Nkosazana Pass

About 10 years ago, I tried to get up the Nkosazana Valley.  I thrashed around in thick vegetation, made a few hideous route choices and simply got cliffed out at about 2300m. In truth though, I was greener between my ears regarding berg passes than the vegetation itself.

In August, I returned.  10 years have passed, so I am not as eager or fit as I was then, but in exchange, I can draw on the experience gained in over 100 passes.

As with my previous attempt, I set off from the Monks Cowl campsite while it was still dark with a day pack.  This time around, I was accompanied by Ghaznavid for the haul up to the contour path and along same as far as the Nkosazana River.  This comes in at an honest 17km approach.  He went on to follow the contour path to the Didema River and back, while I turned upwards. 

I left the contour path at 8:30 and followed the ridge immediately to the left of the river, looking up.  At about 2250m I broke out right and traversed across the slopes.  This time around, it was burnt so the going was fairly easy.  I eventually came across the same pine trees I had seen last time (this time around, all but 1 are dying, presumably thanks to the pine tree project)

10 years ago, I continued further upstream on the true right hand bank, dropped down into the river at about 2300m and cliffed out.  The cliffs are still there and from a distance did not look any less daunting than they did back then. Strangely, on my previous attempt I had to cross a very memorable side gully just before the thick vegetation.  This has presumably been filled in by just the right rain conditions because no hideous side gully was present this time around.  That is besides the point though, because this time I saw an alternative line to follow.

So, just above the pine trees, I dropped steeply down a gully into the main river. By moving left halfway down, I was able to dodge the steepest parts.  I crossed the river and moved slightly right into the obvious side gully. This side gully runs all the way up to the ridge coming down from The Litter, joining the ridge just above a distinctive bump.
 

At 2400m, just above the point where vegetation starts getting thick again I could break out left at an obvious enough traverse line.  Once out of the gully, I traversed leftwards and soon hit the next side gully.  A lot of effort and sneaky manoeuvring later I had crossed this gully still at about 2400m.  By now, over 2 hours had passed since the pine trees, still only a couple of 100m away and only 100m below me.

The next side gully looked worse, but here I could rise to 2500m and cross easily enough.

From here, I generally took a rising traverse line across ground that was never too tricky (relatively speaking).  By about 2700m, options were limited, but I used a curving gully to break through some steep cliffs.  I was now almost directly below a small waterfall off the escarpment (in wet months).  I lucked out and was able to top up my water in a stagnant pool.

I traversed left, around a rocky buttress and could enter a broad grassy band heading up to the final cliffs. Here, you turn right into the final summit gully.  I knew from time spent on top that the gully contained a cliff, and it was only now that I realised it would have been better to drop 100m then to try it out rather than approach from the bottom.  With this in mind, I had been very careful the whole way up to look backwards, find markers and ensure I had a very good idea of exactly where I had come from and hence the way back down if needed. I had also always been aware that I need to keep aside enough time to descend the route just in case it does not go.

The summit gully is easy the whole way except for a very obvious 10m cliff in the middle.  At first, I thought I was going to be turned around, but it looked broken enough to at least justify a closer look.  The first section is easily scrambled up on a perfect natural staircase which takes you up to a small ledge below an obvious cruxy chockstone.  You could layback up the left hand side of this (looking up) on good handholds or, you can climb the face to the right on decent holds.  Both options are vertical for 2-3m.  About 2.5m up, the going gets a whole lot easier and you can scramble through the remainder of the steep stuff to gain the grassy slopes above.  In old school gradings this would be an honest C grade, but bear in mind the difference between a C and an E is the exposure and not the difficulty.  In more modern thinking, this could definitely be called F1.  If you have a short rope to haul your packs, and are willing to step on your buddies shoulders, this is probably not too bad.

I topped out at 13:20, 9 hours after leaving Monks Cowl, making this by far the slowest pass I have ever done with a day pack.  The route finding between 2200m and 2500m is intense, but if you get it right, it is never too exposed or dangerous. It is the most 3 dimensional route finding I have done in a long time.  And of course you have 3m right at the top that are more of a climb than a scramble. So, this is not for everybody.  But, there are readers who can pull this all off safely and can hopefully enjoy a new route to the top.

Did I take an optimal line?  Probably not. Here is the approximate line I took, with the obvious teleport across the river