Lion's Head - Cape Town Nov 2007

A quick walk up Lion's Head after working in Cape Town for the day

Hebron hiking trail Nov 2007

After work on Friday, I drove to Pam’s place in Primrose. I picked Pam up and we got onto the N12 towards Witbank. We arrived at Hebron around 18:30 and I realized I’ve been there before. Chatting to all the others who were already there, I heard the hike used to be called Strikdas.

Day 1 (10 Nov): We woke up shortly after sunrise and were on our way by 07:30. The area was as wet as I remember it from the previous hike but the grass was not as long so our boots stayed dry. We made fast progress through a small black wattle forest, over a bit of grassland and then descended to a small stream which led up through some cascades to a farm dam where Shirley and I spotted Little grebes and Yellow-billed ducks. We carried on to the road which led to a access road up through another wattle forest and eventually reached the overnight hut. The owner’s wife was there along with three of her dogs. A fourth, Nika, had walked all the way with us and stayed behind when we left. We had a quick bite to eat in the shade of some pine trees before moving on. Madelein, Irma and Elise decided to take the shorter route back to the basecamp while we did the Ribbok trail. Through the short grass on the mountain it was difficult to spot the markers and it took a while before we were on the path again, climbing to a small patch of stunted trees at the top of the ridge where Eddie, Shirley, Pam and I sat for lunch. The wind was blowing strongly since the morning and it was nice and cool in the hot sun. After lunch we continued up the ridge but I started to pick up the pace and soon was far ahead of the others. My feet were a little sore and I could see my arms and legs were getting burned so I wanted to get out of the sun. Eventually getting back on the Hebron trail which led back to basecamp, it wasn’t long before I overtook Madelein, Irma and Elise. At 14:30 I was back at camp and had a nice shower. Unfortunately my arms and legs got burned properly and I knew it was going to hurt for a while. The others eventually also showed up and we rested and chatted the rest of the afternoon. After dinner I showed pictures and movies of the past year’s hiking and all of them loved it – they seemed to be inspired by it and wanted me to take them up to the Drakensberg early 2008. We went to bed at 21:30.

Day 2 (11 Nov): After breakfast we helped Eddy look for his car keys – he thought he may have lost it on the trail. We gave up and went for a short hike – the Waterval route in reverse. Down at the dam we spotted the ducks and grebes again, as well as a Grey heron and two Spur-winged geese. Past the cascades and through the grassland and wattle forest – soon we were back at camp, had a shower and were ready to go. I helped Eddy to get the car started without the keys but when he later got ready to pack, he discovered the keys in his jeans’ back pocket. Then we were gone and had lunch at the Wimpy in Carolina before driving home.

Sneeuberg to Tafelberg (Cedarberg) Sep 2007

Gordon and Shaun arrived at my place at around 18:30 on Friday night. We quickly packed all we needed, then started driving through town and then towards Krugersdorp. Initially we made slow time but beyond Vryburg we started pushing a bit, arriving in Calvinia at around 07:00. Before we got to Nieuwoudtville we had to wait 25 minutes at a Stop/Go roadwork section but beyond that we did reasonably well, arriving at Algeria forestry station just after 11:00. Dad and Daniel (my brother) were already there so we quickly added telephone numbers for Gordon and Shaun on our route description and left it with the forestry rangers before driving off towards Sanddrif. At the Eikeboom we stopped, packed Shaun’s plastic crate with all we wanted to have available halfway, and hid the crate a little higher up behind a rock. We put a few large rocks on top and then covered it all up with an old dead waboom. Then we carried on to Kromrivier where unpacked all the bags. While Gordon and Daniel transported Gordon’s car to Sanddrif, the three of us remaining, packed our bags and sorted out some gear. They were back within 45 minutes and in short time we were ready to go.

Day 1 (22 Sep): The wind was blowing cold and hard when we started walking, going past the Kromrivier campsite and then headed up towards the ridge behind Kromrivier. This path was suggested to Dad by Tony Gibson, a Western Cape MCSA member. We initially walked through some scrub veld but halfway up the ridge we picked up the track and followed it from here onwards. We spotted two hikers a little ahead of us and when we arrived on the ridge, met Tony Gibson and his wife. We chatted for a short while before we took the lead, heading into the Breekkrans valley. Apparently there was a good place to camp at Breekkransfontein, or Bakmakerskraal as Tony called it. We arrived there at around 16:00 and looked for a bit of shelter from the wind in among the ruins that stood around the spot. We found a reasonable spot and rested before we started boiling some water for a dinner of soup, bread and cold boerewors. After dinner we walked around for a bit and played on the strange rock formations scattered in the area. The wind was blowing strongly from the north west and bringing some cloud with it. Having decided to just take the one 3-man tent and my Dad’s bivvy, the weather looked a little worrisome to us. We were just getting ready to climb into our sleeping bags (having decided to bivvy for the night as well), when a very light drizzle spattered on us. We quickly decided to pitch the tent and then also helped Dad to arrange space blankets and his bivvy bag to shelter against heavier rain. Throughout the night there was some wind and the occasional light drizzle but nothing serious.

Day 2 (23 Sep): We woke to a cloudy and cold morning with the north westerly still blowing hard down the valley. We saw a pretty sunrise but then the sun disappeared and it looked like we’d be in for a cold day. After breakfast and packing up we started out on the trail, initially keeping well on track. However, as we went higher in the valley, the fynbos got thicker and the path less and less distinct. We went past the actual Breekkrans on the opposite side of the valley where a huge chunk of rock must have broken off at some point and eventually also saw the Breekkrans twins a little higher up. Heavy cloud and the occasional drizzle still drifted in on the strong north westerly but we were making good progress up the valley. At one point we saw a good indication of where the wagons used to pass on the Ou Kaapse Pad and it amazed us that they were able to come down this valley. As we got higher in the valley, the weather progressively got worse, until shortly before a pretty waterfall, there was a reasonably steady drizzle. Just beyond this waterfall I noticed a little bit of an overhang higher up on the right slope of the valley. It looked like it could provide us with shelter and as we were pretty much on schedule in terms of where we wanted to be for the day, I decided to have a look at it. Gordon and I walked up to it and discovered that it was actually a rather dismal shelter but that we could squeeze in there if needed. Back at the bottom I turned the decision into a democratic vote. It was decided 3 vs 1 that we go up to the shelter. It was cold and wet and we all needed some warmth and to get dry so I thought it was a good decision. Dad and Shaun marched up while Gordon and I collected water. At the shelter we rigged the tent’s flysheet to keep out the worst of the wind and drizzle and then started making place for us to sleep. I volunteered to sleep in the worst spot which was a rocky bit in a very very tight squeeze under the overhang. In fact, it was so narrow that I had great difficulty turning around when lying flat on the spot. After we all warmed up in the sleeping bags for the rest of the afternoon we finally got up to start preparing dinner. We also immediately boiled some water for soup and other hot drinks to help with the warming up process. After dinner we started feeling much better and also noticed that the wind shifted direction to a south easterly. We got into bed pretty early on but due to the lack of comfort none of us really slept all that well.

Day 3 (24 Sep): We were up early and were very happy to see a clear sky and sun rising in the east. After breakfast we took a gentle slope back towards the river and then angled up towards the crest of the saddle in the distance. We aimed for a little rise to the right of the saddle and soon after topping this, found ourselves back on the path. The wind was blowing strong and bitterly cold so we wore longs and headed for the patches of sunshine between the shadows of the mountains. On the contour path we made good time, stopping occasionally to take in the beautiful valley to the west and stunning examples of the typical folding of the Cape mountains. We contoured below Donkerkloof kop and eventually ascended very slowly up the valley towards Bakleikraal. We stopped in this valley for tea before continuing, arriving at the top of the saddle at Bakleikraal where we found a sloping boulder which could provide reasonable wind shelter. We started ascending towards Kokpoort while looking down the valley where Kromrivier farm lies at the bottom. Reaching the top of Kokspoort, I wanted to climb the Pup. Dad decided to take a break and Gordon, Shaun and I headed up the slopes of the point summit just before the Pup. Traversing a little lower than the other two, I discovered a pretty good rock shelter that was certainly much better than our previous night’s shelter. We climbed the final slopes of the Pup and had a few scrambles to do before reaching the summit. With a breathtaking view to Sneeuberg and across the valley to Tafelberg and Wolfberg, it was a very good summit to get. Back down at Kokspoort we were very hungry and took a fast walk down the valley to the first stream we could find. We sat for a long and lazy lunch before getting up and exploring the area. This was going to be the area of our camp for the day so we scouted for a campsite as well as interesting rock formations. We found a reasonable spot and decided to sleep outside without pitching the tent. As the day drew to a close, we hiked over to the Maltese Cross. Back at camp I started with dinner which was rice and curry. With our tummies full, we went to bed.

