Amphitheatre (Drakensberg) Jan 2008

Gordon and Nicola picked me up from work on Friday afternoon just before 3pm and we drove without incident straight up to Sentinel car park. George, Brian, Shirley, Eddy and Irma were already ensconced in their sleeping bags and after some shuffling around we soon joined them.

Day 1 (26 Jan): The day dawned cool with lots of fog below and above, but at least no rain in the immediate future. We packed quickly, paid, signed the register, and were off just before 7am. We walked without rush but still made very good time, arriving at the chain ladder before 9am. The path up to here was absolutely sodden and with lots of fog still floating around it didn’t look like it was going to get dryer anytime soon. At the top of the ladders we decided to walk to the lip of the falls before going up to the cave. However, the light westerly that was blowing a little earlier had begun to fade, so cloud was spilling over the escarpment. After watching the first 3m of the falls disappear into the mist, we gathered our gear and slogged up to the cave. I had the intention of walking up Mount Amery but as we could not really see terribly far and I had no coordinates with me for Amery, I decided not to go. Instead we took a good rest at the cave, climbed Crow’s Nest and contemplated going to Mont-aux-Sources. But standing on top of Crow’s Nest, the fog thickened and I got lazy and so we turned around and took our time to collect water some 200m below the cave. The cave was dripping in a number of spots and made sleeping arrangements a little awkward for the 8 of us. To make it slightly easier for all, I decided to finally sleep in the worm hole below the cave I’ve always wanted to try out. I set up all my stuff inside and it turned out to be so cozy that I almost fell asleep in the afternoon. With dusk approaching we started cooking mince, relish and cous-cous and had some pickled beetroot for starters. There was still heavy mist and cloud around when I went to bed but I stayed up reading until about 11pm. During the night it rained lightly on occasion and as my worm hole’s roof was a little shorter than the floor, the end of my mat got a little damp. However, I also noticed a little later that the moon was trying to break through the fog and I eventually slept soundly being reasonably sure that the morning would be clear.

