Cathedral Peak - Injisuthi link-up via escarpment

Thanks, you gave me a lot to consider. At the moment I'm working from the Slingsby maps, Most passes between Grays pass and Bannerman Pass has been marked as "May require ropes" but does not seem like it from the comments. Is there not a general rating of all passes in the Drakensberg. The passes section on here is really helpfull, but I feel like this should have been done in the 1950's. I might make it my life's mission . Who knows a publisher?

I think I might stretch the hike back to the original plan of ending at Giant's Castle. Might have to see at what rate we are covering the distance but while looking at the maps again it seems do-able. And it is good to know that most of the passes between Grays and Langalibalele Pass can be used as "escapes" without climbing gear.

I'll definitely raid the download section before the hike.

Understand this about the Slingsby maps - Peter Slingsby and a few others spent 5 years hiking all over the place with heavy gear to bring us the first proper hiker friendly 1:50000 topo maps of the area. They could not practically try out every single pass, look for routes down random gullies etc. In the 50's the guys where trying to find hiking and climbing routes, get photos of places that few had seen before and working off very crude hand drawn maps. So, credit were credit is due - we are in a much better place than where we could have been

Now, back to your points - there are 2 good online sources of information about the Berg, VE and www.berg.co.za (which has great writeups on caves, and GPS tracks for many passes, also lots of photos). Stijn has done a great job in uploading writeups on passes onto VE (see blogs - Drakensberg - Passes), and I have stolen his format for pass writeups to add a few to the list. But with over 120 recognised passes, and bearing in mind that the list grew by at least 3 last year (South Hlubi Pass, Gypaetus Pass and South Saddle Pass) and already has had 1 added this year (North Hlubi Pass) - not to mention Basutho's opening new smuggling routes all the time (the latest of which being Around the Corner Pass - a variation on Corner Pass), it is really tough to keep up. But, by all means try :thumbsup:

You want a real challenge, try to find every possible pass within an area. I have been trying to do this with Giant's Castle and have found 3 already (North and South Hlubi as well as Gypaetus Pass - well, the Hlubi Passes most likely were used by the Hlubi Chief Langalibalele, hence the choice of name. At the moment I still have at least 3 more possibilities on my to do list just to cover the area from North Jarding Pass (not shown on the map) to Judge Pass. The reason I say its a challenge is that there are so many gullies with no documented routes to explore, and you really don't know whats coming when you try them. That's part of the awesomeness of the Berg

Ok - lets try this again, back on topic... If I am correct there are 20 passes between Organ Pipes Pass and Langalibalele Pass. The map shows 12 of them. Don't worry about the 8 missing ones (out of interest they are Smuggler's Pass, Champagne Castle Frontal Route (IMHO its a pass, but its classified as a really easy rock climbing route, ropes aren't really required), Apes Pass, Around the Corner Pass, Gypaetus Pass, Thumb Pass, North Hlubi Pass, South Hlubi Pass).

Remember that the "may require ropes" marker is often more of a "please don't sue us" than an actual warning.

Of the 12 on the map, Hilton Pass has 3 pitches of tough rock climbing, Injisuthi Pass has a D-grade chimney and is basically a route up that doesn't necessarily require ropes, but you would probably want to abseil down it (so those are genuine roped rock passes). North Ship's Prow (Cathkin Mountain Pass) is often considered dangerous, hence the warning, but from what I hear you don't actually need ropes (just good life insurance that covers death by falling boulders). And as you already stated, just kind of stay away from the other gully of Ship's Prow Pass for the moment - its a monster, one of the hardest in the Berg.