Day 4 (25 Sep): Waking before sunrise, all of us except Dad walked back to the Maltese Cross for pictures of the sunrise on the cross. Back at the camp we discovered it dewed during the night, wetting our bags. It dropped to 0.5 degrees C in the early morning. After breakfast we decided to leave our bags to dry out and head straight up to Sneeuberg. Taking some water and snacks we headed up the higher path. We were looking for a trail that led up Sneeuberg but shortly before we expected to find it, decided to head up a spur instead of losing height. Some way up the spur we caught up to the path and steeply climbed higher. It was a beautiful warm morning and the sweat was dripping early on. We rested a short while halfway up the east face gully at a little stream. Making progress, we got to the saddle of the gully where Dad saw a snow protea. We sat here and took photos – the snow protea occur only on Sneeuberg and Sneeukop, nowhere else on Earth. The wind was blowing cold so we made our way up the ridge and before long, found ourselves below the summit blocks of Sneeuberg. There was some old snow and ice all over the place and it was very cold in the wind. Our first attempt around the left didn’t work, neither did our second attempt when we traversed to the right. A thousand cairns littered the eastern flanks and all of them seemed to run into dead-ends. We tried all options until we discovered a very steep grassy slope leading into some sandstone cracks. Shaun and Gordon made an attempt but it started looking very dodgy from where I was standing and I decided to call it off. Dad was sitting about 15m below us when I decided to call it a day and return. On our way back I saw a different route which may lead up to the top. I stopped the others and climbed on a little. The way went to a small saddle from where you could climb a little higher and it looked promising. I called the others and we climbed up to the block in a strong wind. From here we scrambled a little more before going into a 4-metre tall crack which we had to chimney up. On top of this block we were very close but not quite there yet. Dad, Shaun and Gordon scrambled around a bit but gave up at this point. I pushed on a little more, climbing onto a very exposed block, then crawling onto a ledge right on the edge. This ledge led to a very thin crack that I tried to squeeze into but it was simply too much for me as well. I must have been within 10m of the summit and decided to leave it as is. We then took our time to descend down the tricky bits and got back to the saddle. We descended down the gully and arrived back at our camp about 12:15. We had a nice long lunch in the warmth before packing our bags and heading for Sneeuberg hut, about 5km distant. On the way we spotted a little hill with what looked like Ceder trees on it. We dropped our packs to go and have a look and spent a good 20 minutes taking pictures of the trees. From the hill the path dropped to the hut, skirting around a vlei. At the hut we took a long rest before we starting to play around on the rocks around the hut. We decided to have an early start the next day as we had to hike about 15km. Dad relinquished his outside bed to sleep inside, making our start easier the next morning. Shortly after 17:00 another group showed up. They hiked Duiwelsgat from Algeria that day and were very tired. They preferred to sleep outside and pitched their tents just behind the hut. Our dinner consisted of cous-cous, tuna, mussels, oysters and cheese-sauce.

Day 5 (26 Sep): We left the hut before sunrise and I enjoyed the walk past Hoogvertoon tremendously. As we descended down the valley we took lots of pictures and eventually got to the Tierhok which was used to trap leopards. Just past the next little stream we saw a plaque in memory of Francois Genis who died on 11 Sep 1999. He drowned in the stream when we had just arrived in the Cederberg, 8 years previously. We arrived at our food dump before 10:00 and were happy to remove all our rubbish. I had a leisurely shave before hitching the packs for the long walk on the road. Walking on the road was painful and we had about 6km in all to do. We walked to the saddle north of Rondeheuwel before we had a rest. At the turnoff to Driehoek farm we noticed a signpost for an MCSA minicamp. Shortly thereafter we arrived at the oak trees at Welbedacht where we had a snack. Then we crossed the stream and tackled the climb up to Welbedacht cave. We took it slowly but still got over halfway before we sat for lunch. Not long after we got to the turnoff to Welbedacht cave. There was very little water at the cave and the little that was there was not fit to drink. I walked back and filled the Drom bag. After a good rest, all of us made our way to the stream for a bath. Later that afternoon we took pictures of a lizard sipping some water from a water bottle’s lid. Some clouds were pushing up the Uitkyk valley and we wondered if it will reach us. After dinner we headed for our beds, knowing that the next day would be a hard climb to the top of Tafelberg.

Day 6 (27 Sep): After a good night’s sleep we had breakfast and headed up to the Shale band. Soon we were on our way up to the terrace below the Tafelberg scree slope, arriving in beautiful sunshine at the top. Giving Dad a chance to rest a bit, the three of us climbed Consolation peak. Some interesting scrambling followed and we arrived at the top with beautiful views of Tafelberg and Sneeuberg. Back down we collected water and filled our Drom bags. With a bag weighing close to 30kgs I took my time up the scree slope. Dad got a nice head start and when I arrived at Spout cave he and Shaun had just arrived. It was cold at the cave since it was still in Tafelberg’s shade. We took a good rest and waited for the sun to make its appearance. Then we hitched the heavy packs once more and headed up to the saddle and up into the steep gully on the east face. It was as steep as I remember it and it was hard work with the heavy packs. Dad crawled through a hole short of the chock stone at the top of the gully. I thought he was mistaken but he told me that he had used this access route previously. However, his route was certainly harder than the normal route and he eventually had to return. Past the chock stone hole we scrambled out on the left of the first tricky section, passing bags across at the top. Then came the chain which turned out to be very hard to climb with such a heavy pack. But we all arrived safely on top and sat heaving for a while. We took some pictures at the flying saucer before we heard another group coming up and waited for them to get to the top of the chain. Then we moved on again, climbing all the way to the first beacon where we had lunch. After a good rest we went for a long walk across the strange landscape, first going to the other beacon, then across the entire top of the mountain. I had a bath in one of the pools of water which collected on top and both Dad and I took lots of pictures. Trying to take a picture, Dad took a bit of a fall and got a few nasty scrapes for his efforts – these we cleaned and disinfected back at camp. Later in the afternoon we found a good spot for the night. The clouds were still heavy to the west and it promised to be a very pretty sunset. The wind picked up towards sunset and we decided to pitch the tent once more to keep the wind out but Dad insisted in bivvying outside. We watched the sun go down and took beautiful silhouette pics.

Day 7 (28 Sep): We woke to a stunning morning but it was a little chilly with the wind still going at it. We descended quickly down the chains, down the gully, down the scree and finally down to the shale band. Dad was taking it slow and I could see his knee was hurting. But stubborn as always, he kept it up and we made to Die Rif for an early lunch and relaxed under the cedar trees. Then it was a slow and steady walk on the path up to Gabriel’s pass. It was hot in the early afternoon sun and we took it slow. Arriving at the top, I dropped my pack and walked a little down the other side to collect water. It wasn’t the best – tasted a little metallic – but rather funny water than no water. Carrying about 7 litres extra, I slowly made my way to the top and caught up with the others who went ahead. It wasn’t long before we saw the Wolfberg arch and we took a whole bunch of pics as we approached. By now the wind had picked up once more and it was funnelling fiercely through the arch. We got a little shelter beneath a large boulder but I wanted to climb the arch again. For a second time being on top of the arch, it brought back distant memories. Our initial plan was to stay at the arch till after sunset and moonrise to get some nice pictures before doing a night walk to the cracks. But since the moon only rose after 20:00 the previous night it meant we would have to wait till almost 21:00 on this night. Added to this, the wind was getting to be really unpleasant. So we decided to wait until 16:30 before walking to the cracks and sleep at the top. It was still about an hour and a half to go, so with Dad taking a well-deserved break, the three of us trundled off to climb Wolfberg itself, a trig beacon we could see sticking out on a pile of rocks about 500m distant. This turned out to be very interesting: after a few steep scrambles we found ourselves on the inside of a cathedral of rock spires with alleyways going all over the place – almost as if this place was cut off from the rest of the Cedarberg. We got to the beacon, took a few pics and then found a different route down. This route was obviously used but we ended up scrambling and sliding down a steep crack and I recalled Aaron Ralston’s pictures of where he got his arm stuck in a similar-looking canyon and eventually had to saw off his own arm to free himself… But we made it back to the arch without incident and shortly after started walking again. We were tired and consequently took it very slow, resting often. The wind was howling over the top of Wolfberg and an ominous bank of black cloud was pushing in from the Atlantic, already covering Sneeuberg. We finally got to the top of the cracks at around 18:00. We dropped our packs and went looking for a spot of shelter, hoping to find an overhang so we won’t need to pitch the tent. Walking to the north, I found a beautiful canyon, about 15m deep, that would have been an awesome sleeping spot, had it not been for the wind channelling down it. But right next to it was a flattish slab of sandstone with a reasonable amount of overhang. We settled for this and had some pasta and biltong for dinner. Our water reserves were down to a single litre per person so we decided not to wash pots since we only had one day left. Continuously watching the bank of cloud in the west, we went to bed. I had a restless night for some reason and watched the moon rise and Scorpio set, with the occasional wisp of cloud creating beautiful moon halos.

Day 8 (29 Sep): It never rained during the night and when we woke up, the wind had settled somewhat. After breakfast we started the walk down the Adderley street crack and soon stood at the bottom of the cracks. We dropped our packs and then made our way up to the magnificent main crack where we spent almost an hour exploring, taking pictures and gazing in awe at this, probably the most majestic feature of the Cedarberg among the countless. We made our way up through the worm hole and arrived back at the top where we took a few more pictures before descending down the Adderley street crack again. Halfway down we walked into my brother and sister in law who had left Cape Town early, drove through, and hiked up from the Valley of the Red Gods. Together we descended, with Dad taking a lot of strain on the downhill. A very large group of mostly American youngsters were on their way up and they pulled away in disgust from us as our 8-days-without-a-decent-bath-bodies slithered past them – there were probably about a hundred of them. We eventually made it down to the parking area where Dad hobbled into the car and I decided to walk the last little bit through the Valley of the Red Gods for old times sake. Back in Sanddrif I dropped my pack and turned to my Dad. As we hugged the tears flowed – this was more than likely the last time my Dad would do such a big hike, and to be there to share it with him, was memorable. Thirteen years ago I did my first ever wilderness hike, here in the Cedarberg, with my Dad, and now we did it again. Thank you Dad, for introducing me to the mountains, for teaching me the way of the hills and for making me what I am today.

Thaba Putswa and Lesotho Aug 2007

Darrell, Liza and I drove down to Monontsha border post, parked the bakkie and then walked up Thaba Putswa. After claiming the summit we walked back down and then drove into Lesotho, spending a night in a quarry high in the mountains with no-one around.

