The Bell Traverse

Welcome on VE Bazzer!

Glad to hear you guyes had a good time in the Berg.

Regarding the Bell Traverse, yes, there are dodgy sections, and, depending on weather and the prevailing conditions on the day it can range from "relatively easy peasy" to "oh crap, better concentrate now!". I've had both and it can definitely be dangerous, BUT, there are bypass routes that minimises the risk. Have a read of my latest Bell Traverse Trip report form 2024 where I explained how to bypass the most dodgy section basically under the chessmen.

BTW - there are sections of the Camel that I've found particularly hair raising in the right (or should I say wrong?) conditions. Throw in high winds and a bit of ice and that rock plate near (below) Windy Gap will elevate your heart rate in no time!

That's mountains for you. They are often dangerous, but quite often you can negate the dangerous/risky bits by taking a different line or hiking when the weather is better, or, like you did, hiking a different route altogether.

That was a bit wrong of them to discourage you from doing the BT. There is one section that I would say is a bit trickier than the Camel but otherwise completely fine. As Riaang said, there are also ways to bypass certain sections. Buggers gulley, in my opinion is in a better state than it was this time last year. I just used it for the 4th time this year and used it on Nov 18th

Is the Bell traverse open or closed? 

We signed in at the Didima office on Sat 25 April, the lady at the counter pointed to this sign and told us to please take note of the cave closures, but was unable to explain more:

 

Our route was supposed to be Bell Traverse to Twins cave and over to Rolands, not planning on using the Bell cave so we just wrote that down and set off. At the base of Cathedral peak we met a gentleman who was walking back from the traverse and he stopped to warn us that it was closed due to a rockfall / landslide. He was very convincing and assured us that he had spoke to rangers and mountain guides, and that the route was now completely impassable. He said he had just walked out to the Mitre and then turned around with his group. 

We headed off along the traverse anyway since the weather was perfect. 

Passing the Bell cave we noted that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, the path is the same as it has always been and the cave was fine. So the sign in the Didima office is just wrong or misleading.

We pressed on the eastern side of the Mitre before running out of time to comfortably return and enact "plan B", so we didn't get around the final corner to the steep other side. Given that the office had told us the Bell Cave was closed and the other hiker had also given us a very convincing story, we thought it was likely that there was a rockslide and we didn't want to risk it.

At the bottom of Orange Peel Gap, two trail runners came down the hill and stopped to chat. They had just completed a loop of up Mlambonja, past Twins, and down the traverse... and they said they did not notice any difference to the last time they did it. No noticeable mud slides or rock collapses, in fact he said that the Mitre seemed easier that it had been the first time he did it years ago.

We were annoyed that we had been given misinformation from seemingly both the office and the other hiking gentleman, and changed our plans for no reason.

Signing out at Didima we saw other groups all writing down their plans for doing the Bell Traverse after us, and the receptionist once again was unable to explain the situation. She said no rangers were available to talk about this either.

If anyone has more information to settle the mystery, it would be appreciated. Thanks

maybe heavy rainfall was predicted or there had been heavy rainfall? Crossing the didima/mhalwazini and malambojwa rivers can range from challening to life threatening in this case, depending on where exactly the rain fell. But this would typically subside in a day or two. Ladies can reception are not good source of information, best to chat to once of the rangers or officer in charge.