Day 2 (27 Jan): The morning indeed dawned clear overhead with a heavy blanket of cloud below. The cloud once again provided us with a beautiful sunrise but the good weather also urged us to make good use of it. With the rest of the group deciding to go take pictures on the edge, Gordon, Nicola and I made a go at Mont-aux-Sources. A cold but light westerly was blowing and we kept our jackets on during the climb. Reaching the summit in an hour, we took a good look around into Lesotho and were just able to make out the Cathedral and Cathkin ranges pushing through the cloud in the distance. We got back to the cave in 45 minutes and then continued down the ridge to join the rest of the group. The three of us spent some time taking pictures while the others started walking back towards the ladders and we played catch-up soon after. The westerly was slowly fading and by the time we got to the ladders we were again in the upper parts of the cloud with occasional glimpses of Fika Patso dam. We descended the ladders and then most of the males in the party took a fast walk on the path to one of the slippery rock sections we knew we would need to provide some help at for the ladies. Immediately past this rock, we dropped our packs and took a breather but it was barely 5 minutes before the rest of the gang showed up. With Eddy and Gordon helping from below and me stationed at the start of the slippery bit, we first helped Nicola and then Shirley across. Next came Irma. I was holding Irma’s hand as she gingerly stepped on to the first step, when suddenly her footing gave away. Since I was holding her hand I was able to stop her from falling down the rock but she sat down hard on the step we were trying to cross. She immediately told me her ankle is gone. I couldn’t quite believe it because she didn’t fall at all – she basically sat down hard on her foot. When she managed to turn around a little she said maybe its not broken but as she shifted into a slightly better position she said that its definitely broken. It was also noticeable that her right foot had a slightly awkward angle to it. George had started walking ahead so I immediately sent Brian after him. With Eddy and Gordon helping from below and me from the top, Irma was able to shuffle along the ledge to a point where the guys below could help her get off the wet rock. We sat her on a dry rock in the middle of a path and took stock. We only had two options: try to help her down the mountain ourselves or initiate a call-out. First we needed to splint the leg. Having a closer look and feel I was able to tell that it was very possibly a fracture but I couldn’t feel or see any blood which was a good start. I decided not to remove her boot to limit swelling. Gordon took out the aluminium supports of Nicola's pack and these I inserted gently into the boot, on either side of the leg. I used one bandage to secure the aluminium struts to the leg and then another to support the boot and ankle a little more. Although this setup did provide some support, there was still slight movement of the ankle so I got my Drom bag with a little air in it and wrapped it around the entire boot and lower calf, fastening it very tightly with a third bandage. Checking with Irma, she was still able to feel and wriggle her toes. I did not want to give her any medication yet and she agreed to this. She indicated that she’s willing to try and hobble along with support. With Eddie on the one side and me on the other, we lifted her up and barely managed two metres when Irma stopped us and asked that we rather get some help as she cannot do this. Then I changed things a little. I got Gordon to get us a GPS fix, noted we didn’t have cell phone reception, got Shirley and Nicola to get everything Irma would need out of her bag and started completing my first aid and rescue page with all the information. We got Irma comfortably seated and Shirley and Gordon volunteered to stay behind. Nicola was sent ahead with an extra pack so we could make sure that all the gear was off the mountain. Making sure that Irma was comfortable and the others had all they needed, I set off at a brisk pace, soon overtaking Nicola. I got down to the car park in about 40 minutes and used one of the guards cell phones which had reception (coin phone did not accept the coins I put in) to call Gavin Raubenheimer. I gave him all the details I had. He then said he will organize something and let me know. With the call made, I trudged back up the path, meeting first Eddy and Brian and shortly after George. They were doing fine but Eddy was carrying two packs. I took one off him and walked back with them to the car park. With Nicola still up in the mountains after I sent her back to collect car keys, I walked back up to make sure she was still okay. I met her halfway to the first bend and she indicated that everything was still fine at the scene and Irma was very calm and collected. Back at the car park I phoned Gavin again who confirmed that Natal Parks Board and medics were on their way and that we were looking at about 2 hours before they would show up. As we waited, Eddy discovered he still had his 2-way radios in the car and as he wanted to go up anyway, we thought it would be a good idea for him to take a radio and provide some moral support. In addition, we were also trying to get hold of Irma’s son but the PIN code she gave us to her cell phone wasn’t working. Eddy planned to take her cell phone along so she could speak to him herself in case there was reception. About an hour and a half after the call was made, the first ambulance from Phuthaditjaba showed up with two paramedics. We asked them to wait for some more people first before we do anything. Shortly after, another ambulance with 3 paramedics showed up and they indicated that they can walk up the mountain with a scoop stretcher to stabilize and package Irma. I then got hold of Eddy on the radio and asked him to wait for them, as he would be able to guide them to the scene. With the paramedics well on their way, it was only about 30 minutes later that three guys and a lady from Phuthaditjaba fire brigade showed up. They had a golf bag stretcher and some rope with them and I started walking up with them. Finally we got to the contour path and as the cloud ceiling had lifted slightly, I noticed a car pulling into the car park in the distance. I thought they may be Parks Board and got hold of Nicola who was at the bottom to quickly check with them. They confirmed they knew the area well and would immediately start walking up to assist. Just past the small ladder on the Sentinel contour path, we saw the one female paramedic and as we rounded the corner we saw the guys struggling with the stretcher. As the golf-bag stretcher had more handholds, everyone helped to lift Irma on the scoop stretcher straight into the golf-bag stretcher. The paramedics had 3 broad straps that could be hooked over the shoulders of someone walking in the front and at the back but the carry still required support from the sides. With the path being only 1-person wide in places, this was very difficult. Swapping hands regularly we made slow progress over the difficult terrain. Gordon, Eddy and I assisted with the carry where we could and eventually we made it to the top of the zig-zags. The fire brigade wanted to lower the stretcher with a rope belay directly past all the zig-zags, which I think was a good idea since the zig zags were very rocky and steep in places. Unfortunately they had no other gear apart from the rope and I ended up helping one of the paramedics to do a body belay. With two rope-lengths we managed to pass all the zig-zags except the last big one with the fencing. In the mean time, another senior medic showed up and started making the carry efforts more coordinated. This helped tremendously to speed things up. When Irma got to the path above the fencing I made the call to not lower the stretcher with the rope anymore. The reasoning was partly that there was no sufficient anchoring and the body-belay was certainly not safe, the grass, wet from some light drizzle may easily cause the carriers to fall, as none of them had proper boots, causing even more harm and a belay to the bottom path was not going to save us more than 5 minutes. As we approached the home stretch I took over the lead again and we made very good progress to just before the concrete section when I was getting very tired. Irma was carried into Sentinel car park at 18:00. While we sorted out her gear and personals to go with her, she was made a little more comfortable on the scoop stretcher and loaded in the ambulance. She was still alert and reasonably calm but obviously in shock and shivering. The paramedics heated up the ambulance and gave her morphine while I walked around thanking all the people who helped. At around 18:15 the ambulance left in gathering cloud and rain and the rest of our group followed. We stank, were incredibly tired, sore and hungry but we were very glad that Irma was now on her way to professional care and there was nothing more we could do. We thought our efforts were not bad under the circumstances and our two vehicles met again in Harrismith for some late dinner before driving back, arriving home after midnight.