Ice climbing at Sani pass (Drakensberg) Jul 2007

After work I drove to Dean’s place to leave my car. Robert arrived at around 18:30 and we quickly packed to leave at 19:00. Traffic through Johannesburg was surprisingly slow but beyond the N12 things eased up a little and we drove well, arriving in Pietermaritzburg at Carl Fatti’s place at 01:00 in the morning. Carl opened his cottage for Dean and me and Robert slept in the back of his bakkie. We got up early the next morning and had coffee and rusks before leaving for Sani pass.

Day 1 (21 July): We arrived at Sani pass at around 11:00, went through customs and drove up to the top. There was a lot more snow on the slopes compared to the last time I was in the area and three weeks previously, the Sani flats must have been covered with about a metre of snow. We parked at Sani Top Chalet, dressed properly and packed our bags. Then we walked the 3km over the top to the gully where Cool Bananas and a few other ice routes are located. We set up an abseil point, got all we needed and abseiled down the ice waterfall. We dropped our bags here and started scrambling down the ice and grass slopes to about 150m below the escarpment. The ice was not in the best possible condition, but there was enough to climb on. Setting up our first stance at the base of a short WI2 pitch, Robert led to the base of the next section and I followed second. It was my first ice climb ever and it was entertaining to note all the differences to normal rock climbing. I slipped once on the first pitch but managed to hold on to the ice axes. The first pitch was very short (about 10m in all) but when I got to the top I was so exhausted I had to sit down on a rock while Robert belayed Dean up. We then moved to the second pitch but I was feeling distinctly tired. Luckily it was a while before it was my turn again and on this second pitch I fared better, managing to get to the top without slipping. However, when we got to the base of the third pitch, a taller, steeper wall, I felt sick. Declining to belay Dean, I sat down on a rock and felt extremely nauseous. Thankfully the feeling soon passed but I had enough climbing for the day and decided to walk out on the grass slopes the rest of the way, taking pictures of the other two as they climbed. When I made it back to our packs I sat down and had some water. It started to get cold as sunset was approaching fast so I put my beanie on under the helmet and waited for the other two. When they arrived, we packed up and headed for the last difficulty before the top. We had to climb another ice waterfall topped with a rock scramble. But it was getting dark when Robert finally roped up to lead it. He struggled a little up the steep ice and I was wondering if I was going to make it. After reaching a ledgy area with a cave to the side, Robert took off his crampons and led through the rock scramble to the top. But we couldn’t see him anymore as it was now completely dark. Putting on my headlight, I then followed Robert, scrambling up the ice and into an iced up body width crack. At the top of the ice section I had to climb over a bush to access the cave ledge. Taking a break, I had some time to take my crampons off as Robert belayed Dean to the same ledge. Then Robert belayed me again over the rocky section. All of this was done at night with a pack on my back! When I reached the top of the scramble I dropped my pack and went to take down the remaining rope and anchor system we used to abseil in earlier, while Robert belayed Dean up. When all of us were safely at the top we packed up and headed back to Sani Top Chalet, arriving at around 19:30. Inside it was as hot as a furnace and a buffet dinner was being served. None of us felt like cooking so we settled down to dinner and was soon joined by our friends Carl and George who had played around the crags all morning and then walked back before dusk. After a wonderful meal we sat down on the couches with some gluhwein, but it wasn’t long before I was ready to pass out completely. I got Dean to help me pitch Robert’s tent outside and then crashed soon afterwards. During the night the wind picked up so that the tent rattled in the wind the whole night through and it was only in the early morning ours that I fell asleep for a short while.

Day 2 (22 July): When we rose, the wind was still blowing strongly and it looked like it was going to persist for the duration of the day. We had breakfast at the Chalet again at 08:00 before gearing up and walking out to the crags. We didn’t want to leave to late in the afternoon again so we decided to skip out on the Cool Bananas crag and moved straight onto French Wench, a WI3 and 4 crag a little beyond Cool Bananas. The wind was howling when we climbed down into the crag and the ice was not as good as Dean had hoped. There were three bolts above the climb but none of them had any hangers on them. Dean had spare hangers and proceeded to fix them using cable ties! We backed the two bolt placements up with three pieces of natural protection. I decided early on not to climb that day so I left my boots, crampons and ice axes in the car. While Robert lowered Dean I sat on the edge taking pictures. Dean then climbed up with Robert belaying. It was a nice short climb and Dean was soon up, and then got lowered back to the bottom. Then Robert took all the cameras and with me belaying went to the bottom as well. Robert and Dean then took turns to climb with Robert climbing 4 times and Dean 5 times to the top while I was belaying. At just after 12:00, we decided to call it a day, packed up and walked back to Sani Top, leaving there just after 2pm.

Amphitheatre (Drakensberg) Jul 2007

I drove to Chris’s place on Friday afternoon and arrived at 3pm. We were in Harrismith before 8pm and grabbed some grub at the Wrap-it-up café before driving off, arriving at Sentinel car park at 9pm. It was a perfect winter evening and not too cold at all. The only thing that spoiled the evening was veld fires all over the place. Because we wanted a good head start for the following morning we had decided early on to go and sleep in Sentinel caves. So we quickly woke the guards up, signed in and showed them our letter from KZN Wildlife which negated entry fees, and then we were off (Chris had a contact at KZN Wildlife and our mission was to do vulture spotting along the Namahadi escarpment, specifically Bearded and Cape vultures). Hiking in the dark up the zig zags proved to be interesting and the fires all around us made for a very surreal experience – it felt like we were Frodo and Samwise walking up Mt Doom! We made good time, took some interesting pictures with the fires and at 11pm found Sentinel caves, immediately going to the larger one on the left. We settled down and it wasn’t long before we were fast asleep.

Day 1 (14 July): We slept in a little and only got going at around 07:30. I had a quick bite to eat with Chris deciding to have breakfast later on. We then packed quickly and made a beeline for the chain ladder. At the ladder we met with a bunch of BASE jumpers who were going to jump off the Amphitheatre at Ribbon falls. As we talked I realized one of the guys was the same guy Darrell and I met a few years ago on Sentinel and who we watched jumping off close to "Here be Dragons" on the north face. We climbed the ladders past the group, got to the top and made our way to the Namahadi ruins where we gathered snow for water. We found a spot close by as an observation point and had a quick breakfast. However, the observation point was not looking out onto any known vulture nests so we soon moved beyond Namahadi pass, over the first saddle and then contoured around until we found a good spot that looked onto a decent cliff face, close to where we thought nests might be. The observation point was a little promontory below a buttress and provided a little protection against the wind that picked up slightly. We sat here for quite a while, scouring the cliffs with binoculars and although I spotted a hole that might be a nest, there was nothing inside. But our efforts were rewarded when two Bearded vultures came flying past and we followed them until they disappeared in the west. We wrote up the sighting and then decided to move onto the cutback below Namahadi peak where there were two nests marked on the map. It was a long walk but we eventually got there and found a good viewpoint. For some reason my stove leaked when I was busy boiling water in Sentinel cave that morning so I was a little concerned about it. Deciding to have our dinner for late lunch I got the stove going while Chris went off looking for some more snow. I figured out that the stove only leaked when the valve of the pump was opened to its absolute maximum, solving it by only keeping the valve three quarters open. While I waited for Chris I melted our ice water, and heated up the mince Chris had prepared for dinner so by the time he got back, we had a decent meal. Although we stayed at this spot for more than two hours, we only saw a few Cape vultures but no Bearded vultures. It looked like there were plenty nests in the large cliff faces close to us but none of them looked inhabited. Finally, at about 16:30 we gave up and walked back towards the Tugela bowl. Soon after we started walking, my left foot packed up again and I winced as I limped along behind Chris. It started getting dark at 17:15 and by the time we reached the Namahadi ruins, it was almost completely dark. We found a nice flat spot right below the ruins and settled in for the night. It was a cool night with actual temperature dropping to -6.5 degrees C. There was also a nasty westerly breeze blowing that probably dropped the temperature to below -10 and also had us zipping our bags right up. Even so, it was a cosy night in the bags and I slept well.

Day 2 (15 July): We got up as the sun rose above Sentinel, packed up and walked over to an observation point on the cliffs about 500m west of the chain ladder. Here we made breakfast and eventually decided to stay there for at least 2 hours. Seeing nothing at first we eventually got rewarded with a spectacular sighting of a sub-adult Bearded vulture, preceded by two Cape vultures and followed by another. It was then after 11am already and we decided to call it a trip. We walked to the chain ladders, descended and then made a dash for the car park, arriving at 12:45. We gave a lift to John, one of the guards at the hut and after we dropped him in Phutaditjaba, we were on our way to some greasy chips in Harrismith.

Isolation Pinnacle - Grootkloof (Magaliesberg) Jun 2007

Darrell, Liza and I left for a day in Grootkloof early on Saturday morning. Our plan was to climb Isolation Pinnacle upstream from the Main gully descent into Grootkloof. We arrived early, walked in and started climbing around 10am. We started at the base of the second pitch, skipping out on the bottom pitch by walking around the base of the pinnacle and scrambling up the gap between the kloof wall and the pinnacle. I led the single pitch to the top and Darrell followed without incident. Liza stayed at the bottom and took pictures of us climbing. Then we made the jump across the gap onto the kloof wall and abseiled off the small tree as described in the route guide. We had lunch in the bottom of the kloof before walking out and returning home.

Cathedral Peak (Drakensberg) May 2007

We arrived in Bergville just before 21:00 and booked into the caravan park. We asked the park owner about snow on the mountains and she confirmed that the Berg did have snow earlier the week. This made us optimistic about getting snow on Cathedral peak. At the tennis court we packed out and set up for the night.

