Fernkloof (Magaliesberg) Dec 2006

A day out in the kloof with Gordon and both his sisters, Nicola and Rhona, as well as Denise (from varsity) and her boyfriend.

SA Hiking holiday Nov-Dec 2006

Having driven down on Friday morning for a two and a half week holiday, I was eager to start on the planned ascent of Ribbok kop, the highest point in Golden Gate. I’ve seen this peak from the east now twice and twice decided not to try and climb it from that side as there were uncrossable rock bands. So the other option was to ascend from the western end. The ridge from the west is guarded by Snow hill from which another ridge extends almost all the way to the road. This was my main aim for the first hiking day.

Day 1 (25 November): I spent the night at Glen Reenen and started hiking early on Saturday. I drove over to the Stables just before the gate and left my car there. I followed the road higher up the hill but I wanted to be on the ridge on the opposite side, so I walked over a field and picked up the road that runs towards a private property. As soon as I saw the house I walked off the road, crossed the little stream and started walking up the hill towards Swartkop. It was a cool morning with some mist on the high peaks and I enjoyed the hike. Finally getting to the top of the first rise, I saw Swartkop in the distance. I had to climb a game fence to get onto the ridge leading up to Swartkop. A cool breeze was blowing but it was still warm enough to keep my jacket inside my bag. There was a little scramble to get to the top of Swartkop but from there I had a fantastic view of the ridge leading towards Snow hill. After a quick photo I was off again, first down climbing to the saddle south of Swartkop and then carrying on. Skipping out on the hills along the way, I contoured as far as was possible until I was on the final ridge leading up to Snow hill. Approaching, I noticed that the last little bit of the ridge was a steep, exposed rock section and I sincerely hoped that the fencing I’ve been walking next to, ran all the way to the top, providing some hand holds. Although there were a few tricky bits, the scramble wasn’t that bad and soon I stood on top of Snow hill. To the west I saw the spectacular summit of Angle’s wing, looking more like a rock climb than a scramble. After the photo and co-ordinate was taken I moved towards the east to get down Snow hill and up Ribbok kop. However, I soon discovered that the rock bands on Snow hill wouldn’t allow me to get down on the ridge. Scrambling down a short section I had to traverse back west across the entire face of Snow hill, doing some really scary step-overs on flaky basalt until I got back to the ridge I climbed up on. I then descended onto the broad grass slope running the entire face of both Snow hill and Ribbok kop and traversed back east again. Having wasted some time and seeing even more rock bands on the western face of Ribbok kop I pretty much gave up climbing it. However, picking up a semi-decent rhebok trail I soon stood on the slopes of Ribbok kop, below a steep grass gully that seemed to run all the way up. I decided to give it a go but was stopped about 100m higher up by a small but overhanging boulder, chocked in the gully. I then gave up completely but noticed that a grass ramp on the eastern side of the gully might in future hold the key to gaining access to the top of Ribbok kop. Back on the rhebok trail I dropped fast into the valley and finally got onto the actual Ribbok hiking trail. Three km downstream I got to the overnight hut where I rested a bit before tackling the final 3km back to the car. I got back to the car at around 15:30 and had a leisurely afternoon around the camp.

Day 2 (26 November): When I woke up, everything was covered in heavy mist and a strong wind was still blowing. I figured the mist would eventually clear up and had a quick breakfast before walking up towards Wodehouse peak. I had no intention of going towards the Sentinel and walking the long, gradual way around, but rather hoped to pick up the steep descent trail by walking around the Mushroom rocks. This I did, but once around the rocks the path started going downhill and I decided to go my own way. However, the going got a bit steep, up some thickly vegetated slopes until just below the next rock band where I picked up the path again. From here on the walking was pretty easy although the rain and dew through the night made walking very wet. Very soon I was on the grass ridge leading through the first rock band and soon after I stood on top of the saddle where the small meteorological station is. Form here I was able to see Wodehouse peak and made a beeline ascent of it, standing on top in about 1,5 hours out of Glen Reenen camp. I took some photos and then made my way back the same way, but instead of walking around the Mushroom rocks, I walked straight down to the road and then back to Glen Reenen. Back at camp, I packed up and left for Monk’s Cowl.

At Monk's Cowl I set up camp and proceeded to wait for the rest of our rescue team as we were due for a week's training in the area. They only arrived very late at night after the majority of the team went out on a call in the Magaliesberg earlier in the day. On the Monday morning we drove through to Dragon Peaks where we met the Airforce personnel and started planning the week's training. Throughout the week we did numerous sessions consisting of hoisting, personnel trooping and dropline practice in the Hospitaalspruit, Twins cave and Ntonjelana pass areas. At the end of the week, on Friday afternoon after training, a bunch of us got dropped off by helicopter high in Rockeries pass to do a short 3-day hike back to Cathedral Peak area.

Day 1 (1 December): Having done dropline helicopter training in the morning, ten of us, including two air force pilots, were dropped of by an Oryx high in Rockeries pass (2300m) with the intention of hiking through to Orange peel gap to get picked up again. Initially we were hoping to do Nguza pass but a low cloud base and poor visibility prevented Rob from giving the pilots accurate directions. But Rockeries pass was close enough and as soon as we were dropped we had some snacks and started hiking up the pass. It was around 16:00. I enjoyed my walking and made good progress up the pass. Although there was plenty cloud around, the mist cleared slightly as we neared the top and made for some really good photography. We summitted at 17:30 and carried on around the spur towards the south to find a place to sleep. Just after 6pm we found a semi decent spot, pitched tents and started dinner. I shared my tent with Steve Johnson and we decided to share food and stove as well. Just after dinner the cloud got a bit heavier and a few spots of rain chased us into the tents for the night.

Day 2 (2 December): We got up reasonably early and although there was still some cloud around, it promised to be a pretty good day weather-wise. A little breeze helped to dry the tents and with some clever staging and good acting by Gert and Dean while they were taking their tent down, got an awesome picture of Gert and Dean doing some tent flying! We left before 8am and walked around a dome towards the top of Nguza pass. Here we had a break for some photographs and then started the long trek up the valley towards Ntonjelana pass. Dean decided to walk on the escarpment edge and we agreed to meet him at the top of Ntonjelana pass. Everyone kept to their own pace up the valley but at the top we regrouped and walked together to climb through the usual rock band and then met up with Dean and had lunch at the pass. After lunch the weather got slightly ominous and we packed up quickly to head for Twins cave. I got ahead on the way to Twins cave, quickly found the descent route and was at the cave long before the others. All of us were in the cave by 15:00 and we lazed around for the rest of the afternoon. With sunset, mist started coming up the valley and eventually entered the cave so that we couldn’t see from the one side to the other. As it got dark we had a magic display of fireflies all around us in the grass and inside the cave and we all sat outside and watched. Later-on, Dean created an artificial fire by lighting some benzene in the bottom of a cut-open tin, floating in a pot of water to keep the benzene cool. Soon however, our eyes were drooping and we headed for bed.

Day 3 (3 December): I rose at 04:45 to go and see the sunrise. Andy, Putch, Catherine and I walked around to the saddle of the Twins with the Mitre and from there saw the most spectacular sunrise over Cathkin. With cameras clicking away it was well after dawn before we returned to the cave for breakfast. We left at around 07:30 and despite some strong winds, walked fast around the Bell traverse. We had a few awkward manoeuvres to do but all went well. When we noticed some high level lenticular clouds, Putch said we should call in the helicopter sooner rather than later. After calling back to base he had to negotiate with the colonel and we almost did not get a lift home but then take-off was scheduled for 13:00 and we breathed a sigh of relief. We still had to traverse across the face of Bell and Cathedral but that went quickly and then came the arduous climb up Bugger gully. Rob and I got to the other side first, picked a good landing zone for the helicopter and then walked back up Bugger gully to help the others. Graham and Catherine were both suffering a bit from sunstroke – Rob took Cath’s pack and I Graham’s. When we were all safely below Bugger gully I fashioned some shade for Cath and Graham and then we all had a spot to eat. The Oryx showed up just after 13:00 but they had some trouble getting the helicopter down in the strong winds. But eventually we were all inside and it was a bumpy ride back to Dragon peaks. Back at the base I had a quick swim, a long shower and then said goodbye to all before leaving for Cape Town.

In Cape Town I stayed with my parents for the week, birding around Rietvlei and Helderberg nature Reserve and ascending all the summits of Helderberg and also Pic-sans-Nom and Guardian Peak in the Jonkershoek mountains on my own. Dad and I then went for the big one - a frontal ascent of the Jonkershoek Twins. We had an early start driving through Stellenbosch to get into Jonkershoek. There were no indications of where to go so we fumbled up the forestry tracks until we found a suitable place to park the car. We then climbed steadily through patches of pine plantation until we reached a firebreak on some fynbos slopes that led towards the bottom of the Twins. In the kloof at the bottom, the going was hard, with lots of scrambling and thick vegetation. We exited onto a braod grass ramp sloping to the right up the south face but soon realized we made a mistake - we were too low down still and had to backtrack. Much higher up we found the ramp we were supposed to on and walked up it to the bottom of a very steep and scary looking gully. We scrambled and climbed solo up this with me constantly amazed by my Dad's persistence. We reached top of the gully eventually and then had to make a horrendous traverse over 70 degree grass slopes to the saddle at the summit of the kloof. This bit scared the hell out of me as we didn't have any protection whatsoever and a fall would've been fatal. We managed to reach the saddle without incident but it was now already 3pm and we had a long way back. We decided not to climb the actual Twins summits as the ascent was all about this spectacular route we took. We made our way to the north and then west but ran into nasty rock bands that took a long time to negotiate. Walking through head-high fynbos we eventually came upon a path going down a steep gully north of the Twins and we started the descent. The path was good but Dad's knee was starting to hurt. Still, he walked down stubbornly and we reached the car just after 7pm - a 13-hour day in the mountains and one of the most memorable ever!

