Gray's Pass - Ships Prow Pass Loop

Hi Abrahamvlok,

Ditto on Dave's question regarding day 3. You sure you want to go up to Cowl cave, then down the southern side to Cowl campsite and then day 4 up Shada ridge and down VH pass to Injasuthi camp? Besides it being a proper climb up from KBC to Cowl cave, the cave itself is small, 3 - 4 hikers can probably sleep in here. The descent down to Cowl fork is the challenging bit and is overgrown/bushy/bundu bashing/suffering/etc.etc. You'll find out on the ascent up Ship Prow South what the vegetation in this area is like. 

However, if this is what you want to do then go for it, the area is really spectacular. 

Regarding Ships itself, on the ascent, just stay to the far right (true left) all the way up till about 300m or so from the base of the pass, there  is a faint path through the vegetation, but it is quite difficult to stay on it as it dissapears every now and then as it crosses boulder fields etc. If you try the middle of the riverbed you will take forever to fight through the vegetation. 

I've never seen the river empty at Nkosasana cave. Solidly frozen over yes, but dry, no. There is also a stream just over the ridge towards Moncs Cowl if you are desperate for water, else just descend to find water at KBC. Nkosazana cave is quite often wet/damp but also frozen in winter. regarding it being exposed, yes, it is, but if you take a bivvy/survival bag it solves the exposure and water issues.

Enjoy!

Thanks Dave...I was not looking properly...and Cowl cave..I nearly forgot that we actually tried to find it once when coming down after we slept between Monk's Cowl and Cathrdral peak. There was anot guy coming up (with a camera and pictures of Cowl cave) and he was also looking for it. I agree with you...the hike is 40 km and the ascent to  Ships' will do its part on us,

thanks..we are finally set for this weekend. Do anybody perhaps have a cell number of (ideally gate keeper)  ? I used to have it be he resigned...and coming from Pretoria we usually organise something to enter after 18:00...

Hello everyone. I'm a long time VE user but this is my first post. Thanks to the Downloads section of this website the the GPX track for Ship's Prow I did this route in November going up Ship's and down Gray's passes. Here is the video report and some info about the hike:
Champagne Castle in Drakensberg Hike - Ship's Prow to Grays Pass 
In November, 2021 I went to Champagne Castle/Monk's Cowl in Drakensberg. From there my hike was: Monk's Cowl to Cowl's Neck camp site, next day I went up Ship's Prow and stayed at iNkosazana Cave. On the last day I went down Gray's Pass back to Monk's Cowl.

Both hiking in and out are supper beautiful either way you go. I hiked to the Cowl's Neck camping site in an afternoon (3-4 hours). When you cross the river before the Cowl's Neck camp site you'll need to hike up to the trail on the other side. Going up Ship's Prow was hard. There isn't much of a trail from Contour Path until you get on Gray's Pass trail and it took me almost entire day (8-9 hours) to hike from Cowl's Neck to iNkosazana Cave. The surface of the Ship's Prow trail varies: grass, small rock, boulders, (burned) bush. There was water everywhere on the top of the Champagne Castle (I think that's where the iNkosazana Cave is) but no water on the Gray's Pass until after Keith Bush Camp when going down. My only regret was not having a full day to hike around the Champagne Castle.

Aaahhh, Ships Prow pass. Brings back lots of memories - of suffering

Still, one of my favourite spots in the Berg. Secluded, rugged, rough terrain (especially the Northern pass), beautiful. I miss it already.

Hey Guys.
Yesterday I did the up "Grays down Ships" route. Been wanting to do it for ages so was stoked when I eventually got the chance! We (myself and 2 others) left PMB at 4.30 and arrived at Monks cowl at 6:30. 2 cups of coffee later we set off from the Monks cowl office just after 7:00 . The first half hour was a bit of a slog as the route up past the Sphinx is never easy. Once we got passed breakfast stream we were able to stretch the legs a bit and took a comfortable jog past Blindmans corner and along the contour path towards Hlathikulu Nek. The path from here up to Keith bush camp was very easy to follow as most of the vegetation thats normally in the river bed, had been burnt by what looked to have been a run away fire. Before we knew it, we were huffing and puffing up Grays pass. At 11.10 we exited the gully and were at the top of Grays, after what I found to be a really tough 1.5 hours of climbing. After a quick pit stop at the iNkosazana River we continued upwards towards the top of Ships Prow. (We had decided not to summit Champagne Castle as we didn't think we would have had enough time, although looking back we most probably could have). By 12.00 we had made it to the top of Ships Prow where we quickly devoured some lunch which consisted of mixed cup a soup and 2 minute noodles (tasted amazing!). At 12.35 we started to head down Ships Prow (South Fork). It was a fairly easy decent with a lot of bum sliding down iced snow. By 14.15 we had reach the river bed at the bottom of the pass and were bundu bashing towards the contour path. We reach the contour path just above M6 at 15:15. From here we crusied along the contour path for about 10km all the way back to blindmans corner just in time to watch the sunset. Jackets and head torches were thrown on as we dashed back down, making it back to the car park exactly 11hrs 29min after we had started that morning.
Pics to follow......

Heading up towards Keiths

Halfway up Grays

Climbing up the little rock band, just before the gully

100m from the top

Looking down from the top of Grays

Walking in some snow. Just before the top of Ships

Looking down from the top of Ships Prow South Fork

Looking back up at the Prow

Sunset from just past BMC

 

For those that are interested, here some stats off Strava. 
Was a truly awesome day out in the mountains and we couldn't have asked for better weather!
 

HI All 
Cannot find any info on scrambling up Cathkin. Has any done this before and know details?
I am not a climber, but having done a run up Sterkhorn, the gradient on the Cathkin lower body, looks really doable. It seems like one could scramble up the grass sections up to the base of the sheer top cliff face and then go down...Anyone tried this? 
i would leave Monks Cowl, up Sphinx, across to Blindmans and then contour to the base and walk on into the grassy sections, and leave small cairns for the return down.
 

In 2019, AndrewP and I teamed up to do a one day round trip up Cathkin via the South Gully Route (the gully you're asking about) from Injisuthi. I rate it as my single best day in the mountains. Here's the story:
jonathantheghaznavid.com/2019/08/05/cathkin-peak/

Some notes on Cathkin:

1. It is a rock climb, not a scramble. The first pitch is easy, but incredibly exposed. The second pitch is a chimney with an awkward exit that I had to aid up. We couldn't figure out the top pitch per the RD and went up the face somewhere - I was only described as looking like a beached whale on one of the moves.
2. This was AndrewP's second try on the peak, as he was unable to safely solo it when he attempted it previously.
3. The approach is incredibly sketchy, I still list the one traverse (well before pitch one) as one of my top-5 scariest moments in the Drakensberg.
4. To get back down, the ideal line requires a 60m abseil. You can backtrack down the gully, but that's much harder. You don't want to try and descend this peak without ropes.
5. People have died on Cathkin (not sure about the South Gully Route specifically), and a lot of teams trying it end up benighted - don't take this route lightly.