Sentinel Car Park to Cathedral Peak - Northern Berg Escarpment Traverse

Thanks Sabine, will PM you.

Hi all,

Am planning the Northern Mini Traverse over the Easter weekend and my normal transport in Harrismith (Odendal Bustours) has moved to Bethlehem, making the price outrageous.

How do you do a mini traverse? Or do you shuffle cars around? any ideas?

So im planning a hike from Sentinel to Cathedral with my two boys in December this year. Our planned route involve sleeping in caves and will be as follows
Day 1 After good sleep at Witsieshoek lodge we plan to go up chain ladders to Ifidi cave for the night 13km
Day 2 From Ifidi cave to Fangs cave 11km
Day 3 From Fangs cave to Mponjane cave 14km
Day 4 Mponjane cave to Twins cave 14km
Day 5 Twins cave to Cathedral hotel via Mlambonja Pass 18km
Any information, thoughts and advise on this route will be appreciated.

Hi Danny03

Welcome on VE!

Agreed with Smurfatefrpg's advice.

To add - you can access Fangs cave from the top of the gully in which it is situated, saving you a bit of vert. However, you haven't mentioned the ages of your boys, and for small boys the top section might be a bit scary as it is properly steep.

Also, Ledges cave is much better than Mponj cave - especially in rainy weather. Again, the descent from the escarpment to the cave can be a bit intimidating, but if it is you can also access it from a grass gully about 200m or so to the left (West). Note that this will entail walking next to the cliff face with, again, some serious drop-offs on your left. What I've done with my kids when they were smaller was to let them wait at the top and the first carried their backpacks down, then I assisted each of them slowly through the obstacles.

Enjoy the berg!!!

All good advice from Smurfatefrog and Riaang. 

You could add Mbundini Cave to the alternatives to Fangs/Rathole. Like Fangs, Mbundini entails a drop down from the escarpment but that keeps you safe too on what is a little used pass. Security is generally fine though at this time of the year. Mbundini comes in before Rathole and Fangs if that day is proving to be long- which it once did for us in winter on that stretch when walking into the strongest headwind I’ve ever experienced. Another bolt hole is Pinns Cave, between Fangs and Mponjwane. 

 

Thanks for that.
We did  the real ifidi cave sleepover last december. Luckily with a lot of help and map/location downloads we found it quite easily. Made a quick route on our way back to sentinel so the first day should be a walk in the park. Holding thumbs!

Thanks.

Will consider the different options. Boys are 13 and 11. My eldest joined me last year for our first real overnight berg hike.  First day up chain ladders all the way to real ifidi the next day back to car park. Got home (Pretoria) at 19h00 to be in time for wife's birtday. 
Tough but we enjoyed the bonding time

Some general comments on your proposed route:

• Day two (Ifidi to Fangs), although not a long distance, it can easily be under-estimated. Prepare for a long day. 
• Fangs cave I found to be a disappointment. Is is Ok when coming up the pass but having to drop down to it is not worthwhile in my opinion. Very steep and work for an average cave. Closest water is in the valley above Fangs pass so make sure to top up there on your way. 
• Do proper homework upfront if you want to stick to using Fangs cave. Finding the right gulley is tricky even with a GPS. Google earth study at home is best. Also you have to drop down quite further down than you might think. 

Great route - well worth it.

Danny03,

Agreed with Bergattie that water is an issue at Fangs, so do fill up on your way as there is typically nothing in the vicinity.
While not the greatest cave it is, in my opinion, the best one around in that area.
It's about an 80m drop from the escarpment and definitely steep. We came up Fangs and then headed up the side gully in which the cave is situated. We found it easily, even in the mist. However, I looked at images on Google Earth and if you do you will see there is a very distinctive rock formation on the Northern side of Fangs pass itself. Once I found this rock formation, I knew I had to turn left to go up the gully to find the cave, which was easy to find.

We unpacked and then went to the top of this gully to get to the escarpment and search for water. Definitely a shorter way to get to the cave (we came back down this gully again, which was now much easier to find as the mist had lifted). Right at the top was a bit of a dodgy rock section, but nothing too serious, just take your time and go slow here.