Grootkloof (Magaliesberg) Nov 2006

A quick day trip out to Grootkloof.

Cape Town and Table Mountain Nov 2006

Jaco and I had some training to give to colleagues in our Cape Town office and flew down on the Thursday morning. After the day's work we popped in to the brand new Ice Lounge at the V&A Waterfront and spent the late afternoon drinking Coke from ice-glasses and sliding on ice slides made for children. With the sun setting we drove out to Signal hill and took pretty pictures of the sunset.

Friday after work we left for my parents' place in the Strand where we stayed over Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday morning, Jaco and I, together with my parents and my brother, drove out to Kirstenbosch gardens. While my Mom and brother drove around the area for the day, Jaco, my Dad and I climbed Table Mountain using the Skeleton Gorge route. It was an excellent walk but sweaty in the November heat. We reached the top well before lunch and walked over to Maclear's beacon, the highest point on Table Mountain. After lunch we walked steadily towards the top cable car station. Initially we were thinking of taking the cable car down but my Dad convinced us to walk down India Venster, a more challenging route than Skeleton Gorge. And what a truly spectacular walk! We first walked down a kloof south of the cable station and then turned west before skirting below the cliffs on which the cable car station is built. Then you come out onto the spur going down directly below the cable car track. Its steep and lots of scrambling is required but what a fantastic route to walk! We were down around 3pm and my Mom came to pick us up. We all burned in the November sun and would be another few days before the burned skin started peeling off.

On Sunday morning we took a drive around the mountains of Franschoek and then onto the coast where we visited the African penguin colony at Betty's Bay before catching our flight home.

Mountain Sanctuary Park hiking (Magaliesberg) Oct 2006

After playing squash early in the morning I drove to Mountain Sanctuary Park on my own, arriving at around 08:40. This weekend was an MCSA organized adventure race where our Search & Rescue team would organize and set up events to perform. I didn’t wait very long for Graham and Christi to arrive. We expected Gert as well and waited for a while but only Rob and a client showed up.

Day 1 (7 October): Graham, Christi and I left for the Cedarberg campsite. I emptied my pack to be able to carry more gear, with the intention of walking back out to MSP and perhaps even sleeping there (at MSP) rather than up at the campsite. We arrived at Cedarberg campsite and there were already a few people for the MCSA Johannesburg section’s 75th anniversary meet. We took a while to sort out some ropes before leaving for either side of Cedarberg gorge to set up the Tyrolean traverse. Christi and I went to Frog gully while Graham went to the top of Boggle. When we arrived we waited for Graham to tell us exactly where he wanted the Tyrolean to run to. We then started setting up anchors but it wasn’t long before Gert, Graham and Ian also showed up and helped us to set up. Tony and Catherine went to Graham’s side to help out. It took us a long time to set everything properly and in the process the time ran past lunch. Since I still had to go back to MSP, I left. I then decided to come and sleep at the Cedarberg campsite anyway which meant I had to fetch my kit and drag it up to Cedarberg. On the way down I came across Arthur and Theresa as well as a few other MCSA members on their way up. Back at MSP I very quickly packed and walked back up. Having promised Graham Beneke that I would take water to them at Frog gully I filled up my Drom bag and walked back there. Unfortunately, no-one was around so I returned to camp. In the meantime I decided it would be pretty cool to walk up to the Nooitgedacht towers late in the afternoon and return to the campsite at night, thereby doing some night solo walking as well as night navigation. So at 15:30 I left Cedarberg campsite with water, food, map, compass, GPS and camera. Walking to the other side of Cedarberg gorge I scared up a few klipspringers and walked right through the middle of a baboon troop. I slowly aimed off to the east and gained height slowly towards the summit ridge but on the way started developing some cramps in my hamstrings. Taking stretch breaks alleviated the pain a little but the cramps never went away completely. Slowly the Nooitgedacht towers grew bigger and eventually, just after the Red gully path, I came across a dirt road that obviously ran to the towers. This made walking a bit more comfortable but the cramps still forced me to stop now and again to eat and drink. Finally arriving at the towers I summitted the trig beacon at 17:30. I walked back and summitted another trig beacon (289) not very far from Nooitgedacht, perched on top of an old Boerefort shelter. The light started to fade fast now and because I wanted to say hi to Rob and his client at Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, I quickened my pace. Judging the apparent position of the campsite from the map I entered a thumb-suck coordinate into the GPS. As the light finally disappeared completely I was a bit nervous as I couldn’t really see anything beyond the flashlight (heavy cloud obscured the full moon) and I had no idea how accurate my GPS position was. I struggled through some really awful bracken and fern in the throat of Tonquani gorge and then walked on the GPS as best I could. Rounding a rocky outcrop, not really knowing where exactly I had to go to, I spotted a rock feature silhouetted against the dark sky that looked promising. Walking to it I soon realized that it was in fact Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Needless to say, I was extremely happy that the coordinate I entered was absolutely spot-on – less than 20m out! Rob and his client were busy with dinner and I joined them for a while, chatting. I left them at 19:30, planning to descend to Tonquani gorge via Boulder and then back up Cedarberg gorge to the campsite. Following Rob’s general directions I stumbled onto the Boulder kloof shoulder and descended rapidly. Knowing now that I can’t really go wrong anymore and that I only had to be careful of falling, I made good progress. Going up into Cedarberg gorge my legs cramped again and I took a break in the pitch dark, listening to all the nocturnal creatures about. Going up Cedarberg in the dark turned out to be a bit easier than I expected and before long, I came upon the spot where I collected water earlier that afternoon, at the bottom of the descent from the Cedarberg campsite. Quickly walking to the top I saw the big campfire the group made. They were happily singing along to a guitar but I was too tired to join them. Having taken an hour and ten minutes from Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee I was happy with the day’s walk but now needed food and rest. I had two boiled eggs, almost a litre of Clifton and then went to bed. Unfortunately mozzies bugged me until past midnight and when the sun rose the next morning I could’ve done with a few more hours sleep.

Day 2 (8 October): I lazed around the campsite, having breakfast while other people started packing up. I chatted to Graham about what he wanted me to do that day and he asked me initially to bottom belay the abseil setup. However, to avoid damage of the rope by fast abseiling, the abseil was later canned and I decided to act as belayer on the Frog gully side of the Tyrolean. Taking some gear, food and water with me, I left just after 9am. Graham went to the other side. It was a very lazy morning and Graham and I played on the Tyrolean for a while, waiting for the first team to arrive. The first team only came past at around 11:45. Various people showed up during the day to see what was going on and I enjoyed the banter. At around 3pm the last group came through. After this we packed up, walked back to camp, then to MSP, had a debrief of the whole weekend before I left MSP at around 6pm.

Grootkloof (Magaliesberg) Sep 2006

Another day trip out to Grootkloof with some friends from varsity.

Fernkloof (Magaliesberg) Sep 2006

Gordon came to my place at 06:30 and we left in my car for Bergheim. This was a guiding weekend for Philadelphia Reformed Church in Hatfield. Having heard rumours that Fernkloof has turned a little trickier than usual after the heavy rains earlier the year, I wanted to see the kloof for myself before taking the group down. Therefore, Gordon and I left early so we could do the kloof before they arrive.

Day 1 (15 September): Arriving at Bergheim, I paid a R300 deposit for the entire group, parked the car and started walking towards the kloof. We confirmed that we had to take the left fork in the path before going through the cattle turnstile past the fence. We continued up the hill at a good pace and were on the contour path soon. We continued on the path but instead of crossing the tributary as usual we carried on higher until we arrived in a flat, wetland-like plateau. We skirted this to the east for a while but then aimed straight for a saddle on the opposite side. Arriving at the top of the saddle a stiff breeze blew up the mountain. We could see down to the south and also the distant mountains of Kgaswane Mountain Reserve. We gradually rose over the next hill and then I spotted the trig beacon I was aiming for. Walking across to it, we happened on a path and followed it all the way to the beacon. I took a GPS reading, a few photos and then walked to the southern edge from where we could see Olifantsnek dam as well as the ridge of the amphitheatre leading down towards it. We then turned around and decided to follow the path all the way down to see where it got us. The path was very distinct and followed an easy slope down back towards Fernkloof. Soon we found ourselves in the tributary running into Fernkloof and we could get back on the normal route I take. Then we descended and proceeded down the kloof. At the big tree descent I discovered that a lot of sand in the pool directly below has been washed out and we had to repair a rock bridge to enable people to cross dry here. I noticed a few trees dead in the kloof, barring progress, that used to be alive. At the large chock stone with the sisal rope the rock just left of the waterfall was much wetter than usual and shuffling across this was very scary – I decided right there that I would protect this the next day in some or other way. Going through the pool went quickly but I was a bit surprised at how cold the pool was. We then walked back and got to Bergheim at 14:30. We bought some more charcoal, set the tents up and packed the fires, ready for when everyone arrived. At 16:30 we walked down to the boom to wait for everyone. Mariaan phoned to ask if I could phone Willie to give him some directions, which I did. Not long after, the first group arrived, followed by all but one car, which only showed up at around 19:00. By then we had already started the fires and were almost ready to braai. After dinner, we chatted around a gas lamp for a long time before eventually settling down for the night.

