil paints the roof, having climbed up using a rope; many thanks to Neil and SA Climbing Academy for the donation of the paint.



With the ladder completed, the steeper sections of the roof could be painted. In the photo below Merv on the ladder paints the roof, while Lorinda paints the hut door. Rusted areas on the sides of the hut were also painted with red primer, including the rusted sheeting used to close up the back window in 2012.



The inside of the sheeting used to close the back window was also painted, to hide the rust, as the rest of the hut inside is galvanised and the rust was an eyesore. The ladder was stored inside the hut to use again when we paint the hut it’s final colour, which will be a dark grey. We also nailed some of the remaining old floor planks to the beams along the front and back of the hut, which can now be used as seating or shelves, and put some nails in the poles at mid height in the hut to use to hang packs or clothes on, as can be seen in the photo below. A group of youngsters who passed by to ascend and return down Tseketseke Pass had left some of their gear in the hut earlier.



Having used up all the red primer, and completed the primer painting we wanted to do, we packed up and walked out back to Cathedral Peak Hotel via the Contour Path and Ribbon Falls route, taking the empty paint tins and used paint brushes with us. After a late lunch at the hotel, and shower at the campsite, we headed off to another area of the berg for the other fun part of this trip; the first VE Berg Trip rock climb which would happen on the Monday…..

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Last edit: 03 Sep 2015 07:01 by tonymarshall.

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04 Sep 2015 04:17 #64952 by Serious tribe
Replied by Serious tribe on topic VE Berg Trip 7
Great initiative guys. Hut is starting to look grand!

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04 Sep 2015 08:54 #64954 by Josh of the Bushveld
Replied by Josh of the Bushveld on topic VE Berg Trip 7
What a great initiative. I'd love to be involved in the next one!

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04 Sep 2015 12:07 #64960 by intrepid
Replied by intrepid on topic VE Berg Trip 7
Thanks to the team for their hard work and efforts!

For the first time we did have confirmed numbers at max group size until a few days before the trip, as Tony mentioned, so we were not able to extend an open invitation. I think the best way of handling this going forward is to put your name down on an invitation list if you are keen to be part of future trips. We we are planning them, we will send an email out to this list with suggested dates and try to accommodate people's calendars as much as we can, bearing in mind that it won't always be possible to accommodate everyone for a particular trip. So, if you are interested, please send a PM to Tony with your email address.

Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.

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04 Sep 2015 12:56 #64961 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic VE Berg Trip 7
Some more photos of the hut painting and improvements:

Lorinda painting the door, at last the graffiti on the inside of the door is gone.



The south side.



Andrew painting the inside of the rusted sheeting covering the window opening. Note the nails (circled) in the poles which can be used as hooks to hang gear on, and the seating/shelf along the back wall.



The back of the hut.



The south side.

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The following user(s) said Thank You: intrepid, kliktrak, Smurfatefrog

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05 Sep 2015 20:27 #64971 by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic VE Berg Trip 7
Great work guys and thanks for the writeup Tony :thumbsup:

Hoping to see a GPS track of that pass!

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07 Sep 2015 12:48 #64992 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic VE Berg Trip 7
Yes, I'll do a write up on the Tseketseke Pass South Variation, as well as an update on the trail on Tseketseke Pass.

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07 Sep 2015 12:52 - 07 Sep 2015 13:39 #64993 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic VE Berg Trip 7
After the VE Berg Trip 7 was held on the last weekend in August at Tseketseke, the group drove through to Witsieshoek on the Sunday afternoon to climb Sentinel on the Monday. We had supper at Witsieshoek, and then went through to sleep at the Sentinel Car Park bungalow. Seven VE members attended, intrepid, Andrew P, Viking, diverian, Neil, Lorinda and tonymarshall, unfortunately smurfatefrog had work commitments and couldn’t join us, and diverian, who had missed the Tseketseke part of the trip, was able to join for the climb. This was just a fun trip and involved no work.

We headed up the path past the zig-zags, contoured around the base of Sentinel, and were soon leaving the path to ascend to the base of the climb, at the centre of the photo below.



For Lorinda, Ian and Tony, this was our first official climb, although we have all done some serious scrambling on various hikes, and we were in excellent hands with highly respected climbers Neil and Andrew, seen preparing the gear below, in our group.



The group at the base of the first pitch, fltr, Tony, Ian, Lorinda, Carl, Neil, Chris and Andrew.



Chris (intrepid), another highly experienced climber, lead the first pitch, taking the rope up and placing the protection for the rest of us.



Carl (Viking), fairly new to climbing and also doing his first climb on Sentinel, was next up, taking a slightly different start line to intrepid.



Andrew on the first pitch.



Tony preparing to climb.

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Last edit: 07 Sep 2015 13:39 by tonymarshall.
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07 Sep 2015 12:55 - 07 Sep 2015 13:41 #64994 by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic VE Berg Trip 7
The top of the first pitch.



The belay point, with intrepid belaying while Neil comes up last, clearing the protection.



The classic view across the Amphitheatre to Devil’s Tooth, which some of us were seeing for the first time from the upper slopes of Sentinel.



An old boot in a cairn on the slopes of Sentinel. From the top of the first pitch to the second pitch there is some scrambling up rock slopes, but mainly walking on grassy slopes or slopes with low bushes.



The second pitch is a scramble, and we didn’t need ropes to ascend this section.



From the top of the second pitch, an exposed grassy ramp leads to the summit plateau of Sentinel, with the huge summit cairn a short distance away.



The view south from the summit of Sentinel.

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Last edit: 07 Sep 2015 13:41 by tonymarshall.
The following user(s) said Thank You: intrepid, diverian, ghaznavid, supertramp, andrew r

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