Bermanzi hiking trail and abseil Jun 2005

I drove to George’s on Friday but we still had to wait until 3pm for Brian and Norma to show up. The drive took us just under 3 hours and we arrived just after dusk. Everyone else was already there and we quickly got ourselves beds. The coal stove inside was going but the smoke struggled to escape and we choked in it. The others had the fire going already and while I waited for some coals I had rolls for dinner. After dinner we all flocked inside to Norma’s apple crumble for pudding.

Day 1 (25 June): We started walking just after 8am. I was hoping to do some abseiling later in the afternoon and put on a little speed. Shirley and Elize kept up with me though and at the bottom of the descent to the river, we rested together. The path ascended again steeply to the Witkruisarend beacon and shortly thereafter descended back to the river. At this point George and I were in front and when we got to the river we decided it was an ideal place to have lunch. After a short rest I decided to go for the hut so we could go abseil. I got up and started walking in the river bed, passing the remains of a monkey on the way. George, Shirley and Eddy joined me and soon we were all ascending steeply to the top. We got to the junction where the paths went to the top and down to the waterfall. Deciding that we were going to go to the waterfall the next day, we all started for the top. Getting to the top was hard work but once there, it was an easy walk back to the hut. We had a little bit to eat and drink back at the hut before starting out for the crack where we abseiled last time. It took me a while finding good anchors but once I had them, I was able to set up two 20m abseils. I quickly abseiled on the one rope and then ascended on the second, changing over to abseiling, close to the top. Then I descended past a knot and waited at the bottom. Eddy was supervising George’s descent and then also Pam’s and Lawrence’s while I set George up for an ascent. Then I climbed back to the top and took some photos of George as he came to the top. I then decided to do a sequence of abseiling past a knot, changing over to ascent, passing the knot a second time, changing over to descent and passing the knot a third time. At rescue training we were suppose to be able to do this in 20 minutes. While I got ready, Shirley went to the bottom to take some pictures. I asked Eddy to time me as I got to the knot and then proceeded to do the whole sequence in 18:15 minutes – not bad! Then for a final exercise, Eddy timed me ascending the 20 odd meters back up – I completed it in 2:55! Both Pam and Lawrence wanted to abseil again so I supervised their abseils before we packed up and walked back to the hut for a nice dinner that consisted mainly of cake. We went to bed just after 8pm.

Day 2 (26 June): It was cold when we got up but as the sun rose, the temperature became tolerable. George along with most of the others wanted to do more walking and decided to do the extra trails. Shirley, Eddy and Elize walked along with me to the top of the waterfall where I intended to set up the highest abseil I’ve ever done. It took me a while setting up the anchors properly and Eddy and Shirley took the time to walk down to the bottom to take some pictures. I used about 20m of Eddy’s static for rigging, tied the club’s static to the bottom of that, and tossed it over the edge. I tied Eddy’s dynamic to my back and made sure I had all that I would need on the way down. The step-off was awkward and overhanging. I struggled getting the edge protection in place but when I had it in, I was able to abseil smoothly. It was extremely scary. The 30m to the first knot I took slowly making sure I was going smoothly. At the knot I was able to stand on a tiny ledge, easing the harness pressure slightly. I passed the knot safely but with shaking hands and then abseiled to a second ledge choked with fierce thorny bushes. I noticed that the second rope wouldn’t be long enough so I took the time to take the third rope off my back and tie it onto the second one. I then continued the abseil to the second knot which I had to pass hanging just below a ledge. About 20m down the third rope I got to a large bouldery ledge where I had to stop for a while to gather the bottom of the rope and throw it down the last little bit. The last few meters went smoothly and when I got to the bottom (in a shallow little pool), I measured about 9m of the third rope remaining. I struggled getting over the slippery boulders to the path where everyone was waiting. Shirley, Norma and Brian were there to congratulate me but I had to sit for a while to stop the shaking and calm the nerves. Then I sped off to the top to retrieve the rope and break up the rigging. I measured the rope used for rigging as about 19m, making the total height of the abseil 122m! The whole abseil took me about half an hour. Feeling very relieved and elated, we walked back to the hut, packed up and left for a late lunch on the way home.

What a fantastic weekend! I did the highest, scariest abseil to date and still got some good walking in. However, the paths on the hike need some maintenance especially the extra paths walked by George and the rest. The coal stove inside the hut can do with a chimney cleaning session and they would do well to grade the dirt road.

Mike's pass to Old Fire Lookout - Cathedral Peak (Drakensberg) Jun 2005

I picked Gordon up at his home and drove through to Bergville. There wasn’t anybody at the campsite’s office so we left R50 and a message that we were sleeping at the tennis courts. We read a little before bed but were trying to get up early so we went to bed just before 10pm. During the night temperature dropped to -2 degrees and I was optimistic about some really cold weather up on top.

Day 1 (11 June): We got up at 05:30 and were on the road before 6am. Just after 7am we arrived at Cathedral Peak and signed in. We left the car at the bottom of Mike’s pass and started hiking up, very hopeful in getting a lift to the top. After about an hour’s walk we started to realize that we were not going to get a lift. There were just no cars on their way up! There was one long section we could have skipped by taking a steep shortcut, but the hope of hitching a ride and the steepness of the path kept us on the road. We stopped once to take a quick breather but only sat down for a while once we reached the top of Mike’s pass. It was just before 10am when we started the slog up to the Old Fire Lookout. We made good time around the first few hills; the veld was burnt all around us and the path was as clear as daylight. Then the steep ridge to the hut began. Having already walked up Mike’s pass, the effect began to show and we slowed down considerably. Because I expected there to be water at the hut neither of us packed a lot of water. We had a few bites to eat before we got to the hut. Arriving at the hut just before 2pm, we were shocked to find the water tank in two pieces on the ground and the roof of the hut falling apart. The lack of water was appalling. With my feet packing up over the last 2km I wasn’t really in a state to go any further – we had already decided that we were not going to push for the top. But now without water, I had to rely on Gordon to take the Drom bag and go look for water. He left at immediately. I rested my feet and had a short snooze before a family from Qumbagana showed up at the hut. The kids poked around the hut and they all had a good lookout before going down again. Gordon got back at 15:30 having found some seepage water not too far up the path. He managed to collect a good 8 litres – more than enough for us. We started with food at 5pm and had a very nice dinner with mince, bacon, tomato and onion relish with some rice. After dinner we took pictures of a beautiful sunset and went to bed. The wind blew all night. Although we didn’t get any unwanted visitors, we barely slept with some very strong winds trying to take the hut off the mountain.

Day 2 (12 June): We got up early having grown quite tired of trying to sleep with gale force winds raping the hut. The temperature dropped to a low of 4.9 degrees only – very disappointing. We had a quick breakfast and left down the path. We made good time and was soon at the top of Mike’s pass. We were hoping to catch a lift down but once again, nothing came along. We decided to go down the shortcut this time and were able to skip a good 3km of the pass. The shortcut was steep and very loose in places but at least we saved a lot of time. We were down again just before 10am. After a good shower we signed out and left for home.

It was a rather disappointing hike. Although we managed to climb just over a 1000m in the day, we didn’t reach the top of Organ Pipes and the expected cold never came. But we also learned that we shouldn’t bank on water at the hut again.