Day 2 (16 September): Gordon and I got up before 6am and started preparing a lovely breakfast of omelettes with mushrooms, peppers and bacon. I still wanted to get some wood before we left for the day so we had to wait until 8am when the office opened. We all left at around 08:20. The walk to the start of the climb went quickly but on the uphill things slowed down considerably. Larry and Juanita struggled with the uphill the most but with well-timed rests we still managed to get to the contour path by about 10am. The walk around to the view of the nose went fast and here we sat for a while enjoying the view. Here I also urged everyone to go to the toilet if they needed to. Descending into the kloof took a while but without incident. At the waterfall some people took a quick shower before we moved on. The first obstacle, the tree, proved tricky as Larry lost his footing trying to get down the boulder below the tree and took a bit of a tumble. Luckily the other group members were on hand to catch him. The next obstacle, the tree-root crossing, was less of a problem and everyone were able to descend the rope without problems. I decided the previous day to rig a handrail at the long slab descent and since we got to this point at around 12:00 I decided to have lunch just before this section. We stayed for an hour at the exact same spot where Gordon and I had lunch the previous day. At 12:45 I left to start rigging the handrail and at 1pm the first person started walking down. Seeing the tentativeness with which people made the descent, I was very glad I did rig the handrail. While Gordon carried on down the kloof with the group, I packed up. The next section was the sling down climb. When I got there, Gordon had already managed to get two people down, saving some time. Then the most difficult part came up – the sisal rope descent. Taking another look at it I decided that the chance of a slip and fall was just too great to simply have a handrail alone. On top of that, the sisal rope was badly frayed at the top where it was wedged around a chock stone. I decided to rig both a handrail as well as a belay. This took some time. Then I had Gordon dress people up in either the one harness I had or an improvised sling harness. Stefan sat at the corner just below the waterfall, clipping people into the belay just before they got onto the slippery rock. People would then be belayed by me while crossing the worst part and then still be on belay while using the sisal rope as balance to climb down the boulder. It took us some time to do the first two people – Larry and Juanita, but when we got the hang of the system, it went faster. However, we still spent about an hour and a half to get everyone down. I also urged them to take the swim right after going down the rope, which meant that when I finally packed up and descended, I was the only one who still had to swim. Then it was a short delay before we got to the bottom of the kloof. Larry had built up a nasty headache at this time and we left for camp as soon as we could, arriving back at around 17:30. I quickly got two fires started and then went for a quick swim while Gordon looked after the fires. It was a very long day for all and we worked hard. It was not surprising that after dinner everyone disappeared into their tents. During the night it started to rain lightly and I went out to put things in the car.

Day 3 (17 September): When we woke up, the weather looked weird. There was a strong wind blowing and dark clouds moved in from the south. We laid in for a while but when the rain stopped we quickly had breakfast of fried eggs and cheese grillers. Not long after breakfast the wind direction changed to a north westerly and soon it rained again. But it wasn’t very hard and didn’t stop us from packing things up and clearing a bit of the camp. At around 9am, the weather looked like it might stay decent for a while and we left for the kloof, carrying abseil equipment. The vote was carried the previous night that we would do the short abseil in the bottom of the kloof. I was banking on doing the longer one the previous night, but when the weather turned a bit sour I was glad we didn’t have to walk that far. At the top of the cliffs, I took a few minutes to find my usual abseil spot and then took about 15 minutes to set up a releasable abseil with belay, using both ends of my static rope. Gordon went down first to help people out of the harnesses at the bottom. Then I supervised all those who haven’t abseiled before. Even though the cliff wasn’t that tall, the overhang certainly made things exciting and everyone enjoyed it tremendously. It took me until after 12 to supervise everyone. Clouds had started to build again, so I sent the group on their way back to camp while Gordon and I quickly packed up. It started dripping again as we left. We walked back to the camp in 10 minutes, packed up the tent and said our goodbyes as everyone was on their way. The wind was blowing very strongly and the clouds looked ominous – I didn’t care to stay very long either. After everyone left we spotted a pair of trainers that stayed behind so knowing that the group was going to stop at Tree Tops I chased after them and dropped off the shoes before leaving for a home.

Mhlabatini (Magaliesberg) Sep 2006

Gordon came to my flat from where we left, just after 7am, Saturday morning, in my car. We followed the directions to Mhlabatini, as I’ve been there only once before with Darrell, 3 years ago. The entrance is a dirt road about 1.5km short of the Bergheim entry and points towards a cemetery.

Day 1 (9 September): Arriving at about 08:30, I parked the car and paid the R20 parking fee. We quickly sorted out all the equipment and started hiking. Beyond the dam wall we picked up a path leading up next to the stream. This path quickly disappeared and we gave up looking for one. I walked on the GPS co-ordinate I obtained from the last time I was there and from the parking it only showed about 600m to go. After climbing a little, we started traversing across a rock slab, guided by the GPS. With 20m to go, we walked straight into camp! We dropped our packs and started discussing what to do and where to go. While we were busy, a group of three people showed up. They were part of the MCSA group that was going to weed Crofton in Mhlabatini. We chatted a bit before setting off down the kloof, hoping to reach the first aid dump without needing technical gear. However, we were stopped short about 100m into the kloof by a chock stone and wall to wall pool. We decided to turn around and walk along the top to enter the kloof from the top. The walk proceeded well and soon we were entering into what seemed a major tributary of Mhlabatini. This kloof proved hard to go down in since there was a narrowing of slippery quartzite at the bottom which looked a little hard to cross. Two attempts to skirt this section by traversing higher proved unsuccessful and we eventually climbed out completely and approached the top of Mhlabatini itself. At this point the kloof was very shallow. We started down, skirting thick bushes and trees along the way. Soon the bottom started to drop and it became a proper kloof. On the way down we ended up rigging 3 very short abseils to get down tricky boulders or chock stones. The last one was the chock stone with the large pool that stopped us on the way up the kloof. Abseiling into the water, we swam across and dried out before carrying down the kloof, back to camp. We arrived at 2pm and spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the shade. The other MCSA people got back from weeding at about 5pm and we chatted a bit before preparing dinner: onion, green pepper, bully beef and noodles. We got into bed by about 19:30 but the mosquitoes annoyed us the entire night, since we slept without tents.

Day 2 (10 September): We had sandwiches for breakfast before taking a walk to the cliffs right behind the campsite. I set up a nice 30 meter abseil and we both had a quick abseil before I ascended all the way up again. We abseiled a second time and then I instructed Gordon on ascending and let him have a go at it. Just before 10am we walked back to camp and went down to the river where we ate and drank a little while chatting. I decided to walk back out and visit Fern kloof quickly to confirm arrangements for the group I am to guide the following weekend. We met Otti Nesser again up at the camp. She explained to us what Crofton weed looks like and said we could walk back along the stream which is a bit more interesting. We decided to follow her advice but where the stream walls narrowed to a lovely deep gorge of about 20m with a wonderful pool at the bottom, we decided our packs were to heavy to skirt the slippery upper wall and we climbed higher to get around it. At the weir we spotted pulled-out Crofton and finally knew exactly what it looks like. We were back at the car before noon.

Rescue training (Magaliesberg) Aug 2006

A full day of drop-line helicopter training at Grootkloof in the Magaliesberg. Drop-line is a technique used when the hoist of the helicopter (between 40 and 60m long) is too short to hoist personnel or patients out of a place, and the Magaliesberg kloofs are good examples of where this technique would be required. Typically, a rapid access team would locate and assist a patient, followed by more team members carrying a stretcher to package the patient. The team in the helicopter would then insert a drop-line, a 180m length of static rope, using a 20kg sandbag as anchor weight. Once the drop-line reaches the patient, the line is attached to the patient and a jockey (usually a medically-trained person to look after the patient) and then both are lifted out. This is done by the helicopter actually lifting, instead of any hoisting action inside the helicopter. When the patient/jockey at the bottom of the drop-line are clear of any obstacles, they are lowered to a more convenient position where other team members are waiting to load the patient into the helicopter for evacuation to a hospital.

Naukluft & Brandberg (Namibia) Jul 2006

At 06:30 Saturday morning I picked Gordon up from his place. We left for Kempton Park where we picked George up and then also Pam in Primrose before meeting Eddy, Shirley and Ingrid at Eddy’s place in Bruma. We left Bruma at 08:00 and drove without incident to Upington, where we spent the night at Die Eiland. The next morning (18 Jun), we hurried off to Sesriem, hoping to catch the gates open. Just before we got to Sesriem, our rear right tyre burst and we had to change it right there. When we made it to Sesriem, we enquired about a new tyre, which they could arrange to be collected at Solitaire. We booked and paid (an exorbitant amount) and made it to the campsite with a few minutes to spare before sunset – I ran off and took a whole bunch of really nice pictures before we settled down for the night. We rose very early the next morning to be at the gate to Sossusvlei when it opened at 05:45. We drove the 63km to the parking which we reached before sunrise. I took another bunch of pictures of the trees surrounding the parking area before we started walking to the dunes. It was hard walking through the heavy sand but the surreal greenery in the desert distracted us completely. I was in front when we approached Sossusvlei and although I knew it rained a lot earlier in the year I didn’t expect to see what I did. In the distance there was a tiny reflection of water in the pan. I took some more pictures and when the others arrived we walked up to the top of the dune. Eddy tried to dune board with a piece of PVC but it was not rigid enough. I had some fun running down the dune and after all of us had our shoes back on, we walked back to the parking lot. We still had more than enough time in the day so we quickly visited Sesriem canyon and then left for Solitaire where we hoped to find a new tyre. At Solitaire we discovered the power was out and people were queuing for petrol. Luckily our tyre was there and by the time it was on the rim, the power had come on too and we were able to fill up. We then drove to Naukluft where we booked in shortly before sunset. The rest of the evening was spent sorting out all we needed for the trail and we finally went to bed by 21:00.