Devil's Peak (Table Mountain) Jan 2008

Having finished work for the day early, I quickly drove up to Table Mountain and had a nice walk up Devil's Peak, despite a really nasty south easter blowing. The ascent and descent in total took me about 2 hours.

Hospitaalspruit & Stable caves - Monk's Cowl (Drakensberg) Jan 2008

I left work early at around 1:30pm and picked Gordon up at his place. The drive was uneventful and we arrived in Bergville around 7pm, sleeping under the tennis court veranda as usual. It was hot, but mosquitoes were plentiful, so we pitched the tent for the night.

Day 1 (29 December): The alarm woke us at 05:30 and by 6am we were on our way, driving first to Winterton and then to Monk’s Cowl. After signing in and paying, we were on our way at 07:20. Heading down towards Sterkspruit falls for the first time, neither of us really knew what to expect. The path was obvious to the falls and ended with a beautiful viewpoint. However, the path we could see climbing up on the other side of the falls, didn’t have a connection in between. There seemed to be a few paths connecting the two, but it was all fenced off. We climbed the fence and bundu-bashed through some sharp brambles before deciding to take a different route. We got to the river but needed to take our shoes off to cross it almost thigh deep. Then we picked up the path again and made good progress up a steep incline. The path suddenly ended at a road next to a cottage with no continuation. We decided to stick to the road for the time being and were happy when it eventually turned up-slope again and opened out of the pine plantation to where we could see the ridge we were aiming for. We followed the road until in ended at another fenced-off cottage. Just outside the fence, a path led off and up towards the hill. This we took and it soon joined a much better path and we finally figured we were on the path we wanted to be on all along. We made good progress along this contour path and went past Van Damm’s cascades and then past Steilberg. The path climbed up the ridge until we found ourselves on the saddle from where the path continues to Stable cave. We followed the path to the cave where we had lunch. After lunch we saddled up again and made our way across the top of the ridge towards Hospitaalspruit cave. It was a very interesting and beautiful walk, but both of us were tired. The track was thin in places but we were always able to pick it up again. The map indicated the cave to be at around 1820m in a patch of forest. We saw a patch that qualified but got a bit worried when the path kept on climbing towards the top of the ridge beyond. Then all of a sudden we found ourselves in the cave! It was a nice surprise. But it was clear that the map was wrong as the cave was at over 2000m. Unfortunately the cave was also dry. Gordon volunteered to go look for water and walked back the way we came to descend into the valley below. My thighs were badly chafed from the walk and I rested well until Gordon returned about an hour later. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading before starting dinner of bacon and pasta around 6pm.

