Giants hike report

Giant Moment
This last long weekend saw us back at Giants Castle doing a 4 day, up Giants and down Bannermans, with a few goals, such as finding the Dakota crash site, and Sparerib caves, thrown in for good measure.

We started along Oribi Ridge, which, although slightly longer to get to the base of the pass, I found nicer that good old Giants ridge. You dump most of the altitude in the first few kays (meters actually) and its easy going from there. Driving in from JHB, we got a late start and had to stop after a kay or two to send poor Susan back, after suffering a low blood pressure incident.
Anyway we camped at the stream just before the hut.
We popped in at the hut the next day, to observe the work being done on the restoration and say hi to the workers. (More on this later, Jax please provide names and things). Up the pass, which is in good condition at the moment, and by the look of things, not the flavour of the month among our friends, the smugglers and other “non hiking” users.

Next was locating the crash site which proved easier than I thought, but provided some sobering and sad moments especially after finding a personal item, a pair of glasses, from one of the unfortunate souls in that ill-fated bird. I marked and recorded the spot and am in the process of handing them over to 35 Squadron. All the big stuff has been removed but there is still a lot of debris, mainly small bits of mangled aluminium lying about. I’m really not sure about policy or protocol about removing the debris, but that’s your own call, I can’t see any harm, just be respectful, add to the cairn, and spare a moment’s thought for those that perished. And if you do find anything personal or significant, hand it over to 35 Squadron Ysterplaat.
We searched for info on the exact location of the site before the hike and drew a blank. It seems as if they were purposely evasive about the location, with the press mentioning Langalabalele more that Giants a lot of the time. We eventually picked up the location by watching a U- tube footage of the site, shot from a circling chopper. Jax called for a freeze frame when she recognised the Tent (peak) in the background. Working it out from there was easy, turn right at the top of Giants and stroll north at 3240m and you walk across the site or bump into the cairn, about a kay from the pass head.

Next camp was next to the waterfall along the Jareteng River, after the obligatory sweetie hand over to the local shepherds, who got as far as s for sweetie, but missed the p for please in their learning of my language. Oh well, I don’t know much of theirs so I let it ride most of the time.
Durnford came up next with a walk up to Bannermans ridge on the escarpment side, not the cave side this time. It’s much longer, and if you have already done Durnford, your companions won’t appreciate the extra effort, just go past the cave and get it over with.

Bannermans pass (going down) is quite stable at the moment with just the scree near Sparerib cave causing a few curses and slips, but otherwise very doable at the moment. I certainly can’t blame the pass for the rain and hail storm which happened as we passed the caves. Going down, we headed for an overhang to the left of the path and after removing back packs and getting comfortable waiting the storm out, we looked across the gully straight into Sparerib caves. Standing out like the dogs whatsits, actually, so I was surprised that I had never seen them before. It then dawned on me that I had only ever gone up Bannermans before, and if your head is down in determination and anguish, they are actually quite easy to miss. Anyway, I popped across after the storm and they really are quite nice, clean at the moment and dry. We could have spent the evening here, but our companions had caught up and it was still before my 16h00 cut-off, so we headed for the hut. No body home, so we used the facilities, but still chose to sleep outside in the tents. Those hard boards on the bunks do not appeal, but again, the hut is looking good at the moment, nice and clean, all the new polycarbonate windows still in place and no litter.

A quick 10 kays in 3 hours on Sunday morning saw us back in camp by 10H00. There had been a mountain bike race in the area over the weekend so the showers in the shed above the car park had gas and water. The facility is there, and we all want a shower before driving home, so my advice is to ask the ranger to get the gas hooked up before you start your hike so they have the whole weekend to get it sorted before your return. At the moment the ranger is Matt Jackson, a very approachable, down to earth guy, so don’t be shy about asking.

We took the dirt road from White mountain to Loskop on the way home to JHB, which was OK’ish for the SUV, but not lekker for a platcar. This comes out just before Injisuthi and is definitely quicker, but, as mentioned, hard on the vehicle.

Another good one, with the mountain keepers and spirits giving us yet another rite of passage in return for our preparedness and good intent. Thanks to Jax, Kim and Geoff, and sorry to Susan, who spent the weekend in camp, fighting off puff adders and avoiding advances from hairy smelly mountain bikers. Quite unlike us hikers you know.
Geordie.
(Jax to add some pictures please)

Thanks for the writeup looking forward to some photos

When the crash happened we agree that it was roughly that area . Based on a pic in a newspaper that showed a bit of the top of KaMashilenga Pass (ok - yes, I know I got that pass name spelling wrong).

I know that spot by the waterfall, it seems to have one of the best escarpment pools...

I'm not a fan of Spare Rib Cave though! But if you look up the ridge from Bannerman Hut and know where to look its also clearly visible from there. Is the 2 black rocks cairn still there at the turnoff to the approach?

There must be 20 caves in the side of Bannerman Face (most would require multi-pitch climbing to reach though). There is one that looks a lot like Stealth Cave right near the top, but would require a tricky scramble to reach it (about 10m above the pass). I know there is a second cave around the corner from Spare Rib, but I have never checked it out.

Thanks to Geordie for that descriptive hike report! From my side it was a really great hike after not being up in the berg for several months. A new Thermarest sleeping pad and our new Jetboil performed right up to standard too.

Here are a few pics of the hike, explanations as we go:







Heading along Oribi Ridge first pics at this little tarn, then on around to Giants Hut where we made camp near the river.




One looking up Giants Pass, then the next looking back down during the climb.


Playing around at the head of the pass while the rest of our group slogged up.


Making our way around to the right from the top of Giants Pass.

Pics taken at the Dakota crash site. A very sobering moment where we felt heartsore for all those involved. Just a few meters higher....


We made camp that night next to this little waterfall. It was a very protected little campsite.

Saturday morning had a scenic walk along the edge enjoying the views as we crested Durnford, past the Carbineers grave site and into Langalibalele valley. Up over the ridge and lunch was had at the head of Bannerman's Pass. A storm was brewing over Lesotho.

Coming down Bannerman Pass it started to hail and we took shelter in this damp little 'cavelet' on the left. Looking up we could see Sparerib opposite us.







When we got down to the hut it was a pleasant surprise.

Sunday morning was a 3 hour walk in mild conditions back to Giants camp. One big hairy spider caught our eye on the path! 10am brought ice-creams at the office

Thanx for images. Gr8 sunset light in the clouds. Bannerman hut looks in really good condition.

How big (cm) wld you say the spider was?