Day 1 (20 June): Though a bit chilly when we got up, it was a beautiful day. Eddy drove the packs down to the office from where we started, after having our picture taken by one of the OICs. The trail started winding through the river bed towards the east and I took a lot of pictures. At some point I realized I was going to run out of space on my memory card. Asking Gordon for the 512MB card he had with him, he suddenly remembered that he didn’t take it out. With a little persuasion, the rest of us waited while he jogged back to go and fetch it – we did about 2.5km at that point. All of us waited for a while at a nice river crossing, spotting some Cape buntings and a few other birds. The rest of the group got a bit bored and decided to leave while I waited for Gordon. When he showed up, about 50 minutes after he left, we carried on immediately. Soon we discovered however, that the footprints were few and far between, especially in the riverbed, and we got a bit confused as to where we should go. However, we stuck to the riverbed and soon enough spotted footprints finally leading up a spur. Halfway up the spur I spotted the rest of the group and knew we were back on track. When the track got to the top of Panorama hill we all took a break and sat watching the yellow grass waving in the wind. From here the trail continued on a reasonable contour but the path was very indistinct with many rocks and boulders making walking very difficult. In a shallow valley we sat beneath a rock for lunch before moving higher up in the valley from where the path climbed steeply again to gain a higher contour. At around 13:30 we sat for a nice break under the shade of a small tree. From here I continued ahead on my own, speeding up a bit. The trail was a bit longer than we anticipated, carrying up higher into the mountains before Putte shelter could finally be seen on a small plateau. My feet were sore and I gladly sat down and took my boots off when I arrived. George arrived not long after me and together we walked up to the water point where we had to turn a big wheel to pump the water from the wells. We had a quick wash and collected water before walking back. Eventually everyone came in with Gordon bringing up the back about half an hour after we arrived. It was a nice day’s hiking but it was characterized by hard walking on an indistinct trail that was very difficult to find over the last 2km. For dinner Gordon and I had soup and bread I bought in Upington with custard and cake for dessert. As soon as the sun had set, we settled down. Gordon and I still read for a while before also turning in.

Day 2 (21 June): The start of the day’s trail was very hard to find as a footprint pointed in the general direction of a ridge behind the shelter but there was no track to speak of. Walking higher up the ridge we eventually came across the track and then made our way along it. Having spent a lot of time the previous day taking grass seeds and burs out of our socks, Eddie and I decided to fashion our own gaiters from plastics bags – these worked very well. The trail continued steadily on with beautiful vistas of the hills and plateaus high in the Naukluft mountains, until we finally came past Bergpos and knew we were going to drop into Ubusis kloof soon. We made our way to the top of Ubusis kloof indicated by a large cross painted on a rock. Just beyond this point, before we descended into the shadows, we sat for lunch. After lunch we walked for about 15 minutes, scrambling over boulders and walking through sand, before reaching the first chain that skirted the edge of a lovely pool of running water. George and I waited for the rest, thinking that some may need some help down. The next chain was considerably taller, climbing down a large section of tufa, but it was still pretty easy going. The third chain traversed across the side of a large pool below a very narrow gully in the kloof. Getting there we discovered that getting across was impossible and we had to look for another way. I climbed higher up around the corner and discovered that there was actually a path with footprints going over the top with another chain leading down a steep granite slab. At the bottom of this chain we saw a large black stain on the roof of an overhanging slab. This is where the local rangers smoked out a huge beehive that was responsible for the death of a guy a few years back. Although progress was slow we kept moving and soon found ourselves at the last chain – a tall one with a few steps, leading down a sharp tufa ridge. We could see the rest of the canyon curving towards the right and below the chain I went on ahead. I walked for another 2km or so before finally spotting a windmill in the distance and realizing I must be getting close to the end of the day. Even so, it took another 15 minutes of walking to get to Ubusis hut which was hidden beneath a canopy of trees next to the stream emerging from the kloof. The hut was in a state of disrepair but after dropping my pack I took a very welcome shower. Unfortunately the shower was in an even poorer state than the hut itself and the drain was also blocked. After George arrived and showered as well, Eddy had to unblock the drains of both the shower and the basin before the hut’s “facilities” became usable at all. Before dusk, we started cooking. Our dinner this time consisted of pasta with a wine and mushroom sauce. To this I added dried mushrooms and fried bacon before completing the meal with a couple of cheese squeeze tubes. Enjoying our meal outside, we were sitting on a large concrete slab which seemed to be the foundation for another hut. Thinking that the inside of the hut was not in the best of conditions, I decided to sleep outside on the concrete slab. I was joined by Gordon, Ingrid, Shirley and Eddy. The stars were wonderful but it got a bit chilly during the night.

Day 3 (22 June): We got an early start walking back up Ubusis kloof. A cold wind was blowing down the kloof so when everyone was at the top of the first chain, we immediately moved on. Up the chains proved to be easier than down. Past the last chain I sat down in the early morning sun, realizing that the others walked much slower than I did up the kloof. Shirley was however already with me, having carried on from the first stop in the kloof. She was having trouble with her ankle and hobbling along slower than the rest and didn’t want to keep us waiting. The rest arrived one by one and worrying a bit about Shirley going ahead on her own, I sped off to make sure she was still on the right track. I only caught up with her beyond the kloof where the track already ascended to a high ridge. At the saddle we both sat down to take a short break but before the rest arrived Shirley was off again. About and hour later we found a nice shady lunch tree. George and Pam were a bit further back and had lunch on their own. When they caught up to us we had almost finished lunch as well and we followed them closely. It was a fast hour’s walk to Adlerhorst shelter, a round one, built on the back of a little east-west ridge. This time we used an Archimedes screw type pump to get water to the top. Using my small plastic basin, I had a good wash before relaxing for the rest of the afternoon. A westerly breeze was blowing cold across the high plateau and we dressed warm earlier than previous evenings. Dinner this time consisted of Rob’s recipe of fried onion, green pepper and bully beef with Smash. To make it even better I added a cube of garlic flavouring and dried mushrooms. During the night the wind increased so that when we woke up it was very cold and unpleasant.

Day 4 (23 June): Most of us dressed warmly for the day. Cirrus clouds predicted the tip of a cold front pushing through. Shirley’s ankle demanded a fair amount of attention. She complained about a rib in the boot putting pressure on her ankle bone, causing pain. The first kilometre or so, we constantly stopped for Shirley to put in extra padding or adjust the boot. It was painful enough that she considered stopping at Tsams Ost, our destination for the day. We were getting a bit desperate when we tried our last option: using one of Pam’s Rockys instead of the boot. Although now Shirley didn’t have any ankle support, there was no pressure on her ankle and the relief was almost instantaneous. The path wandered through beautiful hills and the gradient and path quality made the walking very enjoyable despite the wind. After about an hour and a half we got to Zebra kloof. It was an interesting kloof and a little different from Ubusis. Shirley, Gordon and I chased down a small bird which we eventually identified as a Pririt batis – a lifer for me! We got to another chain down a large chock stone boulder. The chain was wedged under a lot of sand at the bottom and turned out to be of little use. I managed to slide down most of the boulder and jump the last two meters into the soft sand. The rest were less inclined to jump and it took us a while to pass backpacks down the boulder and climb down. Not long after passing this obstacle we had to steeply climb out of the kloof and go around to the top. Although the kloof looked very doable from where we were standing, Eddy reminded us that there was a huge waterfall lower down. After the exhausting climb the path dropped down steeply again to a thin gully where we sat for lunch. We still had a lot to do for the day so it wasn’t long before we packed up and carried on down. The path then went straight back down to the riverbed. The mountain scenery around us was spectacular but the path so steep and full of dangerously loose shale, that no-one really noticed. The descent was bone-jarring but when we got to the bottom a sign indicated that the pool at the bottom of the huge tufa waterfall was only 300m away. We dropped our packs and walked over. A big pool collected at the bottom and the tufa was littered with Rosy-faced lovebirds that nested there in their thousands. Ingrid was very brave and took a quick dip in the pool. We didn’t stay very long and back at the packs I quickly set the pace. We walked past a large moringa where George posed for perspective. The rest of the way was typical riverbed walking until we walked out onto a road that apparently led all the way to Tsams Ost shelter. Hitting the road I sped up. We walked on this road for about 2km before reaching the turn-off to the hut, where I very happily took off my boots. Most of us took advantage of a large water tank about 100m away from the hut to take a very welcome shower. The rest of the afternoon we relaxed and tried to identify a female sunbird flitting around in a tree close to the shelter. The food cupboard was rather bare and there was nothing interesting in the “For Taking” box. This time our dinner was to be spaghetti bolognaise with dried mince, onion and tomato relish mix, green pepper and garlic flavouring and parmesan cheese. Unfortunately I didn’t soak the dried mince quite long enough so it wasn’t quite up to the same standard as what we had so far. Luckily the wind calmed down significantly during the afternoon and we had a pleasant sleep that night.

