Injisuthi Dome: You Be The Judge Part 2

01 Nov 2015 18:27 #65583 by ghaznavid
Injisuthi Dome: You Be The Judge Part 2

In November 2012 a team of 3 of us tried to do Mafadi in 2 days. The report is called “You Be The Judge” and can be found on this site.

Mafadi in a day is an interesting challenge. In itself, Mafadi isn’t the hardest summit to bag – it has relatively gentle slopes on each side, and with some time and patience, it can be done by anyone with some degree of fitness. The difficulty in Mafadi lies in its location – it is roughly as far from Giant’s Castle as it is from Injisuthi. The respective camps are on opposite ends of their reserves, further emphasising this gap.

The shortest route up Mafadi (to the best of my knowledge) is via Leslies Pass at roughly 40km. Corner and Judge Pass both provide slightly longer alternatives, but without the bad overgrowth that Leslies is famous for (note that I am yet to do Leslies). IMHO the fastest route up Mafadi is Judge Pass – even though the current record was done by Corner Pass.

Personally – unless people start recognising obscure summits for FKTs, I will not be holding any FKTs any time soon. But a challenge such as Mafadi in a day does have appeal to me, largely as a “can you do this” kind of a thing. Even the 9h46 record is far out of my reach, I have never been fast – I remember finishing second in the grade 2 pancake race, but otherwise finished last in basically every athletics event I ever did at school. My 30m24 time on a Park Run earlier this year remains the fastest average pace I have ever maintained on a distance more than 2km.

So, after camping at the Giants Castle picnic site overnight, myself and Hobbit were up at 2:30AM. At 3:12AM we signed the mountain register, and began walking up back towards the picnic site. Even though we weren’t trying to beat a FKT, it is still good to play by the FKT rules for such a trip.

About 500m before the contour path, we saw a massive herd of eland. Easily 50+ of them. As we got closer, they began to run off, at which point I counted another 20 that were hiding behind the ridge, and about 200m later, a further 20 on the opposite side of the contour path. This all happened as the sun began to rise, so sadly I couldn’t get a photo of it – but it was an amazing sight. Easily the most eland I have seen in a day.

We sat for our first proper break on the contour path. Second weekend in a row that I have had breakfast as the sun rose while sitting on the contour path. I have to say, it must be one of the best ways to have breakfast!

We continued along, and 2h30 into the trip we were crossing the Martial Eagle Stream (just below Bannerman Hut). The contour path gets rather iffy from here, and we did lose it on occasion. We outright lost it about 500m before Judge Pass. Fortunately the Judge Pass trail is very hard to miss.

We went past the start of the pass to find some water, but to our horror, the river flowing down Judge Pass was bone dry. We backtracked a bit to a nearby stream that was trickling just enough to fill our bottles. About 200m vertically into the pass, there was a fast flowing side stream that we crossed. We stopped here for a water break – we also noticed that the river below was flowing. Clearly the river at the base of the pass was just below ground at that point. This was a good sign.

Judge Pass is still a lovely pass. I remember finding it very dramatic last time, but my photos never backed this up. Being back there, I can see how amazing this pass is. The trail is still in very good order (except for the top which is badly eroded and very crumbly). The pass has a short scrambly bit – but you barely need your hands for this, not enough to classify it as a rock pass.

We missed beating the 7 hour mark to reach the escarpment by 6 minutes, getting to the top of Judge Pass at 10:18. When you have already done 18km before 10:30AM, you know it will probably be quite a productive day!

We followed the trail that runs towards the Injisuthi saddle, meeting a large group of people on their way down from Mafadi by the higher river crossing. The large team had spent the night in Centenary Hut, and also used Judge Pass to get up. They were very impressed to see a 14 year old managing to get all that way in a single day. They also couldn’t believe how light our packs were. At this stage, mine would have been about 3kg in total.

As we left this spot, Hobbit decided that he also wanted Trojan Wall and Injisuthi Dome (I had suggested this along the way, but he had been wary till this point).

