An Epic Injisuthi "Tail" by Beuler.
I've recently been on a trip to the escarpment with a few friends. At some stage during the trip a massive barking match ensued and consequently I'll write this epic assailment of the Injisuthi pass using their dog name aliases in an attempt to spare both myself and them from embarrassment and another bark down. Naturally their dog names speak chapters of the personalities behind the dogs!
Eventually we were 5 friends but Whippet (not so called because his wife whips his ass?) and Irish terrier, the red neck, whimped out at the last minute. Luckily at that time, Bulldog was there and happily agreed to substitute at least one of the quitters, not knowing exactly what beast lay stalking, ready to pounce!
So the victims were Jack Russell (JR), Saint Bernard (Saint), Bulldog and me.
Only JR really had the relevant experience being all over Europe and the berg before and surviving some very challenging waltzes with life. At least two of us knew to pack just enough, including emergency rations without breaking the bank or our backs. Bulldog however pitched with his 90 litre rucksack packed to the brim, with no tent or cookware and will henceforth be known as; "Spaza"! Might I add that Spaza has some 15 years experience in the military and one got a very secure feeling as the trip went on, knowing who protected our borders then and comparing then vs now only gets better?!
The plan was a quick rendezvous with afternoon one being a stiff hike to either the foot of Leslie's or preferably further up the Injisuthi pass although no official route or camp site is available further up from the bottom of the Leslie pass camp spot, which is a nice level piece of soil with a very earie feeling of being capable of producing a wash down with a flash flood.
Day two would involve the rest of the Injisuthi pass, some fancy rope work for JR, followed by him hauling the rest of the group up the treacherous parts!
Mafadi, the highest point in South Africa, would be ascended either that afternoon or the next morning. Night two would be spend in Upper Injisuthi cave (also referred to as Injisuthi Summit cave) and descending the 1500 odd meters via Corner pass again with some fancy rope work on day three, making it all the way back to the camp in record time. Simple really!
Plans, just like rules, are there to be broken......about 10 minutes into our nice "early" start at 13h00 on day 1, we walked into a thunder shower and some hail, the first in days according to the rest of the happy campers!!! The pack dashed back to a bit of a rock overhang but in the process Spaza managed to take a doggy paddle in the river, giving a massive blow to his military ego and setting the trend for the next few days. Drenched (I was actually still quite dry at that stage) we decided to rather sleep over at Marble bath caves and dry most of the wet kit. The Saint, who was also the youngest, was bulging under his pack as his youth alone proofed him capable of carrying much more than the more "advanced" pack members. True to form, he helped Spaza out the river and also ended up totally drenched. We would push hard and early the next morning to make up for the loss in distance and time. The rain subsided and we set off at a hasty pace, eager to get away from virtually the start. Two thunder showers and four hours later we pulled in at marble baths cave just to find two whole families camping there already. Luckily exploration of cave 2, to the east revealed it empty, and although the view is not as great, it is very protected against wind and rain. A nice swim and slide in the marble baths left us refreshed and our underpants in tethers! Spaza did not make it down the slope in fear of the return! I was also quite tired but Saint fortunately offered to fetch water even bringing and sharing with the families in cave 1.
We started shedding some load off Spaza's pack cause we knew we would be carrying most of it the next day anyway. We gave the cave family, instant noodles, slabs of chocolate, jelly babies, powdered cold drink, canned fruit and believe it or not, Ultramel custard! All compliments of Spaza! I'm sure you're starting to see the picture? We ate royally that night as we did plan on taking some nice succulent steaks with us, spilled down with some OBS and Gluwein. The next morning JR rambled through the garbage bin (still not sure why the dog did it) and spotted an empty 500ml coke bottle which nobody had the night before. The guilty party? Yep, Spaza! Just to be clear; throughout the rest of the trip we also discovered another 500ml coke, a bottle of brandy, more canned fruit and this excludes the "essentials" like energy bars and drinks, smash, tuna etc. in his rucksack. All of this after we thought we stripped him of all extra weight!