Day 5 (24 Jun): It was a bit chilly when we left Tsams Ost but at least the wind was dead quite when we left. We started climbing almost immediately up into the valley behind Tsams Ost for about 200m. At the top we sat basking in the early rays of the sun before descending into Euphorbia kloof. This was a very pleasant walk and we were lucky to spot a perched Verreaux's eagle that conveniently waited until all of us saw it before it flew off. Climbing out of Euphorbia kloof proved to be pleasant as well with a gradient that was perfect for slow but very steady walking. At the top we sat for another break while I took some pictures of the quiver trees around us. The track from here carried on flat over the hills and then descended again into a confusion of smaller kloofs. Ascending back out of one of these we lost the trail completely and it took Eddy to stand on the opposite side to spot the trail higher up on the hill. Back on track we descended steeply to another windmill. We were descending slowly next to a river bed, but regularly taking the high road crossing over the spurs of the inside bends of the river. Finally we got out on the Melkbos plain where we stopped on a slight rise for lunch. It seemed everyone was keen to get to the hut because we barely sat down when they got up again to start moving. George, Gordon and I sat a little longer but then also packed up to go. I caught up and passed everyone over the flat expanse. The path was difficult to follow here and I lost it completely at some point but carried on, following my nose. At the end of the valley it was obvious I had to cross the stream bed and here I managed to latch onto the path again. I walked hard and fast but my feet started to hurt on the hard surface. Eventually I got out on another dirt road with footprints pointing the way. I carried on with the road but stopped twice to give my feet a break. Before 2pm I was at Die Valle shelter and was amazed at the magnificent waterfalls we could see towering higher up in the valley. George, Pam and Ingrid were not far behind and while we waited for the rest, George and I had another plastic basin bath. Shirley, Eddy and Gordon arrived only about 45 minutes later after they got a bit lost on the plains. We again relaxed most of the afternoon. While we prepared dinner, tuna, mussels, pasta and sauce, dried mushrooms, peaches and evaporated milk, the sun turned some cliffs in the distance to a very bright red. We went to bed at the usual time but got some entertainment when a little mouse decided to scamper around, looking for food.

Day 6 (25 June): I left slightly earlier than the rest, planning to walk up to the bottom of the massif waterfall we could see in the distance. Gordon followed behind with the same intention. Unfortunately the fall is so massif that it’s impossible to get a good picture of it without a wide-angle lens. We quickly walked back to our packs after seeing the waterfall. From where the path split to the waterfall, there is a very steep climb up a narrow valley with many slabs of solid and loose rock – some sandstone, some shale. The climb was steep and within half an hour we gained over 200m. I passed most people on the way and eventually joined George where he was also waiting for the rest. The path contoured a bit up and down from here until it came out at the top of the waterfall we just visited from the bottom. We stopped for a break and managed with the help of a chain to get right to the lip of the waterfall. The path continued up the kloof through some very interesting rocks and boulders. The kloof narrowed higher up and another chain had to be used to cross a deep pool at the bottom of a narrow section. We eventually got to a tufa cave from where the path branched out of the kloof to pass around a massif block of tufa before descending down to the river bed again. The path carried on in the river bed and being fairly fast on the rocks, I built up a decent lead on the rest of the group. In fact, I was so far in front when lunch time came that I decided to carry on walking and have lunch later on. At 12:30 I decided to have lunch on my own. The footprints got increasingly harder to find as the shallow river bed was clogged with thick bushes and occasional large boulders. Finally, the trail emerged onto a high plateau, but because the plateau was almost devoid of grass, I immediately lost the path. It took me 10 minutes of walking around, looking for prints to get back on track. Then I carried on with a steady pace. The path slowly rose across the plateau and I just started to see the valley I was about to drop into when a large kudu came trotting towards me on the track I was walking on. The breeze was in my face so the kudu didn’t notice me at all. Only when it was about 30m away did it suddenly see me and stopped dead. I already had my camera ready and managed to get in a shot just as it decided to sprint away. Shortly I was at the highest point and saw a lovely valley with distant mountains dropping below me. The path followed a natural descending rock band and was easy to follow and excellent to walk on. I enjoyed this section very much and slowed down slightly. After about an hour’s walk I arrived at the hut, neatly tucked away beneath some acacia trees. I went for a basin bath at the water pump down by the river bed and when I returned, George and Pam had just arrived. The others soon followed and agreed that the walk down was much nicer than the endless walk upwards in the canyon. When Gordon got there I immediately boiled the mince we were going to eat that night so that it could reconstitute better than our spaghetti bolognaise attempt. Today was to be curry and rice. When it came to cooking time, the mince had reconstituted well and I added the curry spices, dried corgettes and mushrooms, garlic and onion flavour, dried minced peaches and boiled the rice separately. It turned into the best meal for the hike!

Day 7 (26 Jun): We were up and away early as usual. The walk across to the bottom of the huge kloof we had to ascend didn’t take too long, despite losing the footprints once. When we got into the kloof it was the usual thing: scrambling across large boulders with very little walking in between. George, Gordon and I were leading when, about a third of the way up we came to the waterfall that we all dreaded. Before we left the rangers told us that this chain would be nasty because the waterfall was wet, and when we saw it, it certainly looked exactly that. Originally the chain had apparently gone straight up the waterfall but to avoid the bottom wet, slippery rock, the chain was fastened to a thin tree, a third of the way up. Climbing up this first section to the tree was fine, but the next section found my heart beating very hard in my throat. The chain followed a section of the running waterfall and I had to step into some of the pockets in the rock and almost hold on for dear life on the chain. Above the lip of the fall, the chain continued around a very steep corner to a tree hidden in a hole formed by an overhanging rock. Although safer at the tree it was pretty interesting climbing out of this hole with a pack on. Getting to the top my knees were shaking and the adrenalin pumping. Gordon and George took their time coming up. Gordon managed to slip at the bottom and got a nasty gash on his knee for his efforts. George said he didn’t know how Pam was going to get to the top but he was definitely not going back to fetch packs. I climbed down again to help the others. All the way down, my knees were shaking and I was breathing hard. It was not a fun bit to do at all. Eddy got to the top, albeit very slowly. He was followed by Ingrid who also huffed and puffed her way up. I then took Pam’s pack so she could climb more freely. Pam made good work of the chain and Shirley came up behind her, also carrying her pack. I came last with Pam’s pack and although I must admit it was slightly easier the second time round, it was still terribly dangerous. We thought that someone was going to get seriously injured at this chain one of these days. From the top of the chain the path carried on in the river bed but unlike the previous day, it steeply climbed out, just when I got tired of it. At the top I stopped for a break and the rest joined me a few minutes later. The wind was blowing reasonably hard at the top and sitting around we got cold. The view was pretty good so we decided to sit for lunch as soon as we got to World’s View, but we had to walk slightly downhill to get some wind shade. After lunch I wanted to get out of the wind so I got away from the group very quickly. The path was a bit hard to find through the rocky terrain but eventually it climbed up to Bakenkop where I took a picture before heading over Kapokvlakte to the hut. Here the path was very poorly marked and I lost the trail at least once. But spotting a big tree in the distance and the toilet next to it, I knew I didn’t have too far to go. Close to the hut, I was very lucky to spot a black-backed jackal eyeing me. I was able to get a picture just before he disappeared. Kapokvlakte shelter was hidden behind the solitary tree which provided welcome shelter from the wind. The rest arrived not long after. After resting for a short while, I decided to go plot at least 2km of the next morning’s route since we planned to walk before dawn to get back early to Hiker's Haven. I ended up walking about 2.5km of the next day’s route, plotting a few waypoints as I went along. Back at the hut I relaxed a while reading before starting dinner around 5pm. This time I made pasta and sauce with dried mushrooms and added a packet of shredded biltong – this turned out to be just as good as all the other dinners! Sunset provided us with some spectacular photo opportunities and we clicked away as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Day 8 (27 Jun): The wind didn’t really stop during the night and when we got up it was very cold. Today was Shirley’s birthday so while getting dressed we quickly sang happy birthday to her. We left about half an hour before sunrise and walked with our torches. For the first 20 minutes or so I walked mainly on GPS but the path was just distinct enough so we could actually walk without it. As it got lighter I started taking some silhouette pictures of trees as well as the group. Pretty soon we were able to spot the footprints without trouble and I decided to start walking ahead. We discussed earlier that if I was to get to the hut first I would go and collect the combi, switch the gas geyser on, and have a shower so that we could get on the road as soon as possible. There were patches where the tall grass made finding the path very difficult. The zebra tracks were more often than not better to walk on than trying to find the footprints and in the process I lost the footprints twice. Being in front though I was able to spot a few herds of zebra and one lonely oryx. The never-ending hills really kept on going for a long time but at least it made for pretty easy hiking. At last the path started descending into a kloof. The wind howled through the kloof and in the shady parts it was bitterly cold. Although the footprints were spaced few and far between I managed to keep on track and after about 40 minutes in the kloof, I emerged into a larger wet kloof which I suspected must be the one that runs all the way to the campsite. According to the GPS, Hiker’s Haven was less than 2km away but obviously I had to follow the flow of the river. At least the path was slightly better here since the trail ran in the opposite direction. Even so, I missed a high shortcut once past some beautiful tufa and found myself scrambling up the slope before getting back on track again. At last, I saw a footprint leading up to a saddle beyond which the hut must surely lie. Heading up the hill, my feet were sore and I was looking forward to a shower and starting the drive to Brandberg. The path emerged onto the road, about 150m behind the hut. At the hut I dropped my pack and walked down to the office to fetch the hut keys and the combi. The combi took a while to start but did eventually. Back at the hut I struggled fruitlessly to get the gas geyser going. I didn’t see how Eddy got it started and gave up after 20 minutes of trying. Then I made some Clifton and had lunch while waiting for the others. Walking around outside at one point I spotted Ingrid, Shirley, Pam and Eddy walking up to me. I was rather surprised that George and Gordon didn’t show up first and when I asked them where they were, they were shocked, expecting George and Gordon to have been long back because they were between them and myself. Despite the surprise we thought they might have gone down to the campsite first so we waited. Eddy got the geyser going and made a birthday cake for Shirley while each of us took a turn having a very nice shower. When neither George nor Gordon showed up an hour and a half after Eddy’s group arrived, we started getting worried. Eddy and I packed a bag and decided to go look for them. We agreed that we would walk for exactly an hour and then return even if we haven’t found them yet. If they were not back at the hut by then, we would notify authorities. Walking back along the path, Eddy and I went separate routes where the river allowed and whistled every now and again. Almost an hour into our search we got to the dry river’s junction where we exited into the wet canyon. We walked up this canyon for about 100m before deciding to turn around – we haven’t found a sight or sound of them. Walking back we speculated as to what might have happened, but when we walked up to the hut, 16:00 in the afternoon, Shirley came running up to us and told us they had arrived. Apparently they lost the white footprints somewhere in the dry canyon, and instead of going back they kept going, expecting to catch up to the white footprints soon. Instead, they entered the wet canyon somewhere else than where we did and saw yellow footprints leading in the opposite direction. Thinking the yellow prints must lead home, they kept going on these, little knowing that they would end up doing an extra 8km of the daywalk. The group decided in the meantime that they were going to sleep at Hikers Haven and only drive through to Brandberg the next day. George had trouble with his foot and Ingrid and Pam felt that they would keep the group back on Brandberg. Consequently, the four of them decided not to do Brandberg anymore. Discussing the issue during the evening, Shirley decided she would not make up her mind yet, but wait until we could get to Brandberg to find out what the water situation was.