Day 2 (30 December): We thought we woke up late but a quick glance at the watch told us it was only 05:30. Fog was blowing in from the east but there appeared blue sky above every now and again so it looked like it was going to clear later on. We packed up after breakfast and left on the track leading upwards beyond the cave. There were two tracks leading away from the cave indicated on the map. The second path however was only a way-to-go and I didn’t expect to see anything at all. As we were walking on a good path, and didn’t see any splits, we assumed we were on the right track. The fog kept blowing in so we were never able to really see where we were. When we suddenly arrived at the end of the ridge after walking over 3km, the mist cleared just enough for me to realize were on the wrong ridge. After a few minutes deliberation, we decided to can our original plans, head back to Stable cave and explore the area a little more. So we turned around and walked back the way we came. Arriving back at Hospitaalspruit cave, the mist started to clear and we saw where we went wrong – it was also quite noticeable that there was no junction – you had to see the other path to know where to go. We took a break at Hospitaalspruit cave before going back the same way to Stable cave, arriving there at around 10am. Another group of youngsters were still there, packing up to leave. After they left we ensconced ourselves in the cave, set our socks and boots out to dry and took a good rest. At around 11am, two elderly guys arrived from Vaalribbok cave. They were experienced Berg hikers and we chatted a long time, sharing some information about the area. They had lunch and then moved on to sleep at Hospitaalspruit cave. Just behind them, Gordon took a walk down to Vaalribbok cave and also climbed Vaalribbokkop while I rested in the cave. Gordon returned at around 4pm and at 6pm we started dinner of ham and pasta. After dinner we sat outside the cave watching the twilight turn into night – it was a beautiful night in the Berg!

Day 3 (31 December). Waking early once again, we were on our way by 06:40. Our changed plans were to head up the ridge behind us and walk all the way to Hlatikulu neck and then onto Blind Man’s Corner before finishing the next day. We took the upper path leading away from Stable cave and quickly climbed Verkykerskop. From here we stuck to the right side of the ridge, hiking on a path which was very overgrown with tall grass. Approaching Indanyana in the distance we ascended the connecting ridge and then Indanyana itself. We sat at the summit cleaning our boots before heading down again and picking up the good path that ran through “The V”. We set a fast pace through summer flowers with lots of pollen and were very surprised to see a wooden shelter off the path to our left about halfway to Hlatikulu neck. We carried on and soon found ourselves on the contour path. It was hot and although we have only walked for about 3 hours, we were pretty tired. We needed shade pretty fast so we kept on walking, arriving at the Blind Man’s Corner campsite, 4 hours after starting. A family group was having lunch but left about 15 minutes later. As they left, something was suddenly stuck in my left eye. No matter what we tried, it wouldn’t come out. After about half an hour I asked Gordon to pitch the tent so I could just lie down and close my eyes. After lying down for about an hour, it seemed to have washed out by itself. However, my left eye was swollen for the rest of the day. During the afternoon, three groups of people came past on their way down from Sterkhorn. At 17:30 I started food – pasta, tuna, mussels, oysters and cheese sauce, topped off with some wine for New Years Eve! We were in bed early and fast asleep by the time the year ticked over.

Day 4 (01 January): Once again we were out of bed by 05:30 and hit the road by 6am. We set a good pace and took Keartlands pass for the first time. The path descended sharply down the slope before contouring around past a few small cascading waterfalls. The path soon brought us to the road and we were back at the car at 07:30 – only 1 hour, 30 minutes walking! We had a welcome shower before buying a few things when the shop opened at 08:00, then left for home.