Bannerman pass - Giant's Castle (Drakensberg) Mar 2008

For the entire week I had training in Sandton and Gordon and Nicola came to pick me up from the Southern Sun hotel at 15:30. Traffic for the Easter weekend was heavy and it took us about an hour and a half to fight through Johannesburg. Eventually on the N3, we went well, despite heavy traffic, and had dinner at Bergview’s Wimpy. Although the sky looked clear as we started driving to Bergville, rain was forcasted for the next morning and I expected this to start during the night – consequently I decided to rather stay over in Bergville where we at least could have a roof over our heads at the tennis court instead of a wet tent in Estcourt. Arriving in Bergville around 20:30, we pitched the tent at the tennis courts to avoid the mosquitoes and went to bed.

Day 1 (21 Mar): We woke at 5am to drizzle – the decision to stay in Bergville turned out to be a good one. We packed up quickly, had breakfast and were on our way at 06:00. In Estcourt we filled up petrol and drove to Giant’s Castle, arriving not long after 8am. We completed the mountain register at the entry gate and drove to reception where we paid for the hiking, then to the picnic site where we parked under a large tree. It was cold and miserable, so we dressed up in full rain gear. We eventually started walking down to the river at 08:45, crossed the stream on a wooden bridge and took the path heading up towards Bannerman. With all the grass wet from the previous night’s rain, it was barely five minutes before my feet were soaked and it would remain so for the next four days. We made good progress up the valley and then climbed up on a spur and into the mist. Every now and again, a light drizzle would engulf us and when we reached the contour path, we were pretty wet. As there was nowhere dry to sit and rest, we carried on and reached the hut before 1pm. The hut was really a very welcome sight and we even had a nice table and benches to sit at. After draping all our wet gear around the hut and putting on dry clothes, we had lunch with hot soup and tea. None of us felt like going out in the rain again to go up the pass and we decided to stay in the hut for the night. After lunch we climbed into our sleeping bags and listened to the rain on the roof. At around 17:30 we started dinner. With heavy cloud and drizzle still in the air, we went to bed. During the night a very strong wind started down the escarpment – I was hopeful that this would clear the clouds and dry the grass.

Day 2 (22 Mar): When Gordon’s alarm went off at 5am, the wind was still howling and resonating throughout the hut. The clouds hadn’t cleared and fog and drizzle still blew in from the escarpment – it really looked miserable outside – therefore we climbed back in our sleeping bags. A little later I got up and had another look outside – it still looked very unpleasant and I made the decision to not ascend Bannerman pass and change our plans for the rest of the trip. With our trip changed, we felt lazy and climbed back into bed once more. However, we vowed that we could not sit around the hut all day and after a leisurely breakfast after 8am, we finally left the hut at around 09:30. The wind was still blowing but it certainly had calmed down. We decided to walk north on the contour path towards Centenary hut and see if we could climb a point off the contour path named eMankentshani. The wind had dried the grass well during the night, but we still had to put on wet socks and shoes to save our pair of dry socks for another day. We walked without hurry on the path until we saw The Judge, prominently standing out from the escarpment. Although the escarpment at this point was visible, heavy nimbo-stratus clouds still abounded high in the sky and we kept on our thermal and shell layers. We first passed the spur where our summit was and decided to carry on to the spur directly north of Judge’s pass. However, we lost the path going into Judges pass and then decided to turn back, heading for the ridge with the summit. The map indicated the summit was about 2km below the contour path and seemed very insignificant. On the spur we started walking downhill and soon looked at a rock-ribbed ridge below us with a high point that seemed to be our summit without a doubt. Nicola was taking lots of photos higher up on the spur and when she joined us, decided to stay behind while we walked the last kilometer to the summit. This we did quickly and soon claimed our first summit for the trip. Ascending back to the contour path (which at this point was over 2400m) we trudged back to the hut. With a faint sun occasionally poking its head though the clouds we were able to shed our shell layer. At 2pm we were back in the hut and had lunch around the table. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading. After dinner of Smash, bacon, onion and pepper, a heavy rain storm broke and lasted for quite a while – we were starting to wonder what the next day was going to look like.