At 12:12, exactly 9 hours in – we stood on top of the Trojan Wall. Hobbit was starting to look far less energetic than he had an hour earlier. We continued from there to the summit of Injisuthi Dome – but we wasn’t looking good at all. I took him down to the Mafadi/Injisuthi Dome saddle to get him out of the wind, and set off to claim my final 3300+m peak – Red Wall Peak.

Unfortunately I forgot my waterbottle (my pack was with Hobbit). Red Wall Peak is further away than it looks, the summit only has about 8m prominence, but has a really worthwhile view. At 13:33 I had finally completed the list – 26/26 for khulus above 3300m. This has been a long standing goal of mine – over the last year I have done 25 of these summits (only Giants Castle didn’t fall into the last 12 months – I have only summited Giants once, in April 2014), although many of these ascents in the last 12 months were repeats.

With a very dry mouth I began to walk the 2km back to Hobbit. I tried to drink from a trickling river directly, but got very little water into my mouth. Of course no water means no food, and that means dropping energy levels.

By the time I was back with Hobbit, I wasn’t feeling well. We both agreed that we didn’t have enough time to head up Mafadi, so after I had something to eat and drink, we set off for Judge Pass. When you look down from the saddle, you realise how far away this pass actually is!

After his almost hour long break, Hobbit was now feeling fine and I was the slow one. Amazing how quickly things change!

Walking very slowly, we reached the top of Judge Pass at 4:20PM. Judge Pass tops out rather high, so the climb back up from the river is quite something when you already have done 34km so far in the day.

The top of the pass was very slow due to how crumbly it was. This wasn’t an issue on the way up, but was a problem on the way down. This combined with how hard it is to spot the contour path at the bottom of the pass is the reason that I suggest that Judge Pass is best used as a way up rather than a way down. It is a really worthwhile pass and I highly recommend it.

Mist was rolling in at the top of the pass, but we were already bellow the cloud when it arrived. We knew we had to motor it down – we wanted to be past Bannerman Hut before it was dark. This concern is mostly due to how difficult it is to follow the contour path between Judge Pass and Bannerman Hut.

I have been through the energy crash enough times to know how to coax life back into myself without actually making it worse, and by the bottom of the pass, I was feeling much better. It had rained a bit on the way down the pass, but nothing serious.

We motored it from the base of the pass back to Bannerman Hut. By the time we reached the Martial Eagle Stream (around 18:30), we were in thick mist. It is hard to miss the only major river crossing in such a long stretch, so I knew Bannerman Hut was directly above us, but we couldn’t see it in the mist.

Just after Bannerman Hut, the contour path joins the Bannerman Hut trail to become a highway trail. Upon reaching this spot, we stopped for something to eat. It was getting dark quickly now, but at least we knew the trail was easy to follow from here. An hour of walking on a difficult to follow trail without a break had taken its toll, so we both had something to eat and drink.

By the time we set off again, it was almost fully dark and this mist had thickened. Within 10 minutes of resuming we were in a 2X2m bubble of our headlamps shining on thick mist. I had AndrewP’s GPS track from his Mafadi Speed Record trip, as well as our track from earlier in the day, and with this and a well-defined trail, we were able to keep going. At times the trail became difficult to follow for a short stretch – normally you would just look up and figure it out, but with thick mist this wasn’t possible.

The walk to the Bannerman turnoff felt like an eternity. I was able to figure out roughly where we were based on the direction my GPS said we were walking in, and my memory of the trail (although it is amazing how little you recognise a trail you have done 10+ times when you can only see a 2X2m block in front of you). We eventually reached the Bannerman turnoff.

It is funny writing this bit – it felt like it took forever, but it can be summarised in a few sentences!

Around 1900m we had dropped below the mist level. By this point my neck was very sore from looking down for so long. My headlamp batteries were low, but in this continuing drizzle I really didn’t feel like changing my batteries. It was providing enough light to see where I was going.

We eventually hit the bridge over the Bushman’s River. I felt like I was going to fall when I walked over the bridge – more than 18 hours and 50km in, I think this is to be expected. The slog up the hill was surprisingly easy and we did it faster than I have ever done it at the end of a long hike. We walked past the spot where we would soon be camping. We signed the mountain register at 21:28.