Day 1 (26 May): The alarm went off at 05:30 but it was cold and we were so cozy in our sleeping bags that we slept in ‘till 06:00. During a quick breakfast I registered -4.8 degrees as a minimum during the night – we were sure it would be considerably colder in the high Berg. We left before 7am and arrived at Cathedral peak before 8am. We signed in, paid and then heard from the rangers that there was no snow except on top of the escarpment and that we should expect Bell cave to be dry. Consequently I changed my plans and decided to sleep in Sherman cave instead of Bell, and then do Cathedral immediately, and return to Sherman’s for the night. We parked the car and I left in shorts and T-shirt despite it being chilly. By the time we reached the path leading up towards the trout dam I was warmed up and we were setting a good pace. With so much to do for the day we pushed hard and soon reached the path leading to Barker’s Chalet. With the split going to Cathedral not being indicated I missed the split and carried on, eventually arriving at a cave that I didn’t recognize at all. It was a decent cave to sleep in so we left our bags and pulled on daypacks for the long haul to the top. However, when we walked right to the end of the trail I realized that we walked to Barker’s Chalet cave instead of Sherman’s. We retraced our steps and got onto the right trail. Pushing hard, we overtook one lone guy on his way to Orange Peel Gap. Just past Sherman’s cave, where the path ramps onto the Little Berg plateau, we filled our water bottles at the stream and started up the ridge leading to Orange Peel Gap. We progressed well and as we exited the gully onto Orange Peel Gap we reached another party of 3 guys, also on their way up. After a brief rest we carried on, eventually reaching nasty bit leading up to Bugger gully. Its here that our pace diminished significantly as we discovered that we’ve probably pushed a little hard so far – we’ve already climbed 1000m and the effects of altitude were starting to tell. My legs were jelly when we reached the bottom of Bugger gully but we’ve come to the bottom of Cathedral Peak and I wasn’t going to turn around. We ate lunch here as we watched one other group as well as the 3 guys we met earlier starting slowly up the standard route. We didn’t break for lunch long as we still had to return all the way down. As we got to the first rock band, one of the group of 3 guys wasn’t prepared to scramble through the rock band and proceeded to wait for the others. We overtook the group and scrambled on, making good progress despite being knackered. We reached the chain ladder, scrambled up the grass slope and reached the last rock scramble to the top. As we climbed to the top the group we saw ascending earlier came down and went past us. We reached the summit at 13:10 and celebrated. The remaining two guys came up soon after and we took photos of each other with the Mnweni peaks in the background. At 13:20 we left the summit, eager to get down before sunset. With Gordon going well at his own pace, we quickly got off the peak and descended the gully fast. We overtook the one group at the top of Orange Peel gap and as I ran out of water where we rested just below the gap, I decided to make a beeline for the stream above Sherman’s cave. On my way I overtook the lone guy again and got to the stream very quickly. I drank lots of water and waited for Gordon who arrived about 15 minutes later. The last bit was completed at a very sedate pace and we arrived back at our packs at 16:10 – 2 hours 50 minutes from the top of Cathedral peak. We decided to rather sleep in Barker’s Chalet than the annex so before we got really cold we walked the 100m and set up camp. We got dressed warmly early on and waited for the cold to arrive during a very good dinner of bacon, pasta and cheese. However, it never dropped below 5 degrees during the night.

Day 2 (27 May): With a very tough day behind us and a very short walk-out, we slept in and only got out of bed by 7am. We had breakfast and took our time packing up. Still, we were up and going by 07:50. It was a glorious morning and if it wasn’t for the still very sore and stiff legs it would’ve been a very pleasant walk-out. We were back at the car before 09:00, signed out, had a hot shower and drove back.

Pins & Mbundini passes - Mnweni (Drakensberg) May 2008

I picked Gordon up from varsity just before 12am. Gordon had a meeting in Modderfontein at 1pm so we drove there first. While Gordon was in his meeting, I sat in the car reading. Gordon got out just after 4pm. Because it was a long weekend, traffic was horrific. A jack-knifed truck past Gillooleys interchange made matters worse and it took us the better part of two hours to get past Johannesburg. Despite heavy traffic on the N3 we made it to Bergville just after 9pm, paid our fees and set up under the tennis veranda as usual.

Day 1 (27 April): Waking up at 6am, we were on our way at 7am and arrived at Amangwane cultural centre a little before 8am. There was a multitude of people at the centre – more than I’ve even seen at Cathedral peak over Easter. There were at least 15 vehicles and about 30 – 40 people getting ready to walk in. We signed in, made sure we had everything and were on our way. Fairly heavy clouds on the escarpment and a strong wind made us walk at a brisk pace to warm up. We made good time on the road, but flurries of rain eventually stopped us to put on rain gear and splash covers. The walk-in proceeded well but when we hit the Mnweni river bed we slowed up as we got more and more tired. The last two kilometres we walked through tall grass on the path closest to the escarpment. Finally, at around 12:30 we arrived at the campsite at the bottom of Rwanqua pass. Although I had initially planned to go up Mbundini and down Pins, as we would be able to sleep higher on the first night, the strong wind and threatening weather made me decide that the Rwanqua campsite will provide us with much more shelter than the ridge halfway up Mbundini. So we swapped the passes around and decided to go up Pins, down Mbundini. After pitching the tent we spent the afternoon relaxing. Just after 3pm the large group we passed earlier that day, walked past, and set up camp just on the other side of the Rwanqua river. They were a large group of more than 15 people and also had one of the Mnweni guides with them. Later that afternoon I caught a small scorpion that Gordon and I took pictures of. At 5pm we cooked rice, biltong and tomato relish for dinner, had some tea and then went to bed. Although the wind raged throughout the night, it never rained.

Day 2 (28 April): The wind during the night kept the tent dry so we were able to pack up quickly and start hiking shortly after 7am. We were surprised that the other group had already left but when we later overtook them in the Mnweni river, we realized they hadn’t done breakfast yet! We started slowly in the Mnweni river bed but eventually moved up to the path to make better time. Shortly after overtaking the large group high in the Mnweni we crossed onto the western bank and moved into the bottom of Pins valley. As we had the entire day to do the pass, we took it slow and steady. We stayed in the riverbed initially as it was not choked with Chi-Chi. After gaining about 200m though, we were stopped by a 6m waterfall with one impossibly loose southern flank and a steep rock face on the north. Our only choice was the steep rock and Gordon took the lead. We had to be very careful as one poor choice of foot- or handhold would have meant a serious fall. Gordon made it to a ledge leading into the top of the waterfall but was hesitant to commit with his pack. I dropped my pack behind him, walked to the end of the ledge and saw that I could fairly easily jump across to the top of the waterfall, which I then did. A lower and easier ledge allowed Gordon to bring the packs to the side of the waterfall and push them up to me from where I stacked them next to the waterfall. Gordon then retreated and came up on the higher ledge and made the jump across without a problem. It was however, very scary. We also realized that there was no turning around now and we simply had to deal with anything else the pass threw at us. We gained another 100m or so in the gully before being stopped by another waterfall. This time there was no option of climbing up next to it. A very steep rocky gully led up on its southern flank and we started up this, thinking we’d be able to use it to get past the waterfall and then get back into the gully. However, once in the gully it was very difficult gaining the other gully again as it had impossibly steep and loose sides. We carried on in the gully that led on for a long time, and eventually started worrying about water as we thought we were going back into the first gully. When we stopped for a breather high up the rocky gully, we traversed across the bank to see if we would be able to access Pins river again. It looked very hard so we decided to stick to the rocky gully and see where it took us. The rocky gully eventually ended against some cliffs and we were forced to traverse across towards the Pins gully. We were now level with the junction of the Pins gully and the gully that led straight up to the saddle between the Mnweni Pinnacles, the gully and saddle being visible from the Mnweni cutback. With a few very scary and dangerous moves, we were able to gain access to the Pins gully again and we were very happy that there was still water. We filled up and sat down for a while, trying to relax our nerves. The Pins gully allowed us to gain another 150m before it ended dead in a vertical wall of loose rock and scree. We thought we could see a possible line that led diagonally upwards through the rock but after struggling up dangerously loose scree and sand, we realized that we were looking for trouble. While balancing high up on the rocks I saw that a lower ramp led up the southern grassy bank from where we might be able to get past the vertical wall. To gain this ramp I had to slide down my bum. Gordon was higher up than I and he was unable to climb down with his pack on. He dropped his water bottle that bounced into the gully I was standing in. Unfortunately I had no way of taking his pack so he decided to drop it, hoping it would roll down into the gully we were about to take. This was a big risk since a miss would mean the pack might disappear down Pins gully. But Gordon was in a pretty desperate situation, so he dropped the pack. I tried to snatch the pack as it came tumbling past me but its momentum was too great. Luckily it bounced into the desired gully and finally came to rest against a rock. Gordon forgot to take his camera off his pack and was concerned whether it survived the fall. I had a quick look and was relieved that it still worked fine. Gordon then slid down the scree on his bum to join me at the bottom of the gully we hoped would lead to the top of the vertical wall. I scrambled up first and when I got to the top I was very happy to tell Gordon that the rest of the pass looked considerably easier than what we’ve done so far. We continued up the pass keeping a lookout for Pins cave where we were hoping to spend the night. About halfway up this easier slope we saw a dark hole appearing in the cliff to our left. It immediately became apparent that it was the cave and when we finally stood in it we were overjoyed that it was a well-sheltered cave. However, there was no water and I got ready to walk to the top of the pass to go and look for water. While I was gone, Gordon would make our quarters for the night liveable. It was very cold: clouds were drifting around in a strong wind and the temperature was most likely well under 10 degrees, even at 14:30. It took me about 20 minutes to climb the last 150m up in the pass, summitting just before 3pm. I then walked down about 500m to a puddle from which I was able to fill the Drom bag and our bottles. On the way back to the top of the pass I spotted two people approaching from the north. Thinking they were Basothos I kept on walking. When I stopped to check their progress I noticed they wore pants and had packs on their backs. Curious, I walked towards them and when I reached them, discovered they were two Jo'burgers traversing to Giants in nine days. They were already looking for a campsite and knowing that the cave had space, I invited them to join us in Pins cave. They collected their own water and then walked with me back down to the cave. Gordon was already ensconced in his sleeping bag as it was getting bitterly cold. The two newcomers, Dave and Greg, put their tent up in the cave which later on turned out to be a good idea. Gordon and I agreed to keep our dinner for the next day’s lunch, and rather saving water by only making some tea and having the next day’s lunch. This we did, and before the sun was completely set, we were in our sleeping bags trying to warm up. Since I had my summer bag with me, I had to wear almost all my clothing to keep warm. Not long after getting in, I decided to also unpack the tent and cover myself with that. About 15 minutes later, sleet and snow started swirling into the cave and Gordon pulled a part of the tent over him as well. We spent the rest of the night trying to stay warm and hoping the next day would bring better weather.

