Double Crossing the Dragon

True - the reason there are so few shots from the second GT is that my batteries for the 2nd GT went with my gear from the first GT, and my flat batteries came with for the second GT. Oh well - leaving spare socks but carrying 400g in dead weight seems like a plan...

Viking wrote: Great effort!

Ok time to nit-pick.
What distinction are we making between a double GT and two spaced close together?

My suggestion would be that any time between the two traverses should be spent in the Witsieshoek area (or Bushman's Nek for the reverse directions) like Ghaz & Hobbit did, rather than heading back to "civilisation" in between traverses. This way those days in between are rest days rather than the two traverses being separate hikes? Resupplies and support start blurring the lines of civilisation though..

@Stijn: that is roughly what we thought.

It would be quicker to shorten the days and only spend a single night at an end point - but 460km is a long way and the days off definitely helped!

ghaznavid wrote: The static shock from the summit cairn was really scary - and the reality is that we probably weren't far from being taken out in that storm. No strike on the summit itself was noted while we were near it - lots of strikes in the general area though.

I have experienced that “static shock” previously on two separate occasions; both gave me a huge fright!

The first was in March 2006, nearing the top of Corner Pass; the weather turned from clear to an abrupt storm in what felt like minutes, the rain came pouring down and then 4 of us, out of our group of 6, got zapped. The lightning struck nearby within a split second of the shock. Luckily the storm died almost as quickly as it blew in.

The second time was 2 weeks ago, camping outside Underberg; an afternoon storm was blowing in so I was sorting out some gear and closing my tent, I got the shock just as I opened my trailer, then waited about 3 seconds and then the lightning struck just down the road, probably within 200m of us. My sister-in-law was standing in her tent about 15m away from me and got a shock at exactly the same time as me. Nobody else in the campsite felt it. Lightning is so weird and unpredictable!



Well done on the double GT, that’s an awesome achievement, congratulations! One comment though, if you do have another crack at this in the future, I think the rest days in between could possibly be better spent doing some active recovery, rather than doing nothing at all.

Thank you Ghaznavid for the write-up, its epic to read this story (and your other stories) - it provides an endless source of inspiration and daydreaming material. Its really formidable for Mike to do what he does at his age...just think what he could achieve in 10 years' time!

The reason for my post is this: how do you manage multiple days of hiking with one pair of socks? Blisters?

Give Mike 10 years and Andrew might actually have some competition!

gerhardsnorbaard wrote: The reason for my post is this: how do you manage multiple days of hiking with one pair of socks? Blisters?

50km of hiking in a day gives you blisters - it is as simple as that. For a fast GT, that is a given. Around midway through the return traverse, I started developing horrible blisters on the bottom of my feet - kind of felt like I had gravel in my shoes, not fun. The other blisters didn't really worry me, aside from when we did some running in the last 10km.

I did use double socks, and when we stopped, the shoes were off and feet in the river - which does help. My trail shoes (Hi-Tec Flash Forces) have a mesh front, which lets a lot of dirt through, so the socks are get very dirty very quickly anyway.

Thanks, I couldnt help but ask!

ghaznavid wrote: 50km of hiking in a day gives you blisters - it is as simple as that. For a fast GT, that is a given. Around midway through the return traverse, I started developing horrible blisters on the bottom of my feet - kind of felt like I had gravel in my shoes, not fun. The other blisters didn't really worry me, aside from when we did some running in the last 10km.

I did use double socks, and when we stopped, the shoes were off and feet in the river - which does help. My trail shoes (Hi-Tec Flash Forces) have a mesh front, which lets a lot of dirt through, so the socks are get very dirty very quickly anyway.

Allow me to disagree here - it is possible to cover long distances over multiple days without blisters. It's tricky, but the key is to experiment with different types of shoes until you find one that actually fits your feet properly. E.g. Everybody raves about Salomons but they are simply too narrow for my feet. Personally, I find Asics to suit my feet just about perfectly.

I agree with Stijn, I very seldom get blisters from my hiking, although I will concede that I don't hike 50 km a day for multiple days. Also I did not have blisters from the Mnweni Marathon, and when I was still an active road runner years ago I never got blisters from any of the ultramarathons or Comrades that I did.

Blisters weren't a problem on the way north - Mike picked up a few, I only picked up a few minor ones that didn't really bother me (i.e. their placement wasn't in such a spot that I noticed them). It was on the return traverse that blisters were more of a problem. The ones I picked up on the bottom of my feet were horrible - never had blisters there before.

I did look after my feet more carefully on these traverses compared to the 107h51 last year. My feet did get sore, but not massively. The key was regularly washing them in the river, and giving them a good rub every time they went in the water.