So, to some people I may have been foolish to give up the status of having bagged Mafadi in a day in favour of completing the 3300+m khulu list. But my question had been “can I do this?”, and this weekend I answered the question. Mafadi in a day is shorter in distance and altitude than what we did. As to what everyone else out there would have done, you

Incidentally, I equalled my personal record for most khulus on a day hike – equalling the much less epic trip up North Jarding last year.

Strictly speaking, I guess you could say that 18h16 is a FKT on Injisuthi Dome, Trojan Wall and Red Wall. Or alternatively this would be an OKT (Only Known Time). If someone bothers to beat our time, our times can go as the first record times – but I somehow doubt a record for the best time on Injisuthi Dome would ever be significant to get any attention. My hope had been to bag all 5, which would have made this one worth going for – even though the prominence on the summits isn’t hectic, the distance between each of them is quite something.

I am very impressed with Hobbit’s effort on this one – 47km in a day is difficult for anyone, but for a 14 year old to do it is really exceptional.

Ps. Special thanks to AndrewP for the GPS track, it was very helpful when we weren’t sure where the contour path should be.

Stats for the trip:
Distance: 51km (smashing my record for most distance in a day – set a week ago)
Altitude Gain and loss: 2650m
Stopped time: 4h40
Average moving speed: 3.7km/h

Once again, I was carrying my cheap old camera, so please excuse the poor photo quality.

On a partly unrelated note

I imagine some of you are wondering why I am going on a series of khulu-bagging-long-day-hikes. There is a reason behind this. For many years I have wondered if I can do a GT in 4 or 5 days. There is an old thread somewhere on this site where I even asked about how one would go about doing this - not that I was remotely ready for it at the time. So with lots of encouragement and advice from AndrewP, I have signed up for a 4 day GT with him later this month. The only way to do something that epic is to train really hard. My training has gone as follows:
18-20 Sep 3 day hike at Bushman's Nek with Kliktrak
24-27 Sep Monks Traverse with TonyM
10 Oct Bollard/Wilson with Dillon
25 Oct Cleft Peak day hike with Hobbit
31 Oct Injisuthi Dome day hike with Hobbit

To date I have done 239km in the space of 58 days (easily the most I have done in 2 months that didn't include a GT). I have 3 more long day hikes lined up before the GT.

I didn't want to mention this plan on the site until I knew I was able to do it, I finally believe that I have proved to myself that I can do this. And based on my last 2 day hikes, self belief carries more weight in what one is capable of doing than physical strength does.

A 4 day GT is a major undertaking, not something to be taken lightly. As the old cliche quote from Star Wars goes "do or do not, there is no try". It is not something to "try", but something to go out and do.

Yesterday I carried a lighter pack (3.5kg vs 9.5kg at the start) and was shorter and flatter than the hardest day of the GT (51km with 2650m vs 55km longest and 3392m most altitude). This could easily end up being the hardest hike I ever do, but I am really looking forward to the challenge.
The following user(s) said Thank You: LouisvV, Redshift3

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
01 Nov 2015 18:48 #65584 by ghaznavid

Please login or register to view the images attached to this post.

The following user(s) said Thank You: kbresler, AdrianT, Biomech

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
01 Nov 2015 18:51 #65585 by ghaznavid

Please login or register to view the images attached to this post.

The following user(s) said Thank You: elinda, Stijn, kliktrak, LouisvV, tonymarshall, kbresler, andrew r, Biomech, Hobbitt

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
01 Nov 2015 19:38 #65586 by Papa Dragon
Well done to the two of you on an epic day out, and good luck with your GT.
I know we'll get a detailed write-up and pics :)
The following user(s) said Thank You: ghaznavid, Hobbitt