Day 3 (29 April): Although it was still very cold and windy when we got up, the skies were clear and it promised to be a decent day. Having planned this day as a short day, we didn’t rush, and only got on the way after 8am. The last 150m up the pass was hard to climb with our heavy packs but we were very happy to have completed Pins pass. From the top of the pass we stayed on the ridge leading to the top of Black & Tan wall and when we arrived there, dropped our packs and walked to the edge recording our first summit for the trip. The view across the Mnweni cutback was stunning but the chilly wind took us back to our packs quickly. By the time we reached the top of Fangs pass we were almost a stone’s throw away from our destination: Rat Hole cave. From the top of Fangs pass I walked on a coordinate from Chris Sommer and arrived smack on top of the cave at 11:30. We had only walked about 8km for the morning but we were both happy to have a short day to relax still aching muscles and nerves. After enjoying lunch of pasta and bacon and collecting water, we spent the rest of the afternoon reading. After 3pm I had a look at the map and other coordinates I had and discovered that Skylight cave, so named by Chris, was just across the small valley from us. We then took a quick walk across to have a look at it and agreed that it was a rather dismal cave with only a little wind protection and no rain protection whatsoever. Back at Rat Hole, we made dinner of meatballs, Smash, onion and pepper. I spent the night in the back of the single file cave, getting hot and claustrophobic. It was an interesting experience using Rat Hole cave, but I probably would only use it for emergencies in future.

Day 4 (30 April): The wind blew a little during the night but when we got up at 6am, it was a quiet, cloudless morning full of promise. At 07:15 we were on our way, crossing the valley towards Mbundini pass. Discovering that it was quite a climb to reach the top, we were happy to drop our packs to climb Stimela peak and Mbundini buttress. A pack of baboons necessitated closing our packs properly before leaving. The climb to Stimela peak was well worth it, with a stunning view south as far as the Cathkin range and north as far as Sentinel. Below Stimela peak we scrambled across to Mbundini buttress which had similar good views. At 9am we were at our packs and started descending Mbundini pass which did not look half as fearsome as Pins. In the first 45 minutes we dropped 300m, despite some bouldery terrain. Occasionally we took to the flanks of the gully, mainly because the map indicates that the way-to-go stays on the southern flank and later traverses to the ridge between Mbundini and Fangs passes. Getting below the main cliffs was not too difficult but when we finally decided to start traversing we got onto some very steep grassy slopes neither of us were too happy to be on. The Mbundini gully looked to be a bit tricky though so we abided by our decision and traversed across. We had to cross a few lateral gullies but finally we stood on the final ridge leading down to the main river. From here I took the lead and made it down in less than 20 minutes with Gordon being more careful behind me. Both of us got down to the beautiful lunch spot on a slab of rock in the river at around 12:30. Having had a hard workout in the morning, we immediately had our packs and shoes off and washed off in the stream before having lunch. At 13:15 we packed up and left on a trail that we saw. Having come up in the riverbed previously, I wasn’t aware of the path but it certainly made our progress much faster. It took us about halfway down the Fangs valley before descending back into the riverbed. Then it went slower again as we followed the course of the river. On our way to the Mnweni river we passed two guys who were part of a 6-person group, the rest of their group lower down. Shortly thereafter we passed another two of the same group and discovered they were not really sure where everyone was. We walked until we got to the Mnweni river, dropped our packs and started looking for a decent place to camp. Though I couldn’t find a decent spot, I did find a path that seemed to run high across Dassie back to Mlambu’s kraal. Gordon however found a campsite that although very close to the river, was well tucked away in the shrubbery. As it was only about 3pm, we rested well for the rest of the afternoon. As the shadows lengthened we started dinner of pasta, tuna and cheese. After dinner I finished my book in the tent, then went to bed.

Day 5 (1 May): I had Gordon set his alarm at 5am – I wanted to miss the holiday traffic back to Pretoria. The tent and flysheet was a little wet from perspiration but we packed up quickly and were on our way at 6am, shortly before dawn. The path that I found the previous afternoon was good and we made excellent progress on it. Crossing very high on the ridges leading into the Mnweni river, the path descended steeply past Mlambu’s kraal until we were back on the path we came in on. We cruised faster than 5km/hour and soon we sat under a pine tree, looking at the cultural centre in the distance. It was a short walk back to the road and we arrived back at the cultural centre at 09:30. We both had a nice hot shower before driving back.

Mpumalanga and Swaziland peaks Apr 2007

On a short 2-day holiday I drove alone to the Mpumalanga escarpment and climbed "Die Berg" the highest point in Mpumalanga. Next I climbed Mauchsberg in Long Tom pass, chased down the mountain by lightning and then I drove through a heavy hailstorm on to Barberton. From Barberton I drove up Saddleback pass, parked along the road and climbed Saddleback hill. In the forestry roads along the Swaziland border I found a quite place to park again and then walked to the top of Emlembe, Swaziland's highest point. I entered Swaziland and spent a night in Malolotja Nature Reserve before returning home.

Qwa-Qwa traverse (Drakensberg) Apr 2007

After a meeting I drove to Chris Dykes in Johannesburg. Chris Sommer arrived not long after and just past 14:00 Karen and Frans arrived. We intended to drive down in Frans’s VW Caddy and my car but Chris Sommer suggested that we should phone Duncan Cromarty (who was going to be in the same area) and find out if one of his group might be able to help out with sorting out vehicles after the trip. I phoned Duncan who was willing to help out – consequently we decided to drive down in the Caddy only to save the costs of a second car. We then left Chris Dykes’s place, driving through central Johannesburg. We expected the traffic for the Easter weekend to be terrible but it wasn’t all that bad and we made good progress, arriving in Harrismith at around sunset with heavy clouds and rain all around. We had dinner at Spur before driving up to Sentinel car park. We were surprised that no-one else was there for Easter and only a single bakkie indicated the presence of other people on the mountain. I phoned Duncan, who was only about 20km away, and convinced him to bring his group up to the hut as well since they were only 4 people. When they arrived we chatted a while, sorting out logistics, before going to bed.

Day 1 (6 April): We woke well before sunrise and started packing. The previous day’s clouds have cleared to a large extent and it looked to be a good day. Without rushing we made it to the chain ladders at around 9am, and carried on to the Namahadi ruins. In this time the clouds have started to build again and a cold wind was blowing across the escarpment. After a brief break at the ruins we ascended the ridge behind and started the long contour around towards Namahadi peak. At the top of the ridge I was surprised to see a band of white on the range in the far distance. However we couldn’t decide if it was snow or hail. About halfway there we sat down for an early lunch. A few drops of rain saw us scampering for rain gear and splash covers. After lunch we climbed the peak directly in front of us, Point 3245, and then picked up a track leading to Namahadi peak on the escarpment side of the next two point heights. Here we made good time again and soon we were climbing the slopes of Namahadi peak. At the top we took a few pictures but a cold wind forced us to start walking again. With heavy cloud pushing in from the east we stuck close together as we contoured the slopes above the valley north of Namahadi peak. Shortly before the three knuckles we’ve seen before from Sentinel we came to a pass which looked like it might have a cave in its upper rock bands. With the others taking a break, Chris S and I walked to either side of the pass to look for caves. Chris S found two small caves and after we had a look at it, we all agreed that the larger of the two would be perfect for the five of us. In the increasing mistiness we gathered our packs and walked to the cave. Chris S and I then took a few bottles and my Drom bag to go and look for water while the rest of the group cleaned up the cave and made it habitable. We were a bit disgusted when we found we had to walk all the way to the river in the valley to get water. Back in the cave Chris S checked his GPS and found we walked 17.5km for the day. Chris D started with our dinner which was a pre-cooked stew we only had to reheat, along with couscous. After dinner we also had a cup of tea before going to bed at around 7pm. Despite heavy cloud, thunder and lightning form the east, it never rained during the night.