The next morning Eddy had also decided not to do Brandberg anymore and Shirley soon joined him. Leaving Naukluft at 05:00, we navigated in the dark towards Rehoboth. The sun rose magnificently as we drove and from Rehoboth we only had 90km to go to Windhoek. In Windhoek we scattered to visit the AA, do some shopping and get some decent food in. Gordon and I went together and got some rolls, salami and Clifton at the Pick & Pay before having a Wimpy breakfast. I also bought some woodcarvings on the way back. All of us met back at the combi at 10:00 where Eddy told us that AA said we needed the registration papers to return via Botswana and the road was apparently pretty bad too. Therefore we were resigned to coming back via Upington again. We left Windhoek and made good time to Okahandja where we filled up. Then we went to Karibib, Omaruru and Uis. At Uis we found Brandberg Rest camp and I was relieved to hear that this was Basil Calitz’s place – the guy I made contact with before we left, regarding Brandberg. Brandberg of course, was a prominent feature visible from Uis. Basil wasn’t present at the time so we set up camp and had a nice swim in their swimming pool. I was sorting out food for Brandberg when Basil showed up and took me to his office where we chatted a while about Brandberg. He gave me some coordinates for water and showed me pictures taken earlier the year when it was raining in Brandberg. Later that afternoon he invited us for a sun-downer cruise on which we only had to pay for the drinks. He showed us around the old tin mines and then drove up to the top of a minedump from where we could see Brandberg beautifully. The sun was setting nicely behind the mountain when we heard and saw a microlight fly past. He eventually came in to land and chatted a bit. When it later transpired that the pilot can take you for a flight when you buy an expensive loaf of bread from him, I caught on to the very neat set-up between Basil and the pilot (Nico). Nico took off again but came back before we left and offered Ingrid a flight. It was obvious he wanted Ingrid to come back and tell everyone how fantastic it was. Back at camp, George, Pam and Shirley also wanted to go flying the next morning and made plans for an early rise.

Day 1 (29 Jun): When the first people started to make noise quite a while before sunrise, Gordon and I also got up. I pitched the tent in the middle of the previous night when mosquitoes bothered us relentlessly. Eddy took Shirley to the aerodrome to start her flight, then came back to fetch Pam and George. Then he returned with Shirley and picked up me and Gordon. The drive to the bottom of Ga’aseb took slightly longer than I expected, but the directions we got from Basil was reasonably good: we followed the road out of Uis towards Hentiesbay. After about 15km we got to a sideroad with a D number. We turned onto this road and drove until another track turned off to the road at a white marker next to the road, sunning between two granite koppies. This track was followed until we got the signpost where Basil said we would then know we’ve gone too far. We turned around and got onto a track 500m back. Following this for a while we eventually got the idea that it traversed the bottom of Brandberg and when we found yet another track leading in the general direction of Ga’aseb, we followed it. This one went all the way to the bottom where we could see the formidable granite slabs going up the middle of Ga’aseb. At the parking spot we got off. A strong wind was blowing across the grassy fields below Brandberg but it wasn’t particularly cold. The route certainly looked spectacular and Shirley mentioned she was glad she wasn’t doing it. Our packs were reasonably light: we left any and all unnecessary things and carried only 3 litres of water each. But the Uis water was terrible. We only found out later that Uis meant bad water and it sure was. We were hoping to get to better water at Longipools. Luckily I was still carrying about a litre of Naukluft water. Leaving Eddy and Shirley to drive back, Gordon and I started walking. The entrance to Ga’aseb seemed to be protected by two spurs, curved around like bull horns – it was one of the most awesome approaches I’ve ever had to a mountain! We started right away. It was a pretty easy walk up into the bottom of the “kloof” but there were plenty of large granite boulders around and every now and again we had to scramble to get around them. Once inside the protection of the bull horn spurs, the wind was less of an irritation and we could take our jackets off. Every now and again we picked up a little path with a few cairns. But we didn’t follow it too closely – the going wasn’t too hard. The first 2km we gained little height, but when we picked up the path again through a large boulder field, it got a little steeper. Eventually we got onto the huge granite slabs we could see from the bottom. We followed the cairns virtually all the way and although the slabs were steep (30 degrees), the going was good and we gained altitude fast. We noticed that the vegetation was completely different to that of Naukluft. There was almost no grass whatsoever and the shrubs around us had a fynbos look and feel to them. We were also fascinated by what we initially called funny trees but later found out they were butter trees. Having gained just over 1100m in altitude in the morning, we sat on a huge pile of boulders for lunch. We did well up to then and could see the saddle we were aiming for, just about 50m higher and 300m distant from us. The Uis water was really quite appalling and it probably made us drink less than what we should’ve. After lunch we climbed up past the saddle and found ourselves in a small little bowl with a very flat bottom surrounded by granite boulders and rocky outcrops. Their was a huge cairn packed in this bowl and a very distinct path led on. We followed the path which climbed over another low ridge. When we got to the top of this one we realized it was finally the top. We were struck by a spectacular sight: below us we could see the path snaking through a patch of grass waving in the breeze. A surreal valley framed by enormous granite slabs and rocky outcrops all over the place turned out to be Longipools. The fantasy world we had before us reminded me terribly of the Cedarberg and I couldn’t stop commenting on it! We could already see from a distance that there was water – now it was just a question to find out whether it was drinkable. Just before the actual stream there was a pretty good-looking campsite and we dropped the packs on a big granite slab to collect water. We walked about 50m downstream and found a nice large pool with cool, sweet water. We filled our drom bags and made some Clifton before resting until 14:00, basking in the sun. Then we packed up again and followed the cairned track up towards the Wasserfalflache. We were grateful for the bit of path there was because it was obvious that without it, the going would be exceptionally tough. The entire Brandberg consists of massive slabs and boulders of granite interspersed with a very dense fynbos. There was virtually no sand and the little grass that did occur, came in small patches. At the top of a saddle, looking down into another small bowl, we decided to camp for the night. The wind we had during the morning had calmed down and it was a beautiful afternoon. Although I had intentions of climbing Orabes Kopf and Hungurob Spitze, I decided to rather take it easy and get to our main goal, Konigstein. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the sun, and lazing around. As the sun started setting we got beautiful dusk photographs while making dinner of soup and bread. After dinner we still read for a while before going to bed. The stars were spectacular and I was still gazing up at them at 21:00. Around midnight the wind picked up again and kept us awake most of the night.

Day 2 (30 Jun): When we got up the wind was still blowing strong and it was very cold. We had breakfast and waited for the sun to get up. We were walking before the rays hit us. We managed to follow the track down to another stream on the Wasserfalflache from where it turned east and walked straight into the rising sun. We were confronted with many granite slabs and boulders, climbing out of a shallow valley, and following cairns looking into the sun was difficult. We got onto a plateau but here the track turned in a northwesterly direction. So far I was walking on GPS and the direction indicated northeast. Turning back into the sun we started climbing diagonally up a ridge towards a saddle we could see in the distance. This turned out to be very hard work. Granite boulders the size of houses were scattered haphazardly all over the place and interspersed with the fynbos type vegetation. Getting to the saddle proved to be rather difficult but when we got there, a flatter plateau leading to a narrowing ridge stretched before us. We carried on to this ridge and eventually found ourselves on the ridge composed almost entirely of a granite slab. Finally we were able to see Konigstein peak for the first time: a prominent peak topped by a radio mast and trig beacon. Unfortunately we had to climb down the ridge again and skirt a very steep pile of boulders. I was ahead at this point and kept to the southern side of the rocky outcrop. But the going was very hard and it took me almost 20 minutes to go the 400m from the ridge to just below the final climb to the top. I took a break while waiting for Gordon but when he didn’t show up in 10 minutes I started getting worried. I looked all round for him and then decided he must have gone the other way. I started going up towards Konigstein (without my pack) but when I still couldn’t spot Gordon, I turned back to go and find him. I was just about to round a corner on the way back to the ridge when I heard Gordon shouting. I turned around and spotted him on the saddle below Konigstein. Very relieved he wasn’t hurt, I turned back. When I got to him, he explained that he tried to climb over the top of the rocky outcrop but had to almost go all the way back before he could skirt the outcrop to the north. The wind was still blowing hard and we took just over three hours to do the 4km to the bottom of Konigstein. We picked up the path again when we started climbing to the top and finally reached it. We took our pictures sitting on the beacon and also a few pictures of the surrounding mountains and the flat stretching into eternity beyond. We could see where Tsisab gorge descended and since we sumitted at 10:50, we still had a lot to do. We didn’t stay at the summit long but got down to our packs and started walking in the direction of the gorge. However, here the going started to get very hard. There was no path whatsoever and the boulders and vegetation was so dense we could only make about 0.5km an hour. At 11:30, just 200m below the summit, we were so exhausted from hard work all morning, I decided to have an early lunch. After lunch we carried on. It was very frustrating to feel like you’re not making any progress. At least twice we got “trapped” by piles of huge boulders on the way down. But we knew we had to get to the gorge floor to find a flat spot to sleep on. We figured we still had enough water to make it through the night and even the next day if we didn’t find any water. At about 1700m we could see the gorge floor below us. We got into a narrow valley leading down. The valley consisted mostly of granite slabs and it seemed like it would be a slightly better way to get down. Climbing into the valley we found a small stream of water and rested for a while, making Clifton. We followed the granite bed down to the start of Tsisab gorge. It was after 4pm already and we were both very tired. But we had to find a spot to sleep. However, Tsisab gorge was tremendously cluttered with huge boulders making flat spots very hard to come by. With the sun already going down, and the valley sloping north east, it was getting dark quickly. About 400m downstream from where we entered the gorge I came across a large flat slab of granite, protected by overhanging slabs. It was ideal for our overnight spot despite not having water anywhere in sight. It was 16:30 when we settled down – neither of us could really walk any further. To save some water we decided to have tea only with our bread rolls for dinner so we wouldn’t need wash up water for soup-stained cups. I calculated a coordinate for the parking we were hoping to be picked up at the next day and discovered it was 11.8km distant as the crow flies. Figuring that we probably had stretches of similar hard terrain ahead, we decided to leave earlier the next day – although we had enough food to last a fourth day and had plans to back us up, neither of us really wanted to spend a third night on Brandberg. We were sleeping at 1530m. We dropped just over 1000m since sumitting Konigstein but we were only about 2km from the summit – a distance and height covered in five and a half hours.

