Cathedral Peak - Injisuthi link-up via escarpment

Hi Alex

Your post caught my eye - or rather your name as well

You will get conflicting replies and of course doing what you are planning is possible. This comes with a twist as fitness, weight carried, weather and goals/purpose all will play a role in this.

As a keen photographer myself my short advice would be to not attempt this given your packs/gear and purpose. If however you are super fit, don't mind pushing yourselves with that weight and also outside of the "photography golden hours where you would rather be ready and have explored your options of shots in the area you find yourself in I would most certainly opt for a shorter route.
With regards to Centenary hut - If you start at 4pm - be prepared to do some tough hiking with those 25kg within the time needed to get there before dark. You should make it if you are fit but you will have to do some marching. Otherwise, just ease in to it and walk a bit in the dark. You don't mention the time of year /when so this would play a role in daylight hours etc. If this is now coming summer period great, yet lots of hiking in the mist wont help. (Partly why I opt for shorter hikes to be at the place I want to be when and if the mist lifts and I wont be on route slogging it out to the next point)

Bell traverse. Here again I think you are leaving yourself with to much work missing out on some good opportunities. It's possible but much simpler with lighter packs.

Enjoy the hike and be safe

alexnail wrote: Day 1: Arrive Joburg (or Durban) 9am, drive to Injisuthi and start hike up to Centenery Hut and camp.

If you can fly directly to Durban, the drive will be quicker, but if you have to connect from Jo'burg to Durban, a flight to Pietermaritzburg would put you just over an hour closer to the mountains.

alexnail wrote: Does this sound feasible? Previously we've hiked Amphi to Organ Pipes.

None of the days are particularly difficult, but it does depend on fitness and pack weight. I imagine AndrewP could do it in a day, so context is important! The ridges between Organ Pipes and Amphi are far easier than the ridges on your route. You will hit the escarpment and immediately have a climb to SA's highest point - not the easiest ridge to do straight after a pass!

alexnail wrote: 1. Is the descent of the Bell Traverse doable in a day and how long should we allow?
2. Is Corner Pass OK with big packs? (I hear conflicting opinions)
3. Is it sensible to start at Injisuthi at say 4pm and try to make it to Centenerary Hut?
4. Any recommendations for a company to transfer us from Cathedral Peak to Injisuthi on the final sunday before driving back to joburg?

1. Well, yes, it has been done in a morning by many people - but a number of people have done Everest from base camp in under 24 hours, so once again, context is key. There are 3 parts that are not-so-easy on the route, there is a bypassable exposed traverse below the Mitre, an easy traverse move below Bell Cave and the horribly loose Buggers Gully - with heavy packs, these might become considerably harder and slower.
2. Take a hauling rope as you probably won't get up the scrambles with packs on - but you should be fine. Have you considered Around the Corner Pass? It is a variation used by Basothos and has a great trail. It is a bit exposed in places, but the scrambles are easier and it has a good trail. It also tops out at a trail that leads up over Mafadi - which might make navigation a bit easier.
3. As long as you are happy to hike to the hut in the dark, and have some means of navigating. I just hiked to Bannerman Hut in the dark on Friday this last weekend, but that is on a very clear trail with only 1 turnoff, and I have done it many times before. Your route can be done from Giants side, with the gully approach to Corner Pass instead of the Northern High Approach, but logically Judge Pass would be used instead of Corner Pass from that side.
4. Ask Cathedral Peak Hotel - they might be able to give you some contacts.

Hi Alex....I would do the walk to Centenary Hut during the day from iNjasuti. Heartbreak Hill is tough and you still need to get water from a stream which is not close to the hut. Go up the Northern Smugglers route which joins into Corner Pass, it is quicker. Take rope for those two sections in Corner Pass to haul up your packs. Better to camp in the valley below Upper iNjasuthi Cave, as you will be at the escarpment edge above the Triplets for morning photography. Try go past the Redwall, Hilton Pass and iNjasuti Butresses as its awesome for photography in that area. There is a nice valley behind iNjasuthi Butresses to tent in. Maybe go down Cockade Pass which will give you more time during the hike to photograph, Cockade is also really great for photos. Photographers do take longer!!!!