Day 2 (7 April): A beautiful sunrise greeted us when we woke. The cave allowed us to pack quickly and we were away at 7am. Contouring around the attached knuckles we came across a number of passes that looked reasonable to do. Trying to make up a bit of time, I took the lead when we started descending towards the river, picked up a pony track and pushed hard for half an hour before taking a break. We had one smaller ridge to go before the big ridge preceding Kgotswane loomed up. Probably from hiking a little too much the previous day, a tendon behind my left knee was taking serious strain on the uphills and I had trouble lifting up my leg. But I took my time up the hill and came upon a very pretty sight at the top. A pinnacled cutback very similar to that of Mnweni’s. We traversed around the cutback and then finally stood before the highest ridge of our traverse. On the way towards the ridge we spotted three Basotho herdsmen running away as soon as they saw us – they must have thought we were a patrol. We carried on towards a shallow gully running up the ridge and sat down for a water break about a quarter of the way up. Building clouds have started to push onto the escarpment and the ridge behind us disappeared every now and again. After the break we pushed hard up the ridge and summitted in very cold and misty conditions. We were hoping to spot Kgotswane, only about 1.2km away, but the fog didn’t allow this. We decided to contour back to the escarpment, walking on GPS and then descended a short distance before ascending the last 500m towards Kgotswane. We were very disappointed that we couldn’t see the summit at all and had to rely on the two GPS readings to determine the location of Kgotswane, which seemed to be made up of several rocky outcrops high on the ridge. Finally agreeing on a small outcrop being Kgotswane we dropped our packs and quickly climbed to the top. Back at the packs we sat down for lunch. Halfway through lunch it started to hail and we quickly donned rain gear. It stopped soon after though. Having reached Kgotswane earlier than expected and with the heavy mist making good views from the edge impossible, we decided to head inland, down the valley, and look for the dam and old ski lodge ruins Chris S had spotted on Google Earth. Walking completely on the GPS the dam suddenly appeared out of the mist, amidst the loud clanking of goat bells and the calls of herdsmen. The dam was a very queer sight for the top of the escarpment. We took a short break, then started to walk and spotted another dam wall a little lower down in the river. Two herdsmen spotted us, shouted hello and carried on with herding – not quite what we expected! Just beyond the dams, the weather started to clear up slightly and we spotted the ski lodge ruins. At the ruins we took a number of pictures and spotted not only the fantastically deep cutback in the distance but were also a bit surprised at how close to the escarpment the river valley curved. Heavy thunder and ominously black clouds spurred us to move very quickly. We contoured away from the lodge but only made it about three quarters to the cutback before it started to rain and hail. Getting our rain gear on we finally moved right into the lip of the cutback and started to look for a cave or a spot to pitch the tent. We were unsuccessful in finding a cave but Karen found a good spot for two tents. Waiting for a slight lull in the storm we quickly put the tents up and started to cook dinner. Chris D fetched water while Chris S helped to cut up some veggies and ham. It started to rain a little harder again and I urged the other two into the tent to sort themselves out while I looked after the food. When the stew was boiling I handed it over to the two guys in the tent to add Smash before climbing in myself. We ate well in the tent, listening to the patter on the flysheet. Not long after dinner, the rain stopped. We jumped out of the tent, washed dishes, repacked the tent and made some tea before getting back inside. It started raining again soon after and carried on until the early morning hours.

Day 3 (8 April): Heavy clouds were hanging over the escarpment and the cutback when we woke, but at least it wasn't raining. We took some really good pictures of the sun rising through the high level cloud before having breakfast and breaking camp. Getting away at 7am, we picked up the trail that rounded the cutback and continued straight towards Metjhatijhane pass. Just before ascending towards the pass we stopped to collect some water as we were pretty sure that we won’t see much good water when we descended into the Caledon valley. We reached a split in the path which Chris S was able to see on Google Earth, the western path going down a steep gully before ascending back to the ridge path beyond Metjhatijhane and the other curving round the front dome before linking up with the ridge path. Since the path around the front looked easier we went for that but first we had a break at the path’s highest point, drying out tents and climbing Metjhatijhane. From the top of the peak we could clearly see the Golden Gate peaks in the distance and the huge Caledon valley we had to cross looked very daunting. Heavy clouds and fog pushed in from the east and we didn’t stay very long. Back at our packs we packed the reasonably dried tents away and carried on down the path. We still had a bit of sunshine coming around the corner below Metjhatijhane peak but as soon as we crossed over on to the northern side of the ridge the fog rolled in and we relied generally on a GPS heading towards Niberos hill. Occasionally we got glimpses through the fog and as we slowly descended out of the clouds, we saw what must’ve been the SA border post at Monontsha. The fog rolled in once more and we decided to take a break on a little saddle between the hills with a very cold northerly blowing. A shepherd and his dogs appeared out of the mist but only said hello before disappearing again completely. When we got to within about 2km of Niberos hill, the clouds started burning away and we were drenched in glorious sunshine. About 1km before Niberos we sat down for lunch, watching the locals cross the huge ridge and walk into the little villages below us. After lunch we picked up one of the many tracks traversing the eastern slopes of Niberos and carried on with these past all the dwellings, finally ending up in a very strange bluegum and pine forest on the eastern and northern slopes. With lush meadows peeking out between the trees and goat bells ringing out, it felt like we were in the Alps! Only seeing the Golden Gate peaks occasionally through the trees, we had to make a decision at one point about going through the forests rather than around it. We picked up a very distinct track running down a spur towards the road but got a shock when the path ended right on top of a sandstone cliff. Traversing to the west we found a rocky track leading very steeply down a gully and past some dwellings to the road. Happy to have a way down we followed this path but Chris D struggled with an ITB tendon and had to take his time down. Finally down the escarpment ridge we walked past a couple of huts before exiting onto the road coming in from Monontsha. We followed the road for about 800m, aiming to cross the Caledon at the lowest point of the road where we earlier saw a path going up a spur towards Golden Gate. It was getting a bit late in the afternoon (15:00) and we still had a long time to go when we crossed the Caledon, back into South Africa. Just on the other side of the river, which really was barely a stream, Chris D discovered that he didn’t have his camera with him. Thinking that he must’ve put it down when we took a short break in the gully descending from the sandstone spur, he had to run back to go look for it. The rest of us took a welcome break below the spur and waited for about 40 minutes before Chris returned – without his camera. We felt very sorry for Chris and having gone through a similar experience before, I knew exactly how he felt. But he accepted the loss and we started climbing up the spur, well behind schedule. However, we unexpectedly found the path we’ve seen from across the valley to be very good and gained altitude very fast, emerging onto a high plateau, about a third of the way up towards the Golden Gate border. The time was now fast approaching 5pm, heavy clouds were building again and a stiff breeze was blowing from the east. We didn’t really have enough water to camp but we eventually decided not to risk carrying on into Golden Gate as it probably meant walking in the dark. So we pitched tents right on the spur, not too distant from a nearby, unmapped trig beacon, and while Chris D started cooking dinner, Chris S and I once more walked down a gully to fetch water. The little water we did find was reasonably clear but it was obvious that the area was heavily used by cattle so we decided to boil water needed for cooking and chlorinate drinking water. Back at the tents, the weather was closing in and when we sat down to dinner of pasta, tuna and cheese, it had started to drip. With the drips becoming more regular, we finished our meal and jumped into the tent. Throughout the night it kept on raining off and on but we were hoping for a clear morning.

Day 4 (9 April): Unfortunately our wishes were not granted. Very heavy clouds were all around us when we got up just after 5am. Being about an hour behind schedule we started packing in the dark and as we ate breakfast it started dripping again. This necessitated packing up very wet tents, but at least it was our last day ahead. We were treated to a spectacular display of a flaming sunrise as I’ve never seen before and although we never actually saw the sun, the glowing orange, red and yellow colours on the clouds were something to behold. At around 06:15 we started hiking and continued on the path up towards the ridge. It was cold and very wet and soon my feet were sloshing in my shoes. We made good progress up the ridge though and when we got to the top, climbed the fence into Golden Gate. It was 07:40 when we started descending the path towards the road. Chris D was still struggling with his knee so we took it fairly slow. About halfway down we sat for a brief break at a stream, taking off a few layers of clothing as it had started to become a little uncomfortable. Just as we had done this it started to drip once more. Luckily the sun finally emerged about half an hour later and when we arrived at the hut we were able to break for a while drying out some clothes and warming up in the sun. Then we packed up, walked out the last few kms to the stables and got in contact with the Cromartys. Unfortunately Duncan’s car broke down and he asked us to drive back with Michael Stiller because he needed to get his car towed. Michael then drove the Caddy around while the five of us had lunch at the hotel and headed home.

Lower Injasuthi cave (Drakensberg) Mar 2007

I met Gordon, Yolandy and Corne at work. We left my and Gordon’s cars there and left in Corne’s, arriving in Bergville just after 11pm. We slept at the tennis courts and got up the next morning at 6am.

Day 1 (24 March): As we didn’t have much walking to do to Lower Injasuthi cave, we didn’t rush. We arrived at Injasuthi at about 08:45, signed in and paid and left at about 09:15. It was almost completely overcast and cool. I decided immediately to take the upper path as it would take us past the river. We made steady progress and it wasn’t long before we were at the junction that splits off to Centenary hut. We walked past this, for my first time on a new path and soon after arrived at Battle cave. The entire area was camped off with barbed wire fencing and the access gate was locked. We discovered a hole in the fence, crawled through and walked to the top. The number of paintings were amazing and we took many photographs before leaving. Continuing up the path that almost immediately became very dense with vegetation, we walked about 500m from the cave before I decided to have an early lunch break. The clouds were dissipating slowly and it was starting to heat up so we didn’t wait very long before carrying on. The cave was quite obvious to spot and Gordon found a direct but very steep, overgrown and slippery path leading up to it. We arrived in the cave at 14:00. Taking a good rest, all of us fell asleep in the lazy afternoon, getting up around 16:30. Corne, Yolandy and I then walked down a different path to get to the river, fetching water in my Drom bag. Back in the cave we prepared dinner of spaghetti, bacon, braai relish and tomato soup. For pudding we had tinned peaches and custard. Gordon had his tripod with him and took some pretty good pictures of the stars we could see. Listening to the SA vs Australia cricket on a small radio Gordon brought, we played cards until almost 10pm, before we finally fell asleep.

Day 2 (25 March): We got up early, had breakfast and left before 8am, walking through the dense vegetation before Battle cave. Not rushing, we walked the last few kilometres without incident and got back to Injasuthi at 11:00. After a good shower, we were back in the car and on our way to have Nando’s

Grootkloof guiding (Magaliesberg) Mar 2007

Gordon came to my place at around 15:30. He helped me load up the two cars as there were lots of things to be transported to Grootkloof. During the afternoon I discovered that I still had to go buy cups for the boys and therefore we stopped along the way to buy some plastic cups. The driving to Sparkling Waters went without a hitch.