Day 3 (1 Jul): Getting up at 6am, we were walking by 06:40. We calculated that we should advance at no less than 1km per hour to make it to the bottom in time. Although this sounds pretty easy, we immediately encountered problems. Although we didn’t have the thick vegetation like when we descended into Tsisab, the massive granite boulders in the bottom of the gorge made life very hard. When we only managed 400m in the first 20 minutes I realized it was going to be a very long day. After about an hour of struggling through very tough terrain, and without a break, we managed only 1.2km. However, now we got onto a fairly level plain covered in the same soft grass we saw higher up. Over this stretch, which was easily visible on the map, we made better time. After two hours of walking, I decided to break for the first time, having completed just over a third of the total distance we had to go. However, we only dropped about 250m – we still had 750 to go – and we realized that sooner or later the terrain will get hard again. If only we knew how true that was going to be... About 10 minutes after leaving our first break we ran into some very serious terrain. A valley from the true right deposited massive boulders, some as large as 4-storey buildings, into the gorge. Getting around these boulders proved to be exceptionally difficult. Time and time again we had to backtrack, climb out the sides, try a new route, slide, slip and jump from rock to rock. A few times we actually got stranded when we slid down rocks and couldn’t find our way down the next set of boulders. It was frustrating beyond belief and when I calculated we were making about 0.5km per hour at one stage I thought we were going to spend another night on Brandberg. But we kept going, not resting at all. Luckily our packs were reasonably light and we drank from the river which we crossed occasionally. The morning wore on and got hotter. At 12:35 I decided to have lunch in the shade of a tree, just after getting past a particularly hard section. We were exhausted. But we knew we had to get down the gorge. Twenty minutes of lunch saw us get up and going on again. After spending almost 3 hours going through this very hard terrain we were expecting it to ease up at some point. But what was probably worse to deal with than navigating the actual terrain, was the fact that it didn’t let up. Around every bend we came, the boulders just carried on and on and on. Boulders grew larger as we got lower down. With water and reeds of 3m tall in between, walking became impossible. At one point we were confronted with drops below boulders of up to 15m. We then came upon a stream flanked by two massive boulders. The only way to cross the stream was to jump to a rock about 2.5m into the stream and then again to the sand on the opposite side. Unfortunately the rock wasn’t large enough to jump to it, stop, and jump again – you had to make a triple jump effort. Feeling tired and frustrated and just wanting to get down, I went for it. The moment I landed on the rock with the heel of my right foot, I felt a stab of pain. Gordon was just behind me and I told him to find a different way. I just kept on walking with a grimace on my face. About half an hour later we saw something that looked like a track – we couldn’t believe it and I told Gordon to not get excited. But when we finally stood on the concrete enforced track, we were ecstatic! We knew we found the path running in from the White Lady and that the hard times were now officially over – it was 15:30 – we had done 9.5km in 8 hours 50 minutes, resting 40 minutes in total. Figuring that the concrete path goes somewhere, Gordon went upstream to investigate. According to the GPS I expected the White Lady to be lower down, but the concrete path obviously meant something. Gordon then called out and I walked up with our cameras. Although it wasn’t the White Lady, a small frieze of Bushman paintings greeted us. Back at our packs we carried on with the path until I spotted the little roof shelter where the White Lady was. We dropped our packs again and made a quick detour. There was no-one else around so we took pictures and left again. From here it was finally easy to follow the tracks in the sand and between the rocks and we made good progress. The 2.5km we had left, we did in about 40 minutes, emerging from the gorge at the car park at 16:30. We were greeted by the locals as well as the rest of our group who had just arrived. We drove back to Uis and on the way I spotted five cheetahs right next to the road. We stopped and took some pictures before going on. Back in Uis we took a very welcome shower before Gordon and I went to the bar to have a shandy. After the rest of the group visited the White Lady the next morning, we made our way back home via Upington.

Monk's Cowl peaks (Drakensberg) Jun 2006

After work, I picked Gordon up at his home and we drove to Bergville where we spent the night at the tennis court.

Day 1 (10 June): We left Bergville before 6am and were at Monk’s Cowl just after 7am. We paid, signed in and started hiking just before 8am. Immediately we started climbing up the trail towards the Sphinx. Our packs were not too heavy and without realizing it, we were making very good time. We stopped for a breather at the top of the Sphinx and then carried on to the first water crossing below Verkykerkop, already on top of the Little Berg. A dog had started following us soon after we left and kept bounding past us, chasing after rabbits and rats. Just before 10am we reached Blind Man’s Corner and just around the corner we dropped our packs 50m above the campsite, out of view from the contour path. We were ecstatic that we got there so quickly but not quite sure what to expect higher up on Sterkhorn. Packing water, lunch, camera, GPS, warm clothes, map and route description, we left at about 10:15. I was happy to see that the track up Sterkhorn was indeed a good one and pretty easy to follow. The only difficulty was that the path was exceptionally steep and the dirt very loose in places. Stopping often for breathers we finally stopped for an early lunch at around 11:30 at an altitude of 2795m. The dog was still with us and tried in vain to dig for rats under the rocks. After lunch we started to save water as both of us were starting to run low. The path continued steeply up the east ridge until finally ascending to a small saddle above 2850m. Doing some scrambling above the saddle got us onto a ledge that traversed around to the south where a wormhole led to the summit ridge. Here the dog finally gave up following us and we clambered onto the small summit with no little elation. It was a fantastic view all around and the middle and south summits were barely meters away. Behind Sterkhorn we could see Cathkin and Monks Cowl. To the north we could see the entire Cathedral range and the Amphitheatre peaks beyond. To the south, Giant’s Castle just poked its nose out on the horizon. We stayed for at least 20 minutes, relishing the view and watching some Cape vultures soaring on the thermals. We finally started descending and picked the dog up again below the wormhole. I stuck to the track on the descent and made good time. Gordon was more careful on the way down but we joined up again during two rest stops. We were back at the campsite at 3pm and rested a while before starting to set up camp. At 4pm we started cooking. I made a similar slop to what Rob made on the guided traverse earlier the year: onions and peppers fried with bully beef, adding Smash until thick. It went down well and we even spared a little for the dog, who still hadn’t left us. After dinner we settled into our sleeping bags. We didn’t pitch the tents and figured the trees would protect us from frost during the night.

Day 2 (11 June): It wasn’t cold at all during the night, having dropped only to 0.4 degrees. Which was a good thing for the dog as I don’t think it would have survived temperatures much below zero. We ate and packed up quickly. At 07:30 we were walking. Having thought about climbing Turret and/or Amphlett the previous day, I gave up the idea after seeing the peaks from the top of Sterkhorn. Instead I aimed to climb Matterhorn, at least 3km distant from the path leading down from Blind Man’s Corner. We quickly got to the first stream running down into the valley where we sat the previous day. We dropped the packs and started climbing Verkykerskop, which was immediately in front of us. Although steep, we got to the summit quickly, where a white cross was also plunged into a cairn like at the top of Sterkhorn. We took a couple of pictures before descending down to a track we could see running through a burned patch of grass. The track turned out to be a good path. As Matterhorn drew nearer, the track disappeared and the last few hundred meters we had to struggle through thick grass. We got to the trig beacon at 09:15, took a GPS reading and photos and then started walking back. I was back at the packs at exactly 10am with Gordon about 5 minutes behind me. With the packs back on our backs we walked down the last 3km. We stopped quickly for a rest at the Sphinx but I went ahead after that. The dog came running with me but I lost it as I walked through the last forest above Monks Cowl. Back at the car I went for a shower and Gordon arrived shortly after me.

Rhebok hiking trail (Drakensberg) Jun 2006

I drove to George on Friday afternoon where Pam picked us up just after 2pm. We stopped in Bethlehem for dinner and arrived at Glen Reenen campsite in the dark. I pitched my tent on a concrete slab while George helped Pam to pitch his tent next to mine on the grass. Eddy and Shirley showed up about half an hour later and pitched their tent not far from ours. Another group that was going to hike Rhebok as well showed up around midnight.

