Bermanzi hiking trail and abseil Jun 2005

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Centenary hut - Injasuthi (Drakensberg) Mar 2005

I drove to Albert’s work at the JSE in Sandton, early Friday afternoon. Zelda was already there. We transferred all our equipment to Zelda’s Golf and left for the Berg just before 3pm. The drive through Jo’burg proved to be less problematic than I expected it would be and we got to Harrismith at 6pm where we had dinner at the Spur. At 7pm we left for Bergville and arrived just after 8pm. I paid for Darrell and Liza as well so they needn’t worry about the accommodation when they arrive later. The three of us set up camp so long under the tennis court club house. Darrell and Liza arrived sometime after 11pm. I helped them to set up the tent before all of us went to bed.

Day 1 (19 March): I actually forgot for a while that it was my birthday. We had a quick breakfast, packed up and left for the Berg. However, Al forgot his contact solution and we had to wait in Winterton for a pharmacy to open. When we heard from someone that the owner was there but wouldn’t open up, Al decided to force the issue. Luckily he managed to get his solution soon after 8am and we were finally able to leave for Injasuthi. The road there is as bad as it always was and we only got to the Office after 9am sometime. We signed in, paid and packed our bags ready to go. There was a fair amount of cloud in the sky and it wasn’t too hot when we started. Where the path led off the road I decided to take the shorter route that would require us to cross the river, as opposed to the longer but drier walk along the top. We got to the river soon enough and all of us had to take our shoes off and struggle across the river. It wasn’t too deep but it was flowing quite fast. With the river behind us I set off up the slope to where I suspected the lower path should be. Through the thick vegetation at the bottom I managed to pick up a game path but wrongly thought that it was an overgrown version of the main path we should’ve been on. Therefore I stuck to the dim path with grim thoughts about how the path will look further up. Luckily we kept on climbing and not long after we started up the slope, stumbled onto the real path. From here it went easier but when we got to the little forested stream it was already almost 12:00. I decided on an early lunch. We had another 500m to go before we reached the turn-off to Marble Baths so we were approaching halfway. However, it was still a long way to go and we didn’t linger. We crossed the little stream just before G8 junction without shoes. The junction was virtually non-existent but I picked up the faint trail leading up next to the river. With Al and Zelda in front we made decent progress despite the very heavy vegetation along the path. This time I managed to stick to the path all the way to where it swung into a side valley. Here the path all but disappeared and I decided to go for the hill. We filled water bottles and headed straight up the steep grass slope. We soon crossed the path again after which the climbing was hard but not intolerable. Liza took her time up the slope but made good progress. Just after 4pm we finally topped out just short of 2200m and our destination was not far off. After a good rest we set off again and finally made it to the hut at 16:45. We were all fairly exhausted after a long day but we set up all our stuff inside the hut. Vandalists had ruined more glass panes throughout the hut and we had to do some sweeping to get rid of the shards. Al, Zelda and I had Mince Mate for dinner while Darrell and Liza cooked rice and mince. We settled soon after dinner.

Day 2 (20 March): I had set my new thermometer during the night and it measured a minimum temperature outside of 9.0 degrees. It was fun to play around with a new toy! Although we rose just before 6am, we took our time to pack everything up and were only ready by 8am. Darrell, Liza and I removed the tops of our packs and stuffed all our gear and food needed for the day. The five packs were scattered between rocks and grass outside the hut, and we tried to camouflage it a little as well as protect it from possible rain. We set off at a fast rate up the slope to the contour path and then started traversing to the south. It was a nice day for a walk in the mountains and we all enjoyed the easy trail around to the bottom of Corner pass. At the pass we started climbing. There were a number of large clouds up on the escarpment and both Darrell and I suspected rain later on. After 40 minutes of climbing and 150m higher in the pass, I calculated that we would not be able to go up Corner, down Judge’s and all the way back to the hut. So instead I aborted the pass and decided to walk around to the bottom of Judge’s pass for lunch and also to inspect Judges pass for future attempts. It was still another 2km around the spurs but we got there after 11am. We had a quick snack before Darrell, Al and I set off to at least where we could see the entire pass. We walked to a major split in the river and sat at a small waterfall for a while, contemplating life. We returned to where we left the girls at the bottom. Al had a refreshing bath in a pool in the river while the rest of us lazed around. At 13:30 we started heading back to the hut and I decided to track the entire path back on the GPS. Without packs, the walking was easy and we maintained a fast pace. At Corner pass I mistook a game path for the real thing and got us onto a steep slope on the true left of the river bed. But we managed to clamber down to the real path and were on our way again. Dark clouds were building on the escarpment and I speeded things up a bit. We saw a lone hiker walking towards us on the lower path leading away from the hut. I was immediately suspicious and sent Al down to investigate. But it turned out to be an innocent hiker on his own mission in the Berg. As we descended towards the hut it started raining lightly and we made it back to the hut just before heavier drops came down. We stayed inside until we heard voices around 4pm. We climbed out and saw some people coming down towards the hut from the contour path. They were a group of seven that camped close to Lower Injasuthi Cave the previous night. We chatted a little and offered to sleep in the one large room of the hut so they could take the other two. This time we had Tuna Mate for dinner. The other group prepared dinner in the room next to ours. They chatted a little afterwards but soon five of them vacated to the two tents they pitched outside. During the night it rained off and on.

Day 3 (21 March): It was a beautiful morning when we woke up. We were underway at 07:30, aiming for the Injasuthi Management track. We got there relatively fast and started the slog back to camp. I didn’t know if there was a path from the Field Ranger’s hut where the track ended; we thought that the path indicated on the map would be a bit long to do. As we hiked, heavy clouds formed on the escarpment and pushed over towards the east. The track hiked very easy and just before 11am we were on the last few 100m looking down on the road back to camp and the cars far beneath us. I was a little worried about getting back because we still haven’t found the trail indicated on the amp, the weather was threatening and there were plenty cliffs right below our feet. But confident that we would find something we kept going, and just a 100m from the Ranger’s hut, we found a path leading down. We took it full of hope which turned into a nice surprise when we saw that the path was in fact pretty good and did lead all the way down. However, the steepness was extreme and the three ladders we had to negotiate did not make things easier. Eventually we got down safely and were on our way back to the cars. Just as I put my pack down it started drizzling slightly. After signing out and all having had a shower, we started driving back. Unfortunately we had to wait an hour for a flooded river to subside before we could cross a low water bridge on the way back to Pretoria.