Mini Hike Reports

21 Mar 2017 13:10 #71180 by elinda
Replied by elinda on topic Mini Hike Reports
We have wanted to hike along the eMahoshiya Ridge which overlooks the Hlatimba passes area in Vergelegen for some time now, so last weekend Richard, myself, Irene and Thora set off on a hot morning from the office and headed up the valley that heads up to the bottom of the Mlahlangubo Pass. We opted to stay in the valley, which, with hindsight was a bad call as it was overgrown and the going was tough in the heat. Once at the head of the valley and having collected water, we climbed out and set up our tents on the saddle of the eMayoshiya ridge. We had beautiful views overlooking the valley of the Hlatimba passes and Buttress, a view not often seen by hikers. The skies which had been cloudless up to then changed swiftly and the rumble of thunder caused us to duck into our tents. We had quite a deluge of rain and hail, which cleared after an hour or two and then we were engulfed in mist for the remainder of the night. Morning brought wonderful soft light and dramatic views which we enjoyed. We packed up and set off down the ridge towards the Hook in misty conditions which soon burned off as the morning wore on. A lovely area of the Berg that is not often visited but as the road to Vergelegen has worsened since our last visit, I can see why!


View up Mlahlangubo Valley



View towards Hlatimba cutback and Buttress



Our campsite



View down the ridge towards The Hook

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20 Apr 2017 08:26 #71396 by ghaznavid
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Over the Easter Weekend, I joined my brother (Steve) and his wife (Des) for a Berg trip. It started with a visit to Golden Gate (there is much less there than I expected), followed by a trip up the Chain Ladders (we bailed at the ladders in really bad weather), and then a trip up the Gorge Walk (in beautiful weather).

This was followed by a trip up Sani (by vehicle). This was Des' first time on the escarpment. I suggested that Thaba Phinong was a good target. We started by walking to the top of Phinong Pass (almost 5km of very flat terrain from Sani Top). Des is a very serious bird watcher, so the massive flock of bald ibis and the lammergeier were massive highlights for her.

The peak itself is easy - especially if you approach it from the pass rather than the side closer to Sani Top. They did struggle a bit, but before long Des had her first khulu (and first time above 3000m outside of a plane), and Steve had his 3rd and highest khulu (he had previously done Rhino and Cathedral Peak). It was cloudy over Vergelegen, but the view was still exceptional.

On Monday we had hoped to head up the Hodgesons Peaks, but they were both tired from the 46km of hiking they had done over the last week, so we opted for some horseback riding instead - which was quite fun!

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20 Apr 2017 08:33 #71397 by ghaznavid
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20 Apr 2017 08:37 #71399 by ghaznavid
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22 Apr 2017 19:24 #71407 by Richard Hunt
Replied by Richard Hunt on topic Mini Hike Reports
Hi Guys. A group of passionate hikers did what I call the Three Passes Hike at Lotheni over the Easter Weekend. You can see the photos on this link... richardhuntphotographer.blogspot.co.za/

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23 Apr 2017 16:31 #71411 by WarrenM
Replied by WarrenM on topic Mini Hike Reports
Hey Guys - Quick report from our side

We stayed in Rolands Cave on Friday night (up the Camel) - it is starting to get chilly up on the escarpment -5 deg with windchill is what we got on Friday Night. On the Escarpment on Saturday there was a lot of areas where the streams etc are starting to get iced up.



We headed south at 4.30 on Sat morning, up Didima buttress gully and then back down through the Yodler cascades and the same way back to Rolands and the car.

Heading down from Ndumeni into the valley, the first kraal was abandoned, but the next one on east side of that valley had three very ferocious dogs guarding that left the kraal in the dark to completely test our emotions and fear of them, both heading down the valley and back was a equally testing experience with them.

Heading back through Yodler Cascades most of the kraal seemed to be abandoned, and we decided to head up and over the last saddle to avoid the ones very low down in the value as we had seen activity there.

The weather was great, and we got good views when we were on the escarpment of the Cathedral range, below a couple and with sunset.



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23 Apr 2017 19:35 #71413 by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic Mini Hike Reports
A year ago I lead a team that attempted Rhino. In the end, Hobbit took Emily to the top while I helped Matthew back down. So yesterday (Saturday), I took Matthew and his father (Eugene) back to bag the khulu.

We had perfect weather and this time Matthew made it up.

Hobbit decided to go for a run, and managed to complete the route in 4h32 (while the rest of us took 11h58).

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23 Apr 2017 19:37 #71414 by ghaznavid
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02 May 2017 17:37 - 02 May 2017 17:38 #71453 by Macc
Replied by Macc on topic Mini Hike Reports
As part of our Mnweni Marathon training, my wife (@JessMcTag) and I went for a run/hike around the Mlambonja - Bell Traverse on Saturday. The weather was pretty much perfect, just enough cloud cover to the sun at bay, but good visibility and not too cold.

Was wanting to start at 6am to mimic the marathon start but I underestimated how long it would take to get to Didima so we got away at 6h32. Made really good progress up to the Neptune Pools - Xeni Cave turn-off. Between there and the turn to go up to the contour path though the grass was taller than our heads which slowed us up a lot.



The path up to the contour path is quite nice, the contour path, however, is pretty kak in places - some parts it was easier to walk on the bank next to the path. Not sure where we left the contour to go onto the pass because at some point we were just on the pass path and going up. The base is very overgrown so although there is a pretty good path, it has a lot of bush over it so it was quite slow going for a while.







The pass took us a long time...longer than I had planned actually. We passed three groups on the pass, actually saw 8 groups of hikers in total in the day...by far the most I've ever seen before in a day. Got to the top and had lunch at Twin's Cave at noon. It was a lot cooler up top so jackets went back on and stayed on the rest of the day. The path from Twin's to Bugger's Gully is awesome. We ran where we could, but it is a more like a quick walk on mountain paths all too often.



Went up and over Bugger's Gully after a short break at Bell Cave. From there down the Cathedral valley was quite relentless on the legs and took quite a bit out of them which unfortunately meant the downhill all the way home wasn't quite as quick as we had hoped.

Got back to the car at 5:30pm, just before sunset. We weren't really trying too hard for a great time and probably could have run a lot more, but we wanted time on our feet so there and back in the daylight was perfect for us. We then popped into Didima to sign out for the mountain register but our page was missing from the book...which was a little concerning, no staff by that point so no one to ask.

Next stop is the marathon in 11 days...

"The three rules of mountaineering: It’s always further, taller and harder than it looks."

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Last edit: 02 May 2017 17:38 by Macc.
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02 May 2017 18:58 #71454 by WarrenM
Replied by WarrenM on topic Mini Hike Reports
Nice training route Macc - we'll see you in 11 days.....
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