Mini Hike Reports

Hi everyone, 

This past week from Sunday to Tuesday, The Real Dave and I did a three day, four pass hike at Giants Castle. This was my first pass hike after my fall and rescue in early August, and I will use this chance to give a brief update on what I have been doing in the mountains during my recovery. 

I have been doing exploration day hikes, and did the first one 7 weeks after I was released from hospital, on the September long weekend at Garden Castle, getting a lift with Ghaznavid, who was doing a four day Lesotho peak hike with Michael R. After moving ghaznavid’s car from Bushman’s Nek, where they departed, to Garden Castle, I did two fairly long days of around 20 km, being joined by Elinda on the second day. The weather wasn’t great on the third day, and we just did a short hike, and then spent the rest of the day relaxing, and I could feel I had probably overdone things on the first two days. In October I got a lift to Cathedral Peak with vivo101 and AndrewP, who were going to climb Column, and I did four days of exploration day hikes in the Cathedral Peak area. On the second weekend of November I got a lift with Andrew to Injisuthi, and did an overnight hike, 3 days with 2 nights at Lower Injisuthi Cave and Grindstone Cave, and again did a lot of off path exploration, not merely walking between the caves. I felt good, although my neck and finger didn't have full movement yet, and I got tired quicker than I used to, and coped well with the hikes. 

At the end of November I was at Witsieshoek for four days with friend Luca, doing improvements to the path to the chain ladders, installing some signage, and steps and chains to hold onto on the steeper rock slab sections which get quite tricky when they're wet. It was good to be in the mountains again, and nice to have the luxury of accommodation and meals at the lodge, and very satisfying to do the work. The lodge was pleased that I could get this done before the rainy season, as they were worried that I had already delayed doing it until I felt strong enough. 




On Sunday morning David and I drove down to Giant’s Castle, and then that afternoon went up Katana Pass and stayed in Katana Cave, it was very wet but I found a big enough flat dry place for me, and David put up his tent in another flat area to keep the drips off him. Monday, we went down South Jarateng Pass, along the contour path and up North Hlubi Pass, and overnighted in Bannerman Cave. Both days the weather was good, not too hot and partly cloudy, although low cloud and mist was forecast for Tuesday and that turned out to be the case. We came down Thumb Pass, and only the top part was above the mist, so disappointing not to see much of what we were doing, although after a few obstacles near the top it was a pretty straightforward grass slope pass to the contour path. At that height and below it was raining lightly, so the wet grass soon got our boots totally soaked. 






It was a great hike, and I enjoyed doing passes again, although I was quite tired I feel I coped fine. I didn’t foresee doing 4 passes on my first pass hike, but they were very pleasant, and I’m pleased with my progress. 

I will do detailed write ups of the chain ladder path improvements, and the passes as I get the chance.

Good to see you up and about in the hills again.  I am trying to repair an injured plantar fascia in my right foot, so have been out of actions for a few weeks and it is v frustrating.  So understand the having to go slow to repair.

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Hi fellow mountain lovers,

Just couldn't let the opportunity pass me by to share some photos of a super fun hike we did over the recent long weekend. We were a group of 3 that did a Ledges and Thonyelana Pass loop in the Mnweni area.  It was just one of those perfect hikes where all the puzzle pieces combined perfectly to deliver a truly memorable experience. The proper snowfall earlier the week together with some excellent winter weather, delivered the best of playgrounds.

Ledges pass is becoming a personal favourite, I just love that ridge, the views are spectacular and the absence of both bushwhacking and a long boulder-bed, makes for easy-going. We started hiking at around 8AM and reached Ledges Cave just after 3PM (multiple breaks allowed us to soak it all in).

 
 

Looking down the ridge
 
 

Fun little scramble section
 

Ledges Cave
 
 



 

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The plan for the 2nd day was to go from Ledges to Easter Cave. We were pleasantly surprised at the amount of snow on the escarpment. It offered amazing views and ample fun, but was also quite strenuous to walk through at times.

 
 
 
 
 
 

As we approached Thonyelana Gap we were awestruck by both the views and the amount of snow - Easter Cave just looked a stretch too far and a quick deliberation saw us improvising and deciding to camp close to the escarpment edge. Not a typical spot, but with more than enough snow to melt, water was not a problem

  
 
 

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Youth day provided us with a stunning sunrise and some epic fun working our way down Thonyelana gap to the top of the pass.

 
 
 
 
 
 

The descent of Thonyelana Pass was great (one of the easier ones in the Berg), and being north-facing, snow was not a problem (similar to Ledges). Bongani, our pre-arranged lift, duly picked us up at 12:30 which allowed us more than enough time to have a lovely shower at MCC before making our way back home

 
 
 

 

Wow, nice!

Supertramp, you should post that last pic of your tent on the Durston webpage, tha's a stunning photo!
Nice to see you guys had a fun time in the snow. We tried Corner and Around the Corner over the same time but couldn't get to the escarpment as the passes were too full of snow and ice. Lower down Corner had about the same amount of snow (knee deep in places) as you experienced. Amazing to think that there was still this much left nearly a week after the snowfall. I think the weather forecast's 20 - 30cm snow forecast was way off this time.

Nice one guys.  Was down with flu for that snow week, hopfully witl be up to speed for the next one.  What did you think of Ledgers Pass, glad it is getting some love?

Riaang wrote:

Wow, nice!

Supertramp, you should post that last pic of your tent on the Durston webpage, tha's a stunning photo!
 

Thanks Riaang, I will do that! It was such a magical morning - feel privileged to have a captured a glimpse of it.  

Sorry to hear about your double blocked summit attempt, must have been quite the experience. Still a win to get down safely, irrespective of the original goals. 

Yeah, I'm hoping that this event sets a precedent for the rest of the winter  

Serious tribe wrote:

Nice one guys.  Was down with flu for that snow week, hopfully witl be up to speed for the next one.  What did you think of Ledgers Pass, glad it is getting some love?

Thanks Serious tribe. 

Sorry to hear about the untimely flu, may you be ready to go on the next opportunity! Ledges Pass is an absolute gem in my opinion! This was my 4th go (3rd ascent and one previous descent). It provides a lovely variation to the typical Mnweni passes with 360 views of the area. I quite enjoy the unique angles it provides of the Rwanqa Valley (not that I have any dreams of doing the pass in the near future ). There is some clear signs of use if one assesses the foothold condition at the upper scramble section (comparing it over time) as well as short sections of path starting to develop lower down the ridge. Other than that, it it still feels quite untouched, which is great!