The 9 summits of SA

Interesting route choice, seams like they going via Corner Pass, Northern High approach to Mafadi. I would have thought Leslies is closer and less technical.

Would love to hear the argument behind choosing Corner.

Corner Pass is via NHA is the most direct route to the top - yes it's more technical, but the current Mafadi FKT was set by Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesel going up and down that route. My concern at this time of the year would be whether Corner Pass has iced up (especially with the recent snowfall). I feel the slightly longer route from Giant's Castle via Judge Pass (which is on some form of path all the way) may be the safer option...

I also would opt for Giants and Judge as opposed to Corner (although unquestionably either Corner or Around the Corner if going from Injisuthi). The time savings on better roads and being able to drive in from Escourt and out via Notties is huge.

Just reached the summit, these guys are monsters...

I see they are almost back at the car now, just the little bump before the road and then the short run back up the Injisuthi Road. They will have missed the FKT by quite a bit (notably Ryno already holds this FKT) - but that is to be expected with fatigue etc.

From here, most of the remaining time will be driving - KwaDuma is easy (well, much easier than Mafadi), and the last two are at a minimum not particularly far, although Seweweekspoort is an ultra - so I'm guessing it isn't that easy.

If I tried hiking to Mafadi from Injasuti, then Leslies would be an okay option. No slower than Corner.

But when running, Corner Pass will be much much faster. When running, visibility counts for a lot. So, the dense bush on Leslies will slow a runner down to hiking pace. Technical ground slows me down,but by less, because there is only a few meters of rock on Corner vs a 2 km of bush on Leslies.

I don't think that record will see that many more goes in the near future - I didn't see their exact time, but roughly 64h, that record was absolutely shattered. Great effort by the team.