Monks/Didima Traverse (Grays and Smugglers Passes)
04 May 2016 16:22 #68198
by ghaznavid
Monks/Didima Traverse (Grays and Smugglers Passes) was created by ghaznavid
Yodelling through Castles and Saddles
For many years I have told Mike (Hobbit) what route we would be doing, and he has gone along with it. So, to mix things up, I asked him what route he wanted to do. He told me that he wanted to knock off the 3300+m peaks at Didima/Monks Cowl, and thus a plan began to take shape.
I phoned Didima Camp, but they were fully booked, so plans changed to camp at Monks Cowl. Somehow Mike’s father and my mother roped themselves into plans and suddenly we had an opportunity to traverse from one reserve to another.
With a forecast of snow from 11AM, we left Monks Camp at 4AM. We reached Blind Man’s Corner by first light, and we were almost at Hlathikhulu Nek before our headlamps made their way back into our packs.
Just past the turnoff to Keith Bush, we bumped into a large group that had left their gear on the contour path in the hope of doing a day trip up Gray’s.
We reached the Mhlwazini at 7AM, stopping there for breakfast. A father and son team were camping there with the goal of heading up Grays after the cold front had passed. We had an interesting chat with them as we ate our breakfast (well, second breakfast, after all – we did have a Hobbit in the group
).
By 8 we had reached the base of Gray’s Pass. There was mist around, and the clouds had been looking ominous – we knew that pre-snow time was limited, so we pressed on. The long distance with practically no breaks was starting to take its toll, but this was the strongest I had ever felt at the base of Gray’s Pass.
Mike had suggested that we try to do the pass without taking a single break – as I suspected, this notion did not last long.
Around the area where the pass steepness relents a bit, we had a bit of rain and some swirling mist around. Nothing too serious. After about 20 minutes without rain, I began to take my jacket off – and I imagine everyone reading this knows what happened next. Fortunately this time the rain had the decency to return before I had finished taking my jacket off.
We continued up in the rain. The wet rock around the traverse section was slippery and felt a bit treacherous. We reached the scramble, which Mike got up with some difficulty, and I needed a hand to get up as the rock was very wet. We decided to sit under the shelter near the final gully while the rain was falling quite hard. If we had to finish up in wet conditions anyway – I may as well get my break (even if we were only 20 minutes from the cave).
Sitting under this cover, we hear a rockfall in the gully – a good thing we took this break!
When the rain calmed a bit, we left our rain sheltered spot and finished up the pass. The rocks were icy, literally covered in ice, that is. This made our lines difficult, but we still got u the summit gully quite quickly.
We topped out in falling snow, which made the river crossing treacherous – especially seeing as we were going fast and light, not so much as a gas stove to warm us up if we fell in.
I had never been to Nkosasana Cave, and its placement doesn’t seem logical at all – but my GPS lead us straight into it.
On entering, we got rid of our wet clothing and climbed straight into our sleeping bags. It was awesome watching the snow fall outside from the warmth of a sleeping bag. We were in our sleeping bags by 11:30, so that is something like 7h15 to get from the car park to the cave – I was pretty happy with that time!
By 3PM the sun was out, and most of the snow had already melted. We left our things in the cave, and went up Mhlwazini Peak and Cowl View Peak. The mist over the escarpment edge was quite thick, so sadly we missed out on the epic views I had seen when I summited these with Tony last year.
We got back to an icy cave for a cold night sleep.
We woke up on Sunday to find a series of icicles had formed where the water drips had been the day before. We agreed to stay warm in our bags till the sun came out. Mike’s shoes had frozen, and lots of our gear had been unfortunately placed under spots where drips had formed during the night.
We left our gear in the sun to dry out and only left the cave at 9:30.
We proceeded to knock off Nkosasana (which had plenty of snow left), Pampiring II, Pampiring and all 4 Yodellers Peaks. The wind was icy as it blew over the snow – but the day was so beautifully clear that one could hardly complain. Well, if the views weren’t so great, we probably would have just pushed to Didima Cave and disappeared back into our sleeping bags.