An "early start" at 9am saw us hitting the trail with clean and relatively dry kennels. We soon realized that Spaza was not up to the challenge falling and stumbling the remaining 3 km to Leslie's camp site. From there we set course ontop of the ridge to the right of Injisuthi pass in the hope of making up some time. It was too early to camp and clearly too late at Spaza pace to make it up Injisuthi. Half an hour later Spaza was nauseous and (according to him) literally seeing angels. He did spot a few baboons along the way too, very closely resembling some bushes and rocks. We took a much deserved lunch break to try and revive Spaza to the real world but it did not last. In an attempt to save him we started traversing along the ridge to get back into the pass. Half an hour later we realized this was potentially a fatal error. No direct access back down the slope left us backpedalling with a 7m plus cliff on our one side.
Then it happened again, Spaza's hind leg gave way and he starting rolling down the last remaining part of the grass bank! Saint dived after him grappling him by the feet. This is incidentally part of the reason why the leader and sweeper is the two most experienced and capable people on the team. A howl for help had me running back and assisting Spaza to his wobbly hind legs. Much like the jelly he was also hiding in his bag!
An hour later, very early in the afternoon we started setting up camp. Then the rain came, No! Poured! JR became anxious, barking orders and in the process upsetting the pack morale. 30 min later the tents were up and the rain gone. A few licks of Gluwein later and some chicken fillets cooking had the spirits high again. Full to the brim we shared some outrageous laughter, echoing in the lone mountain valleys, not a soul in sight or shouting distance. Luckily that is because after Saint returned from another one of his water fetching sessions, howling his delight in clearing a 4 meter drop down a cliff, JR started upsetting the party with some unwanted comments. Saint wanted to show the rest of the party his epic "fall" but nobody followed. JR utilized the opportunity to accuse the rest of us of not coming to the party by helping Saint do the washing up. As stated, Saint was not actually washing up and by now it was 1- raining, 2- water aplenty in the camp for washing, and all the dishes and soap was still in the camp. No amount of logic would change JR's mind and doggedly continued the attack. Just when he was kind of shouted, kind of forced into submission, Saint made it back, upset that we did not enthused with his epic fall. JR immediately turned the barking match towards Saint and as soon as everyone joint in heartily, he went into his kennel, and would deliver a well directed bite at whoever was in the weaker position at the time. Half an hour later, I realized that Spaza was in the kennel licking his wounds and soon snoring away and only Saint and me were rumbling at each other about everything yet nothing significant. To deliver my final blow; I needn't have used aliases in this epic "tail" because neither of them understand English anyway, let alone the written english language according to one of the many arguments! The thundering echoes of our voices, neither of which wanted to give best regardless of how silly the argument soon became dim in the echoes of real thunder.
Not a great nights rest but at least we were up early. Poor Saint was under the impression that he caused the whole dog fight but immediately felt better after the Jack Russell was pointed out as the dog barking up the wrong tree. By now we all realized that Spaza wouldn't be making the remaining 1000 m ascent up Injisuthi but we didn't want to break the golden rule of the Berg, splitting the party. Clear skies and redefining the overnight spot as base camp, we felt better with Spaza staying and looking after base camp while the rest moved with light loads consisting of only the essentials and some emergency provisions in case things take longer or don't go according to plan.
We left base camp at 7:30 and 5 stiff hours later and some fancy footwork around boulder chimneys and traversing death defying grass slopes, we stood under the main chimney of some 25 near vertical meters and a 4 m traverse into the main Injisuthi gully. We had a 30m rope, one meter too long if you're a optimist!
JR scratched, kicked and brawled to about 5 m as the drops came down from heaven and some thunder strikes urged him a bit higher. No place to drive in an anchor at 5 m so he went up to 8 m. Then 10m and 12 m and still no anchor spots. It was becoming very dangerous and some seeping water and the few drops of the looming rain made it a death wish! Then at last at 15 m there was a bit of a crack on the right hand side and thankfully the lugg went in on the first try. Some sense of security drove JR higher to 18 , then 20 and 22 m but still no place for a second anchor! At 25 m you're at the end of the chimney with a dauntingly slippery traverse with no real hold points to overcome to enter into the main gully on your left! To everyone's relieve JR made it across as neither of the two at the bottom wanted to make the mind numbing decision of whether to try and catch him or dodge him if he came tumbling down!