Day 3 (23 Mar): At 5am Gordon’s alarm went off and we looked outside with high spirits at a clear sky with a very light breeze. Our aim was to do a very ambitious day trip up Bannerman pass, traversing south on top, descending Langalibalele pass and hiking back to the hut on the contour path. With a quick breakfast and fast packing, we were on our way at 6am. The path was good and we were able to stick to crossing the stream a number of times. With just daypacks on our backs we walked fast and we only stopped for a short break when we reached what looked like Spare Rib cave at 2750m. Gordon and I went to have a look at the cave but were dismally disappointed – there was not a dry spot in sight and your only options were whether you want to sleep under a heavy drizzle or an outright downpour! This was definitely a winter cave. The higher we climbed in the pass, the more I noticed that the water pouring off the escarpment was relentless – there did not seem to be an end to it. As the gully of the pass narrowed we started to climb more and more in the stream and despite putting on dry socks at the start of the day, I was now walking in drenched shoes once more. Clouds started forming fast around the escarpment peaks and by the time we topped out, it was cold and misty. But we managed to do the entire pass in 2 hours 45 minutes! Into Lesotho things were a little more clear and we could see the big valleys south of Popple peak extending into the distance. Gypaetus point was peeping out occasionally through the drifting mist and we decided to give it a go, as we had done so well up the pass. I was amazed at how wet the top of the ‘Berg was – it was impossible to avoid marshes that were covering every square inch of the ground. We made it to the top of the peak and were a little surprised at how airy the summit was – unfortunately we also could not see a single thing in the heavy mist and after a brief rest, descended back towards the top of the pass and started skirting south east. The mist occasionally cleared enough to see where we needed to go and we finally reached the ridge summit that looked down towards the Langalibalele valley. As far as we went, water was either running down into the valley or standing in huge puddles all over the place. I was trying to find Bannerman cave but failed once again. Descending towards the pass top on GPS coordinates, we noticed white patches in the distance that we initially thought might be snow. But when we finally came across some of the patches we discovered that it was hail – probably still remaining from the previous night’s heavy storm. It was now cold and miserable and clouds were building into Lesotho as well. Getting to the top of Langalibalele pass just after 11am, we immediately started the descent. Right at the top I spotted a fountain that was gushing water out of the ground at 2900m – astonishing! We found the path down the pass to be almost impossible to follow at the top as it was an ankle-deep river. We had to stick to the grassy slopes next to the path to try and stay less wet but every now and again our options ran out and we got filthy in the process. The path eventually traversed right and onto a drier slope down which we made fast progress. We stopped briefly where the path crossed the river bed and started to contour to the spur on the left. The weather looked threatening and we heard thunder every now and again. Reaching about 2400 on the spur, I opted for a short cut to the left as soon as I saw the contour path below us. Although we could see patches of sunlight over some of the Little Berg ridges, rain was already falling around Giant’s Castle itself and it looked like we were going to get wet. We had 7km to go on the contour path and set off at a fast pace. We had a number of close lightning strikes and a spatter of rain between the pass and the hut but we were lucky to avoid the worst of the storm. Over the last 500m, the clouds actually began to clear from the west, leaving the escarpment clear and a warm sun finally making an appearance. Back at the hut we were able to lay out our wet clothing to dry in the remaining rays while we had a late, but very well-deserved lunch – we did 20km, up and down two passes and added a peak! Later we were treated to some rainbows and some dark thunderstorms to the east – luckily it all seemed to be going further east. Dinner of pasta, tomato relish, meatballs and cheese went down spectacularly and this was followed by Lindt hot chocolate donated by Nicola – a truly great meal for our last night.

Day 4 (24 Mar): The night was uneventful and we rose bright and early at 5am. At 06:10 we were on our way, back-tracking the contour path we had already walked twice. It was a stunning morning and promised to be hot. At the junction of Bannerman path we decided to go the long way down Langalibalele ridge to have the opportunity to have a look at Main caves. I measured the distance of the section between Bannerman and Lanagalibalele ridges as I was convinced the map was wrong. Measuring 3.43km instead of the 2.5km as indicated on the map, I was proved right – but it also meant our last day would be 14km instead of 13km. Down the ridge, Nicola’s calves started to act up and she had to slow down. Finally making it down the ridge we had to take our shoes off to cross a stream and then had only about 2.5km left to go. At the junction to Main caves, Gordon went ahead to see if we would be able to get in. He returned and reported that there was no-one there and we’d be able to squeeze through the gate. However, Nicola was suffering and I wanted to avoid her making it even worse by climbing the steep concrete path to the caves; I made the decision to can the idea and rather get back to the camp as soon as possible. From here we lightened Nicola’s pack with Gordon taking her sleeping bag and me her share of the tent. Gordon then went ahead to fetch the car and drive up to the office to try and save Nicola the last bit of the walk. While Nicola started to plod along, I chatted with two couples before catching up with Nicola. I overtook her and speed walked the last little bit to the office where I dropped my pack and returned to fetch Nicola’s. With both of us at the office, we waited about 2 minutes before Gordon showed up. We couldn’t find anywhere to shower so we got in the car as filthy as we were and started to head back to Pretoria.