The only person we saw on the escarpment for the entire trip was a Basotho on the 3323m Yodeller. We had seen 2 people near the top of Gray’s, but no one on top. He spoke no English, but posed for a photo in exchange for a few chips.
We proceeded to follow the ridge down to Didima Buttress, before taking the awesome Didima Buttress Gully that Tony had told me about when we did a similar hike last year. One of the best route suggestions I have ever had – thanks Tony! The route skips the Yodeller’s Cascades (which I rate as one of the most boring stretches of the standard GT route), skips the dogs that come with it – and replaces it with a much shorter, quicker and far more scenic route.
We stayed high around Didima Dome, stashing our packs on the north side and heading up to bag the khulu. It was our 11th khulu of the trip, and the first one that wasn’t a repeat for me. On the bright side – if I bag Sanqebethu and Red Wall again, I will have done all the 3300+m peaks twice. Mike is now only short of Red Wall and Giants Castle for getting all of them – it will be interesting to see who gets it first between him and Tony!
We dropped down the north side of the peak towards Thlanyako Pass, and proceeded to climb up the little SA valley via the river that flows down from Little Saddle.
It was getting late and Ndumeni Cave was still far off – so we were looking for any suitable caves. We saw some possible options, but nothing suitable.
We bagged Little Saddle South Peak, and on the way up the north peak I found a little cave with a flat floor. Mike was already up the peak, so I dropped my pack at the cave and joined him on top. This was our 11th khulu of the day – a new record for both of us. It had taken its toll and I was trashed. Mike seemed to be ok, clearly he has been training harder than I have. Actually, I suspect everyone trained harder in the 3 weeks between my last hike and this one – I think I did one Park Run, not that any running was included in it.
We built a rock wall around the front of the cave, I was very cold, so I jumped into my bag – and seeing as we couldn’t even slightly sit up in the cave – I didn’t have supper that night.
We both bashed our heads on the roof of the cave – which was about 50cm floor to top (the floor was flat and unrocky – so otherwise a great cave) – so we named it “Headache Cave”.
On Monday morning it was icy again, but not as cold as the day before. We started walking around 7:30, waiting for the sun to rise before we emerged from our bags. We bagged Windsor Castle, and resisted the temptation to go down the gully on the south side of the peak.
We proceeded to use Smugglers Pass to reach Thuthumi Pass. We then climbed the two 3000+m peaks by the junction on the pass. The higher one (3005m per my GPS) was a simple walk with a light scramble at the top. The lower one (3001m) required an exposed traverse (which I skipped in favour of harder moves with less exposure), and then a grassy gully with a few 2m high rock steps (hardest moves are D, but very little exposure). The summit is reached by climbing a very easy but very exposed narrow rock ridge. There was no summit cairn on top, but I would be very surprised if no one had climbed it before. The views were exceptional, but down-climbing it was very difficult.
We continued down the Thuthumi gully, before taking the obvious trail to the left that connects with Organ Pipes Pass. From the state of the trail, I am guessing that Thuthumi Pass doesn’t get much use these days, aside from being a means to get from Smugglers to Organ Pipes. I have joked about it for years, and perhaps someday I will do it – but it would be awesome to use Smugglers to get to Thuthumi, then head across to Organ Pipes, go up to Windy Gap and down the Camel. Just because the entire route can be done without leaving a trail – and it would be sufficiently ludicrous to call it fun!
Anyway – from here we followed the ridge to the Old Fire Lookout, took the frontal bypass on Mikes Pass and soon found ourselves at the Didima Offices. And with that, Didima joins the list of reserves in which I have bagged all the non-technical khulus – along with Giants, Vergelegen, Cobham and Bushman’s Nek.
With that hike, Mike moves up to 98 khulus – well poised to bag his 100th soon.
