Ifidi Pass
11 Feb 2022 11:56 #77467
by matroskinn
Replied by matroskinn on topic Ifidi Pass
Hello everyone. We made an attempt at going up Ifidi Pass 14-16 of January, 2022. You can view the video report I made and below is my write up.
At the tail end of 3 weeks of rain, I and my guide Bafana made an attempt at going up Ifidi Pass hoping to get down Icidi Pass in the Mnweni, Drakensberg area. (Side note: Bafana never went up Ifidi or Icidi passes and has been taking people to Mnweni Circle and other "less" interesting passes. He had to talk to MCC manager, who used to be a guide, about the route. Apparently, people who go up these passes don't need guides.
) We hiked in to the Cycad Cave from the Mnweni Cultural and Hiking Center (MCC) on the afternoon of Friday, January 14. The Cave was in good shape (see video @0:54sec) with plenty of room for a 4-6 people. There was even more room if you crawl in. It wasn't windy and we had a really good dry shelter there.
On January 15 we went up the most beautiful mountain river I've ever been to - Ifidi River. There was strong current and waterfalls as far up as we went. From the Cycad cave we still had a few kilometers to cover the approach before the bottom of the pass. The approach wasn't particularly technical but those steep grassy no-trail slopes were killing my ankles going up and down. We got over several scrambling obstacles and made it far up the chimney at the top only to get stopped by a small (1.4m) super slippery boulder/walls and waterfall in the middle of it. It was raining really hard and we figured that a 4-5 meter-wide chimney can flash flood pretty easily and fast. So we didn't tempt fate by trying to figure out how to make the boulder less slippery and turned around.
The path down wasn’t too bad until my knees started to feel the toll of going up and down Ifidi in one day. Eventually, we had to start crossing the streams and rivers that didn’t pose any difficulty on the way up but now were overflowing with a lot of new extra rainwater. I don’t know what I would have done without Bafana at a couple of those crossings. He told me that he had to cross three rivers going to school every day when he was little so he knew what he was doing. I told him that I used to have to go through waist deep snow when I was little to get to school so I had no idea what I was doing. Also, I don’t understand how he kept to the path on those grassy slopes. I tried leading a few times and didn't keep on the trail for more than a couple of minutes.
You can see in the video that the entire area was just magical with lush vegetation and countless waterfalls everywhere. I had to mentally pinch myself over and over because the scenery and the path was getting more unbelievable every few minutes going up the pass. It was a bit disappointing not to summit Ifidi though. Knowing from all the posts on this website that going down Icidi Pass would've been even sketchier I'm glad we didn't push too much and got out of the chimney when we did and didn't look for any additional adventures besides crossing now over flowing streams and rivers.
I plan to come back for seconds later in 2022. The hiking group I used to go with stopped going with me after we did Bell Traverse so if anyone is planning to go on this route this year, I'd love to join. Or if someone wants to join me let me know.
At the tail end of 3 weeks of rain, I and my guide Bafana made an attempt at going up Ifidi Pass hoping to get down Icidi Pass in the Mnweni, Drakensberg area. (Side note: Bafana never went up Ifidi or Icidi passes and has been taking people to Mnweni Circle and other "less" interesting passes. He had to talk to MCC manager, who used to be a guide, about the route. Apparently, people who go up these passes don't need guides.
) We hiked in to the Cycad Cave from the Mnweni Cultural and Hiking Center (MCC) on the afternoon of Friday, January 14. The Cave was in good shape (see video @0:54sec) with plenty of room for a 4-6 people. There was even more room if you crawl in. It wasn't windy and we had a really good dry shelter there.On January 15 we went up the most beautiful mountain river I've ever been to - Ifidi River. There was strong current and waterfalls as far up as we went. From the Cycad cave we still had a few kilometers to cover the approach before the bottom of the pass. The approach wasn't particularly technical but those steep grassy no-trail slopes were killing my ankles going up and down. We got over several scrambling obstacles and made it far up the chimney at the top only to get stopped by a small (1.4m) super slippery boulder/walls and waterfall in the middle of it. It was raining really hard and we figured that a 4-5 meter-wide chimney can flash flood pretty easily and fast. So we didn't tempt fate by trying to figure out how to make the boulder less slippery and turned around.
The path down wasn’t too bad until my knees started to feel the toll of going up and down Ifidi in one day. Eventually, we had to start crossing the streams and rivers that didn’t pose any difficulty on the way up but now were overflowing with a lot of new extra rainwater. I don’t know what I would have done without Bafana at a couple of those crossings. He told me that he had to cross three rivers going to school every day when he was little so he knew what he was doing. I told him that I used to have to go through waist deep snow when I was little to get to school so I had no idea what I was doing. Also, I don’t understand how he kept to the path on those grassy slopes. I tried leading a few times and didn't keep on the trail for more than a couple of minutes.
You can see in the video that the entire area was just magical with lush vegetation and countless waterfalls everywhere. I had to mentally pinch myself over and over because the scenery and the path was getting more unbelievable every few minutes going up the pass. It was a bit disappointing not to summit Ifidi though. Knowing from all the posts on this website that going down Icidi Pass would've been even sketchier I'm glad we didn't push too much and got out of the chimney when we did and didn't look for any additional adventures besides crossing now over flowing streams and rivers.
I plan to come back for seconds later in 2022. The hiking group I used to go with stopped going with me after we did Bell Traverse so if anyone is planning to go on this route this year, I'd love to join. Or if someone wants to join me let me know.
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