Mafadi loop - Corner Pass NHA and Leslies Pass

@Smurf: in quick succession you have done the overgrown base of Cockade and Leslies, so you should be quite qualified to give me some perspective. IYO how do they compare?

I generally avoid passes with overgrown bases - partially why I took very wide lines on North and South Jarding Pass, Giants Pass and generally have very little interest in doing Icidi Pass.

Perhaps NHA and Leslies are both better to do after burning season - dry rock, dry ground and burned vegetation. (black marks on torn clothes aside)

Smurfatefrog wrote: No comparison at all Ghaz, Cockade wouldn't be considered overgrown compared to this.
I don't think the dry season would help much, all it would do is make the river crossings easier.

Then my question would be this - is Leslies a worthwhile pass IYO?

Edit

Shouldn't be posting at 10:30PM - poorly asked question. Let me rephrase that

If someone asked you whether or not Leslies Pass was worth doing, not specifically to bag Mafadi, just in general - what advice would you give them?

Smurfatefrog wrote: No comparison at all Ghaz, Cockade wouldn't be considered overgrown compared to this.
I don't think the dry season would help much, all it would do is make the river crossings easier.

Wow! That's interesting. I would NEVER have thought this. We did Cockade in March last year and it was complete hell compared to any of the times I've done Leslie's. I guess conditions can really change quite dramatically from season to season.

Smurfatefrog wrote:
We discussed the option of using the ridge south of Marble Baths as possibly a better approach, it would involve losing about 100m altitude to get to the base of Leslies, but could still be a better option, has anyone explored this option?

You are referring to the Scaly Ridge (i.e. ridge coming down of Scaly Peak, and extending to the junction below Marble baths).

It is indeed viable and yes we have done it that way. We have ascended the ridge straight above Marble Baths, it is steep but not technical. Once you are on top the views itself make the relative effort to get up there absolutely worth it. (Note here: it was a belated decision to go up the ridge, if you decide this earlier it is much easier to get on top about 1km before reaching Marble Baths (or about 2km from the Injasuthi River crossing. This option does remove Marble Baths from your itinerary if that's an issue, and you'll have to carry water until Leslie's base).

The top of the ridge remains passable all the way, it undulates a bit but in general climbs about 300 meters over 2500 map meters. Some problems emerge then when you want to get off the ridge down to Leslie Pass base (campsite). It is closer to 200 meters descending back to the river basin. This is very steep, completely non-technical but with a big backpack its gonna be tough, I'd say without hiking poles it'll be severe to impossible.

The river basin is also quite wide down that side as you know and some bush whacking remains.

All in all this option will take:
- longer than the river basin route, if you know where to go in the river basin route (I've done this a couple of times and route logic still avoids me completely).
- a bit shorter in time for most of us who fails to recognize the basin route logic (the only one I know who gets this route is Carlos from Span African, as he uses it 10+ times per year).

It is however ten times more rewarding to do it on top of the ridge. The views are really superb and avoiding the nasty basin route with its issues means less frustration. However, both the climb onto the ridge and the get down takes its toll on the body.

I am always a bit skeptical of using ridge routes in areas I don't know well, as you never know when an impassable obstacle arrives. However in this case it is completely passable, and any future trips for myself to Leslie's will either be this way, or via Lower Injasuthi Cave, over the ridge to Leslie's.

A while back VE member Sterkhorn posted something about a path starts there where you mentioned, and ends at the Marble Baths campsite. It apparently avoids the river basin as well, staying on the escarpment side hill. When at Injasuthi last year I spoke to some guys (I've gotten to know over the years) based at Injasuthi, they admit not having walked this path but their hearsay among-st colleagues suggests that the path is not continuous, and requires a bit of interpretation in places (well no problem for the most of us then...).

There is something about the road less traveled that appeals to me no end. Given available time this is another one I'd like to try.

It'll be cool if Sterkhorn could chip in here?

Having done both Leslie's and Cockade in the last 4 months I would say that in my opinion, the Cockade riverbed was, although shorter in total distance than Leslie's, much tougher to navigate.I found it to be more overgrown and the cairns along the way proved to be very misleading.

I must however admit that I have not done Leslie's riverbed during the rainy season which I think can make things exponentially more difficult

With regards to the path between the river basin and Scaly Ridge: Coming down Leslie's we did try to give it a serious go but after about 30 minutes and reaching numerous dead-ends we decided to head back down to the river (then again, maybe the slog down from Mafadi just drained too much of our energy and will power). If anyone in the future does manage to navigate this path, I would dearly like to hear all about it (and get the GPS route of course )