Day 1 (10 March): Arriving at Sparkling Waters hotel at around 17:30, we quickly parked the cars, got our very heavy bags on and left for the campsite. Getting there by around 18:30 we quickly put the tent up and had a quick bite to eat before we left at 18:50 for the kloof. I was wearing my shorty wetsuit and Gordon took some thermals. Other than that and the technical gear, we had nothing else. We made it to the top of Main gully in good time and descended in the dark. At the bottom we carried on as usual and had no problems as we went through the kloof, doing a tandem abseil down the waterfall. We got back out at around 20:15 – a very good time! We spent the rest of the evening reading but it didn’t take long for us to hit the bed.

Day 2 (11 March): We woke at around 6am but snoozed for a while before getting up. While Gordon carried the static rope, I bundled all the climbing gear into the backpack. We were quickly at the bottom of Isolation Pinnacle and I took my time getting everything ready. With Gordon belaying me I made pretty good progress to the chock stone block at the base of the pinnacle. Here my courage left me and Gordon had to lower me from a solid hex I had in. I then decided to rather go around the base of the pinnacle, skip the first pitch of the climb and start on the second pitch. Getting to the bottom of the second pitch I first quickly abseiled to retrieve the hex I was lowered on, ran back up, and then started climbing. It was a bit scary initially as I could only get the first decent piece in about 4m off the deck. But from here it went really well and I started enjoying it again. When I got to the top I set up a belay and Gordon climbed up quickly. Then Gordon led through the hole and belayed me on the jump across the gap. Then I belayed him across and we did a tandem abseil off the tree. Back at our packs we took a bite to eat and some water before walking back out to the campsite. Expecting the people from Bosasa only at 14:00, we rested a good while before Gordon loaded his pack, I emptied mine, and we walked back to Sparkling Waters. The Bosasa manager, Comfort, Silindile and Rider as well as one of the guards, Bobo, arrived as we did and after Gordon and I packed our bags we all walked back in to the campsite. They sat around for a while and then we all walked out to Sparkling Waters. After saying goodbye to the Bosasa group and Gordon, I packed my bag with another load and returned to the campsite alone. Dinner was some of the food of the extra food package I had for the guards. I sat on the Woodpecker gully/Grootkloof junction until after sunset and then read a few pages of Dracula before finally going to sleep.

Day 3 (12 March): I got up at 6am, had breakfast and then walked to Sparkling Waters. On the way Chris phoned to arrange dropping off my tent he still had with him after the previous weekend’s trip. Getting to Sparkling Waters at 07:15, I immediately set about unpacking everything and setting up the reception of the boys. Chris arrived at around 07:45 to hand back the tent and we chatted a while before he left. The Bosasa group arrived on time at 08:30. After greeting them, I handed out all the different items and food bags. Then I helped them packing the bags. With all of them bringing large bags of clothing and other things along, It was quite a mission getting everything inside the packs, but finally, at about 09:30, we were ready to go. Taking my time at the front of the group, we arrived at the campsite a few minutes after 10am. We then relaxed for about an hour before I showed them how to set up the tents. This was followed by lunch of bread, tomatoes and polony. After lunch I decided to take them swimming as it was very hot and we didn’t have much else to do. We walked in to the pools at the Woodpecker – Grootkloof junction and it was great to see how much the boys enjoyed getting into the water. Back at the campsite, we rested some more. Later in the afternoon, some of the boys were entertained by baboons coming into the bottom of Ysterhoutkloof. Suddenly they called out to me and arriving at the kloof I discovered to my dismay that the baboons got hold of my precious watermelon I had left in the water to stay cool. I had to write it off and carried it up beyond the kloof so the baboons would leave the rest of my stuff alone. I also discovered that a lot of ants managed to get to the margarine despite it being in a cooler bag. It took a while to get rid of it. Late in the afternoon I left for Sparkling Waters to collect Chris. Chris arrived at 17:30 and together we walked in to the campsite, arriving a little after 6pm. I cooked some pasta for the two of us but the rest of the group seemed to have their own idea of what they wanted for dinner. Chris spent the night just outside my tent in a bivvy bag.

Day 4 (13 March): We got up early but I didn’t rush the boys as I didn’t expect the day’s activities to take very long. After breakfast I gathered the group for a safety briefing before we walked in to the bottom of Ysterhoutkloof. I had a good site where I wanted to climb and having the group stay at the bottom, Chris and I walked to the top to set up a top-rope. Chris then abseiled to the bottom and we got them to all to climb to the top, followed by being lowered down. Then we moved the rope system higher up in the kloof with the idea of giving them each some good exposure to abseiling so that the next day’s waterfall abseil won’t be a complete shock. All went well until Ambrose had to abseil – he refused to go. Eventually I had to put Chris up on the abseil rope and just belay Ambrose slowly on the way down with his hand on Chris’s shoulder. It was already past lunch and we went back to the camp. After lunch I took them swimming once again as the afternoon was getting impressively hot. We made dinner at around 6pm as heavy clouds built to the south and east.

Day 5: (14 March): I got the boys going early as I wanted to get to the waterfall as early as possible. With myself leading the group and Chris bringing up the rear, we made good time to the top of Main gully. As we descended Chris took the first and I the second obstacle and sent Silindile and Tumi down first to keep the boys together once they reached the bottom. When they were all down, I sped past the group to go and set up the abseil, while Chris helped them on the wet slabby rock before the waterfall. As they arrived at the waterfall I had to talk loudly to keep them behind the tree. Chris and I agreed that we would not let Ambrose abseil himself but would only belay him with Chris abseiling with him. Then Chris would take a dry-bag and cordelette down with him to drag the boys across the water using the inflated dry-bag as a makeshift bouy. But we couldn’t get Ambrose to step down from the chock stone boulder below the tree. After about 10 minutes of coaxing, I decided to take more firm control. I took the cordelette from Chris, attached myself to the tree and climbed down to them. Then I set Ambrose up on a direct belay off myself. Chris and I then walked Ambrose down together to the edge of the boulder from where there was no more turning back for Ambrose. I then let him down very slow with Chris abseiling next to him. When they got to the bottom, Ambrose refused to get into the water and I had to get Tumi down first, sending the cordelette and Ambrose’s Drimac with her. Only then was Chris able to attach the cordelette to Ambrose and get him into the water. Ambrose struggled to hold on to the dry-bag and kept on grabbing at Chris but Chris was able to swim him across the pool to where he could stand. Chris then proceeded to set the rope up for slinging the bags down. With all the bags down I started abseiling the remainder of the group. The only incident I had with the remainder was when Sicelo slipped on the way down, bashing his knuckles into the rock. He also did not keep his feet apart as I told him and slipped once more below the chock stone where I couldn’t see him anymore. He then needed some instruction from Chris to get him going again. Finally we were all down and I was able to abseil and pull the rope down. While I abseiled, Chris got the group going. At the open spot before the slide rock I sat them down for lunch and a good rest. Chris and I then had a look at the slide rock and we decided it would be sufficient just to set up the rope as a handrail on the way down, with myself acting as the anchor. This went well and it was not long before we exited the kloof. Everyone dropped their bags and proceeded to dry out in the sun after the cold in the kloof. Chris was especially cold after spending a considerable time in the water. At around 14:30 we returned to camp. We collected all the technical gear, including the ropes and personal technical gear and Chris and I walked all of this out to Sparkling Waters. Chris volunteered to take all the gear home and dry it out properly – this also saved some space in my car. When Chris left I waited for Comfort to arrive as agreed on Monday, bringing the boys some fresh chicken and apples. He also brought sugar which I refused as I reasoned that the boys must show responsibility to ration their sugar. However, the guards insisted that they take the sugar for themselves so I relented. We then walked back to camp where the boys had already cooked their dinners.

Day 6 (15 March): The boys were up early and we were able to leave well before 8am. With the intention of giving each a chance to lead, I started with Ambrose at the front. Changing leaders frequently we soon got to beacon 48 at the summit. I could see the boys were happy with what they achieved. We sat half an hour at the top enjoying the view and the cool breeze before starting back. I chose a different route so that the other boys also got a chance to lead over unfamiliar terrain. I took us to the junction of Woodpecker and Grootkloof and had them swim again before returning to the campsite for lunch. Relaxing until the early afternoon we started packing up the tent and gear of the 3 boys who had to return that afternoon, Sicelo, Simphiwe and Ambrose. Rider walked out with us and when we met Comfort at Sparkling Waters, there were two other people form Bosasa who also wanted to see the campsite. I then walked them to the campsite at a brisk pace, and even went to show one of them the swimming pools at the junction. I then walked them back, said goodbye to the three boys and walked back to the campsite alone. Dinner consisted of biscuits and a few other bits and pieces left over from the previous days.

Day 7 (16 March): I woke at 5am with a commotion in the camp – the boys were already busy packing up. We cooked oats for breakfast and were packed and ready to go soon after 8am. We still had a lot of time to kill because Comfort would only come to fetch them at 12:30. I therefore took them swimming again but it was chilly in the bottom of the kloof so it wasn’t long before they wanted to go back to the campsite. Finally we started walking back at 10:45, getting to Sparkling Waters at 11:15. We took a little while sorting out all the gear and loading the car and then we settled down to wait for Comfort. Luckily he showed up earlier than expected and on the dot of 12:00 I was able to leave Sparkling Waters.

Amphitheatre (Drakensberg) Mar 2007

Chris drove through to my place on Friday afternoon from where we left at around 4pm. We got to Sentinel car park at 21:30 – it was raining and an icy wind was blowing so we fled into the hut quickly.