Some cursing and scrambling made us realize full well that there are no real anchor points in the main gully either, which would have served as the pulley point for JR to haul one of us up and then for those two, to haul the last one up. A few minutes later and some non repeatable strap techniques from "the handbook of climbing for the mad and crazy" saw me climbing the gully under the impression that I'll go up to the point where I struggle and then get pulleyed past that point to give it a shot at the next obstacle. That point came fairly low at about 8 m and my request for a slight lift was greeted by a lot of heavy breathing, grunting, and gnarling and me going NOWHERE. I realized that no pulley system was in place, so whatever altitude I gained would be at my own steam. I impressed myself with some fancy climbing while the adrenalin pumped through my veins. Then came the point where I had to unclip to get past the single anchor point at 15m! Gulp! From there on the rope strung diagonally across the last 10 m of vertical rock face. JR barked to come straight at him over the vertical face but my previous experience had taught me that there is no way he could pull my light 97kg frame over that flat vertical face. Besides, I was very comfy in my chimney and with Christmas just a few days away, it seemed appropriate to stay there. The problem with this tactic however is that the higher you go, the further the possible pendulum action would be should you loose your grip. I further impressed myself by making it all the way to the top of this secondary chimney and traversing across to the main pass that only starts about half way up this secondary chimney. All the while being cheered on by "claps" of thunder. The satisfaction was cut short by more soft rain and another member to be hauled up. With both of us pulling, hanging and tucking the rope with all we had, we managed to get Saint carrying the whole load on his back, up relatively quickly. Once up this, a short climb of about 25 m remained to the top of Injisuthi pass. While JR recovered his straps and gizmos, I rolled up the rope, handed it to Saint to put in his rucksack and dashed to the top. Over an hour had elapsed and thus just over 6 hours since leaving base camp, we stood at 3250m above msl. It took longer than our planned time and unfortunately we had to abandon the idea of reaching South Africa's highest point, Mafadi. (The Epic Return - Sequel mmmm). Fortunately we were able to celebrate at the top with some bubbly and a spectacular view. We then headed towards Leslie's pass some 3 km further north.
By now we were tired my feet were hurting and an old knee injury was rearing its head. The altitude, bubbly, no water or food since breakfast was taking its toll and it took us nearly an hour to cover the distance. About a third of the way down Leslie's pass, we came across some water and used the opportunity to rest tired feet and pack in a well deserved lunch. With full stomachs and renewed will power we set off again half an hour later. All the way down to Leslie's camping spot and up again to camp master Spaza. That morning Spaza received strict instructions to wait until 6 o'clock and if we weren't there to settle in for the night. If we weren't back by 10 am the next day, he should sound the alarm to Injisuthi camp.
All the way up to 3250 m, down to about 2000m and up again to 2250m we went that day and clocked back in camp at 18:02. An ascend and descend of more than 1250m each way! Spaza was getting ready to spend the night alone with his baboon statues and angels. He was still recovering from either the physical or psychological exertion of the previous days and preferred to remain at camp while we bathed in the roaring cold berg water. On our return we found the whole camp standing and the sleeping quarters leveled to whatever was humanly possible - bless you Spaza. The brandy in the "Monster" coffee tasted extra fine that night and we did not blame him for bringing those few extra grams all that way. The stars seemed amazingly bright that night as we animatedly recalled the days' events. By the way, while making our way back to the camp, that afternoon, we did spot Saint's 4m drop from the previous night and might I add that it could actually be 5m! As the last one of us hit the kennel, the rain started pouring cats and dogs! Lightning filled our tents and deafening thunder strikes echoed throughout the whole valley but we slept like puppies.
The fourth day saw us getting up at 6, the latest yet. Some breakfast, coffee and clearing the camp saw us leaving just after nine. About 2 hours later Spaza had his first opportunity to swim and slide in the Marble baths. He too wrecked a pair of underpants but low and behold, he had several spare pairs! 30min later we were on the road and my knee was slowing the pace a bit down (you can thank me later Spaza) but nevertheless we reached the end at 13:30 after some drizzles caught us against the mountain side. By then we couldn't care less for rain, we had conquered Injisuthi!
After a hearty lunch prepared by my wife, we relived the whole adventure again until the lunch pots turned into camp fires, meat and more cold beers!
Glad if the post provides some humor! We have some awesome pictures but I'll have to post once I'm back home. Same old story, most of the scariest bits are not captured because there is no time to stop and smell the flowers - you just want to get the hell out of there!
Well done on pulling it off.