Ok, so the other 8 passes, the first 2 could be emergency escape routes in case of injury etc:
- Thuthumi Pass tops out right near Organ Pipes Pass, is pretty straightforward and I doubt will have any use for you. It does have a good path.
- Thlanyako Pass is incredibly scenic, very eroded and gets really slippery. Its path is very clear and easy to follow. But know that it doesn't follow the river, you cross the river and start climbing the other bank, the path starts on the escarpment edge side under the big rock headland - the Sphinx
- Grey's Pass - well, you seem to have enough info on this pass already
- Leslie's Pass - see the thread "Leslie's Pass, a few questions". You are unlikely to require ropes, its a fairly straightforward pass from what I hear - but note that I haven't done Leslies Pass yet.
- Corner Pass is usable, but its tricky. Not great for a less experienced group. Its often referred to as the rock pass for beginners to rock passes. Of all the routes on this list of 8 its the one where you are most likely to require ropes.
- Judge Pass is a great pass. Really scenic - look for my hike report called "You be the Judge" for photos and a fairly up to date description of how the pass is looking. It is classified as a rock pass, but that classification was before the locals started using it. It has a good path the entire way (well, except for a short bit near the top), and only has exposure for a short bit in the middle.
- Bannerman Pass gets ugly when it rains. Its a scree field almost the entire way. When its wet the route and river become one. Apparently there is a good path the entire way, but I have gone up and down this path twice each way and never found the path, so who knows. Spare Rib Cave is a horrible wet, cold, unflat rocky hole in the rock face, its a myth that its a 12 sleeper cave, so rather use Bannerman Hut than the cave if looking for overnight accommodation (I might just be prejudiced against it because of the hours I have sat in it shivering while it pours with rain and my plans to climb Popple Peak fail again)
- I don't think I need to say more about Langalibalele Pass (aka Langies). I have posted a fairly detailed route description and details on how to find the pass from the top under the blogs section (there is also a link to it on the VE homepage in the top left hand corner). I last did this pass just over 2 weeks ago, bringing my number of attacks on it up to 5 (3 up, 2 down).

Thanks all, we decided to extend the hike by a day to a 6 day hike, just because we all ready have the leave, why not spend it in the Berg. That way we will have the time to end at Giants Castle. I compared the distance with our 2010 Sentinal car park to Cathedral peak hike, we'll be fine.

I'm planning to go down Langalibalele Pass, we saw this post on the form:

www.vertical-endeavour.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=93

Is it safe to camp at the top of Langalibalele Pass for night 5 if we keep alert? Or should we camp a far way off and make a early start the next morning?

I've camped at the top of Langies twice in the last 12 months and didn't have any problems. I have seen locals in that valley twice, the first time was in 2011 and they weren't exactly friendly (I wasn't particularly experienced at the time, so my response was to just turn around and go back rather than camping on top), the second time was a few weeks ago, but the 1 man and his 6 dogs kept their distance and didn't even talk to us.

Take the normal precautions, there are plenty of camping spots on the rivers on either side of the spur off Bannerman Face which aren't clearly visible from the surrounding areas, so you should be fine.

@Jon: we camped about 200m downstream from that point on GT (that flatish light green bit in the middle of the pic just before the mist). I agree - its a very nice spot for camping.

Hello guys,

I've been lurking on this great forum for a long time but this is my first post here. I'm an experienced (but slow) hiker, mainly criss crossing the Wolkberg mountains near Tzaneen for the last 15 years. Anyways, a friend and I hiked from Sentinel to Cathedral Peak hotel during early April (before the incident happened), descending down Mlambonjwa Pass. We want to return but are reluctant to go near the Ampitheatre at this point. So what we're thinking of doing is to start somewhere further south (maybe Injisuthi), past the Marble Baths and then take a pass up to the escarpment, walk along the escarprment and then use Mlambonjwa back to Cathedral.

We've never been in that part of the Berg and I would much appreciate some pointers. How much time would that take and what route would one follow? As I mentioned, we're experienced hikers but we're quite slow. For example, the northern traverse took us six days, which is longer than what most other people do but we had no hiccups. Anyways, I saw another thread on here where someone proposed a similar route to what I've got in mind but going the other direction. This is what they did:

Day 1: Organ Pipes pass.
Day 2: Hike to Champagne Castle.Grays pass
Day 3: Sleep at top of Leslies pass. Injasuthi cave might be to far .
Day 4:Down Leslies to Marble Baths.
Day 5.Short hike to Injasuthi camp and pick up.

We're planning this for early August so I'm particularly interested in knowing what water availability will be like and if the above could be done in 6 days or what would be realistic. The basic idea here is to complete the grand traverse in sections so having done the northern traverse, this trip should cover the second stretch.

Much appreciated.

Arnie
Pretoria