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
01 Nov 2015 22:48 #65587 by Stijn
Good luck for your fast GT Ghaz! You're in the best hands with AndrewP, but my one piece of advice would be to start with what's comfortable and build the distances as you go. e.g. We did 45km, 50km, 55km, 58km for our 3.5 day GT. My attempt before that was 60km to Roland's Cave on day 1 and nothing much more after that..
The following user(s) said Thank You: ghaznavid

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
02 Nov 2015 08:31 #65591 by ghaznavid

Stijn wrote: Good luck for your fast GT Ghaz! You're in the best hands with AndrewP, but my one piece of advice would be to start with what's comfortable and build the distances as you go. e.g. We did 45km, 50km, 55km, 58km for our 3.5 day GT. My attempt before that was 60km to Roland's Cave on day 1 and nothing much more after that..

Thanks :thumbsup:

We are doing the GT south to north, we have planned stops for each day (all caves), but can be flexible according to weather and how we are feeling (limited to proximity to caves). The plan is roughly:
Day 1 to Sehonghong Shelter (50km, 3392m up)
Day 2 to Bannerman Cave (53km, 3156m up)
Day 3 to Easter Cave (55km, 3192m up)
Day 4 to Sentinel (46km, 2055m up)

I will be happy with anything faster than 100 hours (we will carry extra food in case it goes into a 5th day), the plan is to do exactly 0km of jogging/running, with a decent amount of sleep each night (hopefully at least 5 hours each night). I will be carrying my cheap small camera, so there will be some photos, but not many and the quality won't be great.

These last 2 day hikes have taught me a lot - including the fact that you can achieve a huge amount in a single day simply by starting very early and not stopping as often. We never motored up Judge Pass, we actually did lots of the uphill bits around 2km/h - but we made up for this by doing the downhills around 6km/h. I have also learned the value of having high carb starchy food in my pocket!

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
02 Nov 2015 09:59 #65597 by Dillon
Well done on this day hike Ghaz, sounds like I missed a real epic!



Good luck for your upcoming fast GT, I'm very keen to read the hike report afterwards. And I won't lie, I'm a bit jealous! haha


ghaznavid wrote:
I have also learned the value of having high carb starchy food in my pocket!




Not that I've done a GT (yet!), but I've learnt from various other sporting endeavours the importance of being able to fuel your body properly while staying on the move should not be taken lightly and actually requires a bit of planning. For long distance cycling events, I actually used to set my bike computer to beep every 20mins as a reminder to drink, and then I'd make sure I ate something small on every 3rd beep (i.e. every hour).




ghaznavid wrote:
Day 1 to Sehonghong Shelter




If possible, please provide a bit more info on this "shelter". Or if anybody else that has any details or pics? I'm planning a fast assault on the khulus there sometime in the not too distant future and a cave in that area would make my logistical planning a whole lot easier.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
02 Nov 2015 10:21 #65598 by ghaznavid

Dillon wrote: Well done on this day hike Ghaz, sounds like I missed a real epic!

Would have been nice to have you in the group, but there's always a next time (although probably not this exact route).

Dillon wrote:

ghaznavid wrote: Day 1 to Sehonghong Shelter

If possible, please provide a bit more info on this "shelter". Or if anybody else that has any details or pics? I'm planning a fast assault on the khulus there sometime in the not too distant future and a cave in that area would make my logistical planning a whole lot easier.

I don't know much about it, aside from it being a small overhang on the Sehonghong ridge. Andrew will have more info, otherwise I will post details after the GT (although we will probably arrive in the dark and leave in the dark - so I can't guarantee photos).

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
02 Nov 2015 17:07 #65606 by diverian
You can camp at the Giants Castle "picnic site " ?

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
02 Nov 2015 17:59 #65609 by AndrewP
I used the Sehonghong Shelter in Dec 2009. I was pretty buggered at the time, stumbling on it in the dark and leaving long before sunrise, so no pictures from me either. I have seen it subsequently so I know it really exists. You will find it as you leave the Sani Flats and cross the first ridge as heading towards Thabana Ntlenyana, about half way up the ridge. Will try to remember to take a picture of it, even if it is in the dark.

PS - I am looking forward to the GT with Jonathan.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Dillon

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
Powered by Kunena Forum