Stats for the trip:
Distance: 63km
Altitude gain: 4200m
Khulus bagged: 15
Photos taken: 503
For many years I have told Mike (Hobbit) what route we would be doing, and he has gone along with it. So, to mix things up, I asked him what route he wanted to do. He told me that he wanted to knock off the 3300+m peaks at Didima/Monks Cowl, and thus a plan began to take shape.
I phoned Didima Camp, but they were fully booked, so plans changed to camp at Monks Cowl. Somehow Mike’s father and my mother roped themselves into plans and suddenly we had an opportunity to traverse from one reserve to another.
With a forecast of snow from 11AM, we left Monks Camp at 4AM. We reached Blind Man’s Corner by first light, and we were almost at Hlathikhulu Nek before our headlamps made their way back into our packs.
Just past the turnoff to Keith Bush, we bumped into a large group that had left their gear on the contour path in the hope of doing a day trip up Gray’s.
We reached the Mhlwazini at 7AM, stopping there for breakfast. A father and son team were camping there with the goal of heading up Grays after the cold front had passed. We had an interesting chat with them as we ate our breakfast (well, second breakfast, after all – we did have a Hobbit in the group
).By 8 we had reached the base of Gray’s Pass. There was mist around, and the clouds had been looking ominous – we knew that pre-snow time was limited, so we pressed on. The long distance with practically no breaks was starting to take its toll, but this was the strongest I had ever felt at the base of Gray’s Pass.
Mike had suggested that we try to do the pass without taking a single break – as I suspected, this notion did not last long.
Around the area where the pass steepness relents a bit, we had a bit of rain and some swirling mist around. Nothing too serious. After about 20 minutes without rain, I began to take my jacket off – and I imagine everyone reading this knows what happened next. Fortunately this time the rain had the decency to return before I had finished taking my jacket off.
We continued up in the rain. The wet rock around the traverse section was slippery and felt a bit treacherous. We reached the scramble, which Mike got up with some difficulty, and I needed a hand to get up as the rock was very wet. We decided to sit under the shelter near the final gully while the rain was falling quite hard. If we had to finish up in wet conditions anyway – I may as well get my break (even if we were only 20 minutes from the cave).
Sitting under this cover, we hear a rockfall in the gully – a good thing we took this break!
When the rain calmed a bit, we left our rain sheltered spot and finished up the pass. The rocks were icy, literally covered in ice, that is. This made our lines difficult, but we still got u the summit gully quite quickly.
We topped out in falling snow, which made the river crossing treacherous – especially seeing as we were going fast and light, not so much as a gas stove to warm us up if we fell in.
I had never been to Nkosasana Cave, and its placement doesn’t seem logical at all – but my GPS lead us straight into it.
On entering, we got rid of our wet clothing and climbed straight into our sleeping bags. It was awesome watching the snow fall outside from the warmth of a sleeping bag. We were in our sleeping bags by 11:30, so that is something like 7h15 to get from the car park to the cave – I was pretty happy with that time!
By 3PM the sun was out, and most of the snow had already melted. We left our things in the cave, and went up Mhlwazini Peak and Cowl View Peak. The mist over the escarpment edge was quite thick, so sadly we missed out on the epic views I had seen when I summited these with Tony last year.
We got back to an icy cave for a cold night sleep.
We woke up on Sunday to find a series of icicles had formed where the water drips had been the day before. We agreed to stay warm in our bags till the sun came out. Mike’s shoes had frozen, and lots of our gear had been unfortunately placed under spots where drips had formed during the night.
We left our gear in the sun to dry out and only left the cave at 9:30.
We proceeded to knock off Nkosasana (which had plenty of snow left), Pampiring II, Pampiring and all 4 Yodellers Peaks. The wind was icy as it blew over the snow – but the day was so beautifully clear that one could hardly complain. Well, if the views weren’t so great, we probably would have just pushed to Didima Cave and disappeared back into our sleeping bags.