Day 1 (3 March): The alarm went of at 05:00 but we snoozed another 30 minutes before finally getting up. We were away by 06:45, making good progress up the zig zags. Chris was feeling a little groggy so we didn’t hike very fast but we still got to the chain ladders in 1:45! Getting to the top quickly we walked straight to the hut and then climbed over the ridge behind the hut. Although the morning started out cool, it had become hot on top. We hiked until we got to Ribbon falls and sat for a quick bite to eat. We still had to climb the ridge behind Ribbon falls to get to the gap between the Amphitheatre and Inner Tower. Both of us started to feel the heat and we wanted to get to shade, so we quickly walked the final bit to the top of the wall and quickly found the descent gully to the saddle between Amphitheatre and Inner Tower. We geared up and started the extremely steep gully, holding onto grass as far as we went. The route description for the descent gully proved to be accurate and we quickly found the chimney which we had to skirt to access a very steep ramp leading down to a few metres below the saddle. Sitting on the saddle we were a bit daunted by the very scary-looking traverse we had to carry out onto the east face of the Inner Tower. We started up very steep grass, kicking in steps and pulling up on grass as far as we went. About 30m up I had enough. I was freaked out by the insecurity of the grass and the consequences of a fall. Chris agreed that things looked dodgy higher up and we started going back down the neck. From here we struggled up the gully back to the top where I finally sat to have a breather. We were both disappointed about not getting Inner Tower but it really looked scary from where we were. We then walked back to Ribbon falls where we passed out at the very edge and rested in the shade for almost 2 hours. We then decided to go sleep at Bilanjil and started walking there. However, we saw Basothos walking all over as we approached Bilanjil. We were in a bit of a quandary as to what to do. Finally we decided to eat dinner at Bilanjil and as it got dark, to walk over to a different spot close to the escarpment. Chris provided cook-in-the-bag cous-cous with tuna packets which was really nice. We finished with tea and as the moon rose brightly in the east, we packed up and walked to the escarpment, finding a good spot only about 20m from the edge. We pitched the tent in the moon light, avoiding our flashlights completely. Although lightning threatened in the east, it was a beautiful evening and we sat on the edge for more than half an hour before getting into the tent at around 19:30. Only about 5 minutes later, the wind picked up and shortly after it started raining. Luckily it didn’t storm too much and later in the night it eased up and we slept well. It seemed our move was a good idea since we didn’t have any visitors in the night.

Day 2 (4 March): I rose shortly before 6am in the hope of getting nice sunrise pictures. Unfortunately there were lots of cloud around and a pretty sunrise was not to be. We packed up and got ready to go, aiming to go climb Sentinel before going back. As we got over the ridge, clouds from the west started colliding with a front from the east and things got dark as we got to the chain ladder. Below the chain ladder we had just decided that we should probably not chance climbing Sentinel if the rain threatened, when it started to rain. A guy coming up behind us told us that they’ve been robbed the previous night but luckily nothing valuable and they were able to recover some things that have been dropped by the Basothos. Chris and I decided to rather spend the morning driving to Fika Patso and Monontsha to check out future hiking options. The last bit of the walk the rain came in pouring and by the time we got to the car park we were soaked. But as we got dressed in dry clothes inside the hut, the rain stopped and it started to clear. Soon we were on our way home.

Fernkloof at night (Magaliesberg) Feb 2007

I convinced Chris and Nicola to join me on a night trip through Fernkloof. Huge fun in the end, despite us almost stepping on a puff adder on the climb up and Nicola discovering some nasty knee sprains a few days after the fact.

Injasuthi peaks (Drakensberg) Jan 2007

Gordon and Charles picked me up from work at 13:30 Friday afternoon. Because we left early we missed the worst of Johannesburg traffic and we made good progress to Harrismith where we stopped for a bite. We arrived in Bergville just after dark and settled into our usual spot under the tennis court veranda.

Day 1 (20 January): At 5am we were up and gone by 6am. It had rained during the night and there was heavy fog all around – it looked like a typical summer’s morning. The road into Injasuthi was horribly potholed and Gordon had to drive slowly. We arrived at Injasuthi at 07:45, signed in and got ready while we waited for the office to open at 8am. When it did, we paid, parked and were ready to go. Right from the start I decided to go the long way round, missing out on the river crossing. We walked down past the bridge crossing the Injasuthi and started climbing up on the top path. Not long after I told Gordon and Charles about the giant earthworms I’ve seen on this path before, we came across another one, just as big as when Darrell and I first saw one. Due to the previous night’s rain and the heavy fog everything around us was wet and it wasn’t long before we were soaked as well. Even so, we made walked well past the normal junctions and soon stood on the path that branches off past Battle and Lower Injasuthi caves. The grass, ferns and reeds were as tall as always and we struggled through all the muck, getting wetter as we went. When we first saw a path leading up a ridge, just past the narrow point in the valley, we headed up. From here it was a regular slog up the hill. The heavy mist and cloud soon enveloped us completely and I had to go by GPS to judge how far we still had to go. Finally, just after 2pm, the hut materialized out of the mist. Putting Gordon onto the stove to start a pot of tea, I went to fetch water. We had planned to sleep in the tent in the lower reaches of Corner pass if the weather allowed, but we decided that the hut was most certainly a better prospect for the night. The rest of the afternoon we lazed about the hut, reading and chatting. At 17:30 I started with supper, making viennas, sauce and Smash with beetroot salad as a starter. It started raining lightly during the early evening, so we were soon in bed, hoping that the next morning would show better weather.

Day 2 (21 January): I had Gordon’s alarm set at 04:00 with the intention that we get a very early start if the weather was good. However, at 4am there was still heavy fog in the sky and occasionally some drizzle came down as well. Consequently we slept in until about 6am. We had a quick breakfast and decided to leave everything as it was, in order to save some time on our plans for the day. We decided that we would start by going up Corner pass and climbing the Corner itself, and then try some other things depending on the weather. When we started walking we could occasionally see some blue sky through wafts of mist – the contour path was level with the upper levels of the cloud. We walked around the contour path and got to the bottom of Corner pass in 45 minutes. Gordon and Charles were a bit shocked when I showed the upper gully of the pass to them but it wasn’t deterrent enough to get up the pass! We started at a good pace but later discovered that we actually missed the path that still runs up Corner pass for about 100m before continuing to the contour path. We stuck to the river bed initially but soon climbed out onto the northern slopes that were at a decent enough angle to make good progress. Taking a few breaks, it wasn’t long before we traversed back into the throat of the pass at the head of the gully. Stopping now and then for breathers and to drink water from the drips in the gully, we finally made it to the top just before 11am. We almost immediately carried on to the top of The Corner where we took our still wet boots off and had a decent break. We had done well up to then and I decided that at the very least we should have a go at The Judge as well. After taking a few pics we walked over to the top of The Judge where we sat for lunch. Updrafts brought some low level cloud onto the escarpment and it made us decide to not waste too much time on top. Figuring that we still have plenty time available to us, we went for Popple peak as well and claimed it in style. Then it was a fast descent to the top of Judge’s pass which we reached with almost everything below us blanketed in fog. Not being able to see what’s going on below us in the pass, we took our time descending. Judge’s pass is definitely a rock pass with some steep scree in the top gully, although not quite as steep as Corner pass. The gully opens up a bit lower down with some slabby rock and a few cascading waterfalls that made progress slow, though not impossible. About 200m above where I suspected the contour path should be (2600m), we climbed out onto the southern slope to skip a small cascade and then I decided to stick to the slope until we reach the contour path, thinking it would be harder to miss the contour path on the slope than in the rocky river bed. As we descended on the slope, the mist started clearing a little below us and we finally spotted the contour path. Getting to the contour path at 15:45, we still had a long way to go, so we put our minds to it, making fast progress initially. As the slog on the contour path got longer and longer, we slowed down a little. Clouds built up again and it started to rain just beyond Corner pass, where we also missed the descent to the contour path and just climbed over the ridge, descending back to the contour path again. We approached the hut in total white-out conditions and I had to rely on the GPS to guide us off the contour path. The hut appeared ethereally at 17:05. It was a super long day but with great rewards – three summits and a new pass! Sending Gordon out to fetch us some water, I started making tea and asked Charles to start cutting up some of the veggies for dinner. After dinner the cloud in the valleys cleared a little and we had a very peaceful twilight, standing on the ridge behind the hut looking out over the Little Berg.

Day 3 (22 January): Deciding the previous night that we would like to go to Lower Injasuthi cave, we got up at 4am to see if the skies were clear. They were, but a strong westerly wind was blowing and when we started walking at 05:10, we were wearing full rain gear. We walked around the large contour bowl north of Centenary hut and after just over an hour’s walking we came to the top of the ridge we had to descend according to the map. There was however, no path leading down the ridge so I led and struck my own way. Walking with the wind now, it was much more pleasant and soon we took our jackets off. About halfway down the ridge I checked the map and realized that we seemed to have gone past the spot where we should have descended north towards Lower Injasuthi cave according to the map. I felt very apprehensive about walking down the ridge to the north without a path, as there were numerous sandstone cliffs and dense forest we could see on the opposite ridge’s southern slope. Accordingly, I decided to forget about Lower Injasuthi cave and headed straight down the ridge. But we soon walked into another cliff right at the tip of the ridge. I dropped my pack and scouted two or three possibilities but all of them turned out to be no-goes. We then agreed that our best option is to climb back some way along the ridge, contour south towards the path that ascends to Centenary hut and then climb down. Although this meant quite a detour, we were at least assured of a way down past the cliffs. The contouring south was a bit tricky with some steep slopes and very dense vegetation to cope with. However, we finally made it down to the path that runs through the worst part of Injasuthi’s heavy ferns and grass and we knew we were back on track. By this time, it had grown very hot and we were already tired by the morning’s exercise. Getting back to the good path between Battle cave and Injasuthi camp, we took a long break at the first river before tackling the slog back to camp. I decided to walk the shortest route back, even though it meant taking our shoes off to cross the river. We arrived back at the car just before 12 in the afternoon and were on our way by 12:20, having showered and bought cokes.