Day 1 (3 June): It was cold when we got up and clouds hung low over the mushroom rocks above us. A chilly breeze was blowing but it was obvious that stronger winds were driving the clouds in the higher atmosphere. We had breakfast and took down the tents quickly. Eddy chatted briefly to the other group before we left at 08:05. With the idea in my head to climb one of the peaks along the way, I steamed up the track to the top of Sentinel in record time. At the top it was freezing cold and the wind made life rather miserable – I decided to put my rain pants on. Back on the track I walked at a decent pace but waited at the top of a rise when I could see what looked to be Spitskop. Eddy arrived and we took a couple of pictures before moving on. I pulled away again from the others and crossed the stream at the backside of the trail with no-one in sight. After finding a spot from where I thought of climbing Spitskop, I waited for about 20 minutes, thinking that Eddy wanted to climb it with me. However, no one showed up so I eventually decided to go ahead alone. Leaving my pack initially I quickly realized the path still climbed a fair amount before easing off so I carried my pack a further 500m along the trail where I finally left it with a note to the rest of when I intend to be back. It was rather cold with the stiff breeze still blowing when I started climbing. The grass slope above me was very steep but after about 150m of altitude gain, it eased off and I could ascend the ridge more comfortably. As I got higher the wind picked up and heavy mist enshrouded the peaks. I knew I was below a summit with a trig beacon on it and aimed for that first, even though I couldn’t see the top. The ridge narrowed down to a tapered summit and when I reached the trig beacon (nr 229) I was glad I did the climb. However, I couldn’t see Spitskop at all and I wasn’t sure if I should attempt it. A fence leading off down the ridge and back to another summit in the direction of Spitskop made me hopeful that I can follow the fence as a handrail. The wind howled over the summit ridge, probably doing about 80km/hour and it cut through my fleece. At the summit of the next bump I realized Spitskop was way too far off to make it within my set turn-around time. Besides, the weather was distinctly unpleasant. I decided to head back. I didn’t realize how steep the ridge above the path was until I descended it back to my pack. The others had gone past and scribbled a note to that effect – I saw them disappearing over a distant ridge as I picked my pack up. I made good progress following them and caught up as they were descending to the Wilgenhof youth centre. We sat here for lunch. Just after lunch we were lucky to spot two Ground woodpeckers – a new species for me! We carried on until the path started fading again close to the river and road. We picked it up close to the gate and then started the last 3km slog to the hut. I got ahead and aimed to get to the hut to get some water that I have missed for the last 4km or so. I got to the hut at 14:15 and the rest were not far behind. We annexed one of the three 6-bed rooms and made ourselves comfortable. It had cleared a little from the morning overcast but despite the sun breaking through more often than not, the wind still made it very cold. Not long after 3pm we started the fire and soon had a decent blaze going. I had some pork sausages and heated some herb rolls for dinner. We were a little worried about the other group when by 5pm they still haven’t showed up. I walked down the road to have a look and spotted the front runners in the distance. The first ones arrived at 17:15 but the last ones only came in in the dark. We learned that it was their first hike and looking at the axe, 1.5 litre milk, D-cell torches and butchery they carried along, we agreed. We were also shocked when one guy told us he was carrying 60kg! Thinking it through though I calculated that he could not possibly carry that much as it was impossible to load a backpack with that weight unless you used rocks or water. We were in bed early and had a good night’s sleep. Temperature outside dropped to -3.6 during the night

Day 2 (4 June): The rest of the crowd seemed to intend an early start when they got out of bed by 6am already. George and I snoozed a while longer before getting up. Because no-one really faffed, we were on our way at 07:25. I got ahead again and soon had my boots covered in frost. In a few places I noticed that even the river had frozen during the night. It had also cleared beautifully and the wind was gone. I desperately wanted to climb Ribbok Kop, so I kept a good pace once again up the valley. In a few places the path was virtually non-existent and I lost it once approaching a high river bank. I had to backtrack down a slope to pick it up again on the other side but then I steamed off once more. Due to the north-south orientation of the valley it was still in shade late in the morning and I was still wearing my fleece when I climbed into the sun on a ridge. Here I lost the path again and ended up on a steep grass slope on the true left of the valley. At some point I noticed the path snaking upwards low in the valley beneath me and decided to forego the path and head straight up. I had a few interesting patches of steep slope and rock to deal with before I got on a lovely gentle slope leading up to the saddle. Here I joined up with the path again and soon I was climbing the last little bit to the top. Where the path aimed of towards Generaalskop I left my pack, had a sip of water, put on my rain jacket and headed to Ribbokkop. It was completely clear all round: I could see Devil’s tooth and Sentinel in the distance and a few patches of snow high up in the Malutis. Having another look at Ribbokkop, I distinctly recall the last time I also had a look at it: a nasty looking rock band ran across the entire eastern face and it was pretty obvious I wouldn’t get past it. I decided to have a closer look though and walked next to the fence to the summit of the neighboring hill. On the way I spotted the rest of the group inching up the valley floor as well as three rhebok running away from me. At the summit I rested a while and thought about how I should approach the peak. I realized that doing a circular day from the hut would be much better, summitting Swartkop first, then continuing on the ridge to Snow Hill and then attempt Ribbok Kop from the west or southwest. I then walked back to my pack where the others arrived not long after. We had a quick break before ascending the final slope below Generaalskop. Feeling that I’ve done enough climbing for the weekend, I shirked going up Generaalskop but Shirley and Eddy decided to go and would come down the opposite ridge where we were to wait for them. George, Pam and I rounded the bottom slopes and sat on a grassy plain to have lunch. Although it was bright and clear, the wind had picked up slightly again and it was rather chilly. Having waited for quite some time and not seeing Eddy and Shirley, I walked off towards our destination and spotted them crossing a ridge in the distance. It looked like they were heading in the wrong direction and I sped off after them with George and Pam in tow. I joined up with them and waited while they had a quick lunch. When Pam and George caught up we were off again. Going up and down along the sharp ridge we soon made our final descent towards the dam. I was in front and crossed beyond the dam wall with my feet aching badly. The last few hundred metres I walked at a fast pace and was happy to see Glen Reenen campsite. I had a wonderful shower but still waited another 15 minutes or so before the others came in. All had a shower and coke before heading back home.

Amphitheatre (Drakensberg) May 2006

This was to be the first Drakensberg hike I guided for Wild Cave Adventures. After getting all I need, I picked Elizabeth up and drove to Kensington, Jo'burg, via the R21 and R24. There we met Josh and Caroline and repacked their vehicle. We left Jo'burg at around 4pm, drove to Harrismith and camped at the municipal campsite. I slept outside but my Ferrino tent was used for the three clients.

Day 1 (13 May): We got up at 05:30, took the tent down and dumped everything in the car. The drive up to Sentinel went without problems but Josh had to drive extremely slow up the terrible dirt track that’s still as bad as two weeks previously. Upon arrival I started boiling water for breakfast. We had breakfast, dried the tent, signed in and left on the trail at around 09:15. We walked well initially but when the gradient started getting steeper, we slowed down considerably. I was carrying very heavy with all the food and the climbing rope. I decided to walk to the Viewpoint as the day was beautiful and we still had lots of time. At the Viewpoint we stopped to take some photos and then moved on. We finally got onto the contour path and I thought we can finally start moving faster. However, our speed did not pick up and we slowly made our way past Sentinel. I was hoping to have lunch at the Tugela falls lip but this idea started to disappear. It was already 12:00 when we stopped for a break just short of the gully. The walk to the chain ladder was slow enough to be torture and when we got there, I still had to belay Elizabeth and Caroline up the ladder as well as carry packs up. Luckily they were prepared to climb the 2nd ladder on their own but both Josh and I still had to ferry packs up and down. I already made up my mind that we are not going to the Tugela falls lip but rather straight to the cave. We haven’t had lunch yet and from the top of the ladders we walked to the first corssing of the Tugela where we sat for a decent lunch of cheese, tomato, mussels, crackers and Clifton. I then asked Josh to carry the rope, Elizabeth Josh’s share of the tent, while I added ten liters of water to my pack. We slowly made our way up to the cave. I got there first and returned to help Caroline with her pack. Finally in the cave, we spread out the groundsheets and I started brewing some tea. Not long after the tea was finished did I start with the dinner. Elizabeth and Josh helped to dice the onion and pepper and I heated up the pots. After cooking the onion and bacon I did the spaghetti and later I added the pepper and sauce to the onion and bacon. After a really nice meal I washed up and boiled water for the cake and custard pudding. Despite the full moon we were able to see some of the stars and I sat outside for a while before crawling into bed. Elizabeth got cold the previous night in Harrismith, so I gave her the tent to use as a blanket as well.

Day 2 (14 May): I woke everyone at 6am to get some pictures of the sunrise. It was a beautiful day but the wind was chilly. After breakfast we packed up and started walking down to the Tugela falls. At the falls the wind was very cold and I quickly got on some warm gear. There were beautiful ice structures close to the falls and we spent some time taking pictures before leaving for the chain ladder. The walk back to the top of the ladders was quick but I had to set up a belay again for Elizabeth and Caroline. The improvised sit harness I made the previous day kept on sliding off their narrow hips so this time I added an improvised chest harness that worked a lot better. We walked fairly fast around the main wall but when we crossed below Sentinel we slowed down a little again. Just before breakfast rock we sat down for a quick snack before tackling the zig-zags and the last little bit home. We finally made it to the hut just after 12:00, washed hands and faces and left for Nando’s in Harrismith.