The only person we saw on the escarpment for the entire trip was a Basotho on the 3323m Yodeller. We had seen 2 people near the top of Gray’s, but no one on top. He spoke no English, but posed for a photo in exchange for a few chips.
We proceeded to follow the ridge down to Didima Buttress, before taking the awesome Didima Buttress Gully that Tony had told me about when we did a similar hike last year. One of the best route suggestions I have ever had – thanks Tony! The route skips the Yodeller’s Cascades (which I rate as one of the most boring stretches of the standard GT route), skips the dogs that come with it – and replaces it with a much shorter, quicker and far more scenic route.
We stayed high around Didima Dome, stashing our packs on the north side and heading up to bag the khulu. It was our 11th khulu of the trip, and the first one that wasn’t a repeat for me. On the bright side – if I bag Sanqebethu and Red Wall again, I will have done all the 3300+m peaks twice. Mike is now only short of Red Wall and Giants Castle for getting all of them – it will be interesting to see who gets it first between him and Tony!
We dropped down the north side of the peak towards Thlanyako Pass, and proceeded to climb up the little SA valley via the river that flows down from Little Saddle.
It was getting late and Ndumeni Cave was still far off – so we were looking for any suitable caves. We saw some possible options, but nothing suitable.
We bagged Little Saddle South Peak, and on the way up the north peak I found a little cave with a flat floor. Mike was already up the peak, so I dropped my pack at the cave and joined him on top. This was our 11th khulu of the day – a new record for both of us. It had taken its toll and I was trashed. Mike seemed to be ok, clearly he has been training harder than I have. Actually, I suspect everyone trained harder in the 3 weeks between my last hike and this one – I think I did one Park Run, not that any running was included in it.
We built a rock wall around the front of the cave, I was very cold, so I jumped into my bag – and seeing as we couldn’t even slightly sit up in the cave – I didn’t have supper that night.
We both bashed our heads on the roof of the cave – which was about 50cm floor to top (the floor was flat and unrocky – so otherwise a great cave) – so we named it “Headache Cave”.
On Monday morning it was icy again, but not as cold as the day before. We started walking around 7:30, waiting for the sun to rise before we emerged from our bags. We bagged Windsor Castle, and resisted the temptation to go down the gully on the south side of the peak.
We proceeded to use Smugglers Pass to reach Thuthumi Pass. We then climbed the two 3000+m peaks by the junction on the pass. The higher one (3005m per my GPS) was a simple walk with a light scramble at the top. The lower one (3001m) required an exposed traverse (which I skipped in favour of harder moves with less exposure), and then a grassy gully with a few 2m high rock steps (hardest moves are D, but very little exposure). The summit is reached by climbing a very easy but very exposed narrow rock ridge. There was no summit cairn on top, but I would be very surprised if no one had climbed it before. The views were exceptional, but down-climbing it was very difficult.
We continued down the Thuthumi gully, before taking the obvious trail to the left that connects with Organ Pipes Pass. From the state of the trail, I am guessing that Thuthumi Pass doesn’t get much use these days, aside from being a means to get from Smugglers to Organ Pipes. I have joked about it for years, and perhaps someday I will do it – but it would be awesome to use Smugglers to get to Thuthumi, then head across to Organ Pipes, go up to Windy Gap and down the Camel. Just because the entire route can be done without leaving a trail – and it would be sufficiently ludicrous to call it fun!
Anyway – from here we followed the ridge to the Old Fire Lookout, took the frontal bypass on Mikes Pass and soon found ourselves at the Didima Offices. And with that, Didima joins the list of reserves in which I have bagged all the non-technical khulus – along with Giants, Vergelegen, Cobham and Bushman’s Nek.
With that hike, Mike moves up to 98 khulus – well poised to bag his 100th soon.
Stats for the trip:
Distance: 63km
Altitude gain: 4200m
Khulus bagged: 15
Photos taken: 503
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