Gray's Pass - Ships Prow Pass Loop

Heading up to Monks Cowl this weekend. Sat night in Zulu Cave and summit Ntunja and return on Sunday.

Hi Guys

We want go up Gray's pass this Easter weekend. Do you think this is realistic:
Day 1: Camp at Keith's bush camp (difficulty rating 1 to 10?)
Day 2: Camp at the top of Gray's (difficulty rating 1 to 10?)
Day 3: Back to Monks Cowl (difficulty rating 1 to 10?)

Thanks

Not a very difficult route for 3 days, so you should be fine if the team has some form of fitness. Day 2 is very short - so you'll have plenty of time to explore. Make sure you either follow the river above Grays Pass right to the top of the waterfall and check the view from the escarpment edge there, or alternatively climb one of the peaks above the pass - the view of the Northern Berg from there is incredible!

Grays is quite an easy pass - it has a trail the entire way (aside from the horrible scree field near the top). It is very steep at first, so to start it when you are fresh is ideal. There is a thread somewhere on this site with details of how not to go wrong when making a call on which trail to follow.

Hi GerritHuman,

Agreed with the advice given by Ghaz. Just make sure you take the correct route, there are two paths as you get closer to the cliff faces. We mistakenly took the lower route, and this at some point in time runs into a rock face that could be tricky to negotiate. If you find yourself at this point, just walk back about 200m or so max and you should see a path/cern branching off to the right (as you walk back, i.e. going up towards the cliff face). When we were there last year I had to traverse over the rockface and scramble up higher till I found the path, and I could then direct the rest of the group on where to go to get to the higher path (which is to say I don't know what the turnoff looks like from path level as I was shouting directions to the guys below). However, it's not more than 200m back down and then you need to turn upwards and the trail then follows close to the rockface and through the chimney section unto the escarpment. Enjoy!

Hi. I would like to do a hike to Ships Prow Pass (Drakensberg) in the next few months.

My question to the forum:

What is the easiest route to Ships Prow (Drakensberg)?
How long will it take?
What is the best time of the year to do this? (ito weather)

As an alternative; what is the fastest route?
And on a scale of 1-10, what is the difficulty of this route?

Has any one done a hike from Injisuthi Camp to Ships Prow Pass?

What is the hiking time?
Any climbing involved?
Difficulty rating?

bungykhb wrote: What is the easiest route to Ships Prow (Drakensberg)?

I can't comment on the walk in from Injisuthi, but I believe it is pretty overgrown. From Monks Cowl it is far, and lots of up and down, but there is a good trail right to the river at the bottom of the pass.

bungykhb wrote: And on a scale of 1-10, what is the difficulty of this route?

I guess it largely depends on whether you go up or down. Stijn rated it a 9/10 in his review, I rate more like a 6/10 (but I have only ever gone down it). Note that a 1 is the Chain Ladders, so 1/10 isn't a cake walk. Ships Prow is 1.4km vertically and 6km long, that is a big and long pass!

bungykhb wrote: What is the hiking time?

Depends on the team. It has been done from Monks to the top in a day, and a really strong group can possibly do a day hike up Grays down Ships, but I would assume at least 6 hours to go up. It took Tony and myself about 3-4 hours to come down it.

bungykhb wrote: Any climbing involved?

No, try to follow the trail the entire way and you should be fine. It is actually a really nice pass, but doesn't even include light scrambling.

Going up, I would rate it one of the more difficult passes in the Berg, and the longest, as it tops out at about 3300m.

It also depends on how experienced and fit you are. Have you done other passes in the Berg?

I came down Ships Prow in December and then headed along the contour path to get to Injasuti. It took me over 5 hours to get down with a day pack making it the slowest pass I have done. (A week later I did the north fork with an over night bag which was of course slower still).

The path is overgrown but easy enough to follow.

If you go down the pass it is possible to find and follow a path the whole way. Especially for the upper reaches of the bush wacking where a path is very useful.

If you go up the pass, i will put money down that you will lose the path within minutes and you then get very dense bush to fight through.

The pass is well worth doing. I suggest going down it

Elinda wrote a great report of Ships Prow a month or two ago. I suggest you search for it. I also climbed up 2 years ago, we started from Injisuthi camp, but took it slowly, and did a 4 day hike up ships, down Leslies, via Marble Baths and back to Injisuthi. The pass was pretty epic, but nothing compared to the bundu bashing through the valley at the base. I suggest taking a panga of sorts to help you through the scrub.