The 9 summits of SA

This sounds like something really cool, I would be keen to join in (provided the bank account plays along)

@Ghaz - have a look at this thread on ClimbZA: www.climb.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47242&t=9092

DeanVDM's post may be of interest to your attempt..

Thanks Stijn. That is a point to note.

I would say that just like the GT speed record, to break someone else's record I must play by their rules (i.e. Toringkop and Nooitgedacht West), but to answer to the critics I also need to find the actual highest points and do those. It does complicate things a bit though

@ghaz - thanks for ur other post on the "other" forum - u can count me in!! I just need confirmation on the date...

Hi AndreS and welcome to VE

I will send you a private message with some details.

I have been pondering the Mafadi leg of this - Mafadi can be done from many different routes, most of which are just stupid when going for a record attempt (e.g. Hilton Pass, Injisuthi Pass or Corner Pass).

The route needs to be done more or less between 6AM and 9AM the following day. We need to be at some sleeping venue that requires no tent during the night (partial night hiking is inevitable, the record attempt will fall over full moon for this reason).

This leaves 3 possibilities (well, I guess Gypaetus Pass or Bannerman Pass are possible, but both are too slow):
- Leslies (the "obvious" choice): 40km with a very slow last bit before the approach, a slow pass but on the bright side, a very easy traverse with slow altitude gain to the peak. The record on the 9 summits included 27 hours for this route (I think I can do 24-25 hours at a push)
- Judge (the route I know little about): about 45km. The approach to the pass (from Giant's Castle side) is pretty easy, the drive to and from will be quicker, there are no ridges in Lesotho to be crossed, the pass is shorter. I imagine this would take 22 hours + a few hours for sleeping.
- Langies (maybe to be used combined with Judge Pass): about 48km. The pass is a joke, the approach is long, but we have to cross the Senqebethu and Popple ridges. I imagine that 20 hours + a few hours for sleeping may be possible.

Leslie's Pass would include overnighting in Marble Bathes Cave, Langies would be Bannerman Cave and Judge would use Bannerman Hut.

Right now I am tending towards heading up Judge pass so that we don't have to climb the south side of the Popple ridge: 9am-1 before pass, up pass by 3, supper on Mafadi at 5, Bannerman Cave by 8PM, sleep till 4AM, hiking from 5, Langies can be done in 45mins on the way down, so we can be back at the car park by 9am).

The reason I like this route is that I don't want to do a known smugglers route at night, we should have proper light till at least 6PM and navigation over the Senqebethu ridge by moonlight and GPS shouldn't be hard.

Any thoughts on the above would be greatly appreciated

I am hoping to do a trial run on this before the record attempt (within the exact time frame) some time soon.

Do bear in mind that the escarpment from Judge's pass side towards Mafadi is quite tough, not a ridge but indeed quite steep and sustained, as you probably know.

Having said that I think you may be on to something. Judge's pass itself is quite easy both in terms of steepness and route finding. With a daypack it should be a (relative) breeze.

I do not know the route in from Giant's Castle side, but I assume you'll be heading up to contour path and then onto Judge's. Sounds like you have it covered in any case.

Very good idea to do a trial run before the attempt. New territory has a way of adding time, something you can ill-afford on a record attempt.

Will you be doing Kwaduma directly before or after Mafadi? Then this route makes even more sense from a travel point of view.

This is a comment on Ghaz's recipe for the round trip (4 Oct post).

I'd be tempted to get up and down the passes in a day and, if you had to, sleep in the little berg - say contour path height. There are three advantages to this:
a) its warmer, so you need less kit and therefore the bag will be lighter (which is key)
b) if you find you are still going well at the bottom of the pass on descent, you can walk on into the night and get back to the road-head. If you plan to bed down somewhere like Bannerman, that won't happen.
c) it is a big psychological advantage to steal the hours on the day and be ahead of rather than behind the clock. Being tired at 11am feels different and leads to a different response to feeling tired at 6pm.

Going up and down the passes in daylight hours means you'd need to start walking in the dark. This is OK because the best paths are then walked in the dark. With full moon and head torch it will be fine.

When I first started walking in the Berg I used to think it was a disaster to be anywhere other than in your sleeping bag when it was dark. Then later I was in mountains where it was actually safer to be out at night (when the ice was frozen and rock fall minimal) and I realised how easy it is to walk Berg paths at night.

Sounds like a good mission - good luck.

@Highlands: Thanks for that On the bright side I have done the route from very close to the top of Judge Pass to the top of Mafadi on GT this year, and I have done Bannerman Hut many times - just the "quick" bit in the middle I have never done before The plan is to do the route to Bannerman Hut and keep to the path for the "short" distance further to the base of the pass.

The driving time cut down is a very big part of the thought, possibly as much as 2 hours of driving in exchange for 6km further, but on well worn smuggler paths...

@mnt_tiska: I agree 100% with what you say. Langies as a descent option doesn't work well due to my old friend Popple...

The problem is the starting time. If we manage to get to Giant's the evening before - awesome. However, day 2 goes like this: 4AM we are up, by 5 we are equipped with day packs and walking the 32km trip to Namahadi. I doubt we will be back before 7PM. If we get back before the gates are locked and still feel like driving to Giant's that night then its a huge bonus but bearing in mind that safety comes first and that we are aiming to hammer the record by 2d12h, if we only take it by 2d, its not the end of the world. If possible we may aim for Harrismith that night, just get an hour of driving out of the way. Considering the day we would have just had and the 3 days that follow Namahadi, we won't be up before 4AM on day 3, so best case scenario we will reach Giant's by 7AM and thats only if we got as far as Harrismith the night before, I can't see how we'll do better than that.

My main issue is doing Judge Pass under moonlight - just in case we meet some "friends" along the way. We choose the dates according to full moon and the summer solstice, and thats why we are doing a trial run over the next upcoming full moon.

Getting back to the car park after Mafadi is fun - long drive to Matat followed by the first half of the KwaDuma hike that afternoon.

I've done moonlight hiking twice this year (by accident both times) and really enjoyed it, if we only do moonlight 3 times on 9 summits, we will be done well. Odds are we will stand on top of Seweweekspoort at night.

The problem goes away if we do the route backward - start at Seweweekspoort and end on Iron Crown. Although this will cost us about 3 semantics hours on the record time - the clock starts when we leave the car for the first time and end when we reach the last peak, that's Kobus' rules and he is the record holder... I'm going to do some calculations though, that actually may not be a bad idea, leave the easy 4 till the end...

So Splatacat and I have agreed that we should delay our record attempt to autumn/early winter next year. Get in a bit more training first, have more stable weather and less traffic on the road...