I hiked around that neighbourhood in May this year. I took a DSLR with as I'm a keen photographer myself but I sadly took too few photos. My biggest error was not taking a system with where I could hike with the camera outside of my pack on my chest. So as a result I often didn't take photos as I was too lazy to take the pack off and haul it out. Poor performance, I know. With my 3 litres of water I hike with and all the clobber I came in at a heavy 28kg Again, fitness will dictate what you can carry and the ability to take pain and your body size. I weigh around 92kg but can run a 5km in 23 minutes at the moment so that also puts things into context. On this forum there are some ultra fit and fast people so hence speeds and opinions will differ and I don't place myself in that fast category at all. For that type of hike I'll definitely cut down on luxuries and pack a bit lighter, but next time I'd take more camera gear as I only had one lens which was quite annoying and limiting. Some pics of my experience, half of the photos are cell phone photos, and from my mates camera:
adriantregoning.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/7-day-central-drakensberg-traverse-2016/

Looking forward to your photos!!

TIP 1: Don't find a backpackers in Johannesburg near city centre and make the same mistake as some other poor unfortunate made. He was mugged and his Drakensberg trip cancelled. Best to post questions here and ask as Johannesburg has some bad areas you definitely don't want to stay in. No need to go to city centre. Trust me you won't miss out on anything. The "OR Thambo" international airport is on the east of the city so if you're overnighting stay around there - Boksburg, Kempton Park, Benoni, Edenvale - all those areas are close to the airport and will have B&B's. Or keep it simple and stay at a hotel adjacent to the airport - assuming you overnight and don't ship out immediately.

TIP 2: I think pepper spray may be illegal in the UK but if you can buy some here it could come in handy either against human problems or in my opinion worse, dogs. I saw a well known trail runner was surrounded by dogs a few months ago and had to use his pepper spray... I don't want to scare you, but just a heads up. Rather be prepared. We had zero problems, but of course the Berg has a history. Rather be safe than sorry. It's easy to buy in South Africa And fully legal of course.

AdrianT wrote: all those areas are close to the airport and will have B&B's.

I forget the name - but something like Delta Inn, it is near the airport and they have a free shuttle between the airport and the Inn. I stayed there when I missed my flight in 2014, and it was only about R600 per night - so very reasonably priced.

AdrianT wrote: TIP 2: I think pepper spray may be illegal in the UK but if you can buy some here it could come in handy either against human problems or in my opinion worse, dogs. I saw a well known trail runner was surrounded by dogs a few months ago and had to use his pepper spray... I don't want to scare you, but just a heads up. Rather be prepared. We had zero problems, but of course the Berg has a history. Rather be safe than sorry. It's easy to buy in South Africa And fully legal of course.

I'm going to strongly disagree with this one. Be aware of how to handle Basotho dogs (also known as sleeping cows). When their master is with them, they will stay away. If they are alone, their masters discipline them by throwing rocks at them, so it is wise to pick up some rocks when they are anywhere near you. If they come close, throw a rock and they will usually run away. They key is to not only have one rock, as the dog may be smart enough to realise that you are now unarmed. You don't want them to get close enough to use pepper spray on them.

As for Basothos - just treat them like you would treat any stranger, be polite and friendly. They are just bored with no one to talk to, very few of them are in any way violent or wishing you harm. Sometimes the tax for crossing their land is a bit of food, but a piece of chocolate or a few jelly beans is plenty.

Many of them love to see themselves on the back of the camera, a shepherd I met this last weekend wanted me to take a video of him and put it on the internet. We gave him a few chips, spent a good 15 minutes chatting and got some photos - overall quite an enjoyable part of the hike!

ghaznavid wrote: As for Basothos - just treat them like you would treat any stranger, be polite and friendly. They are just bored with no one to talk to, very few of them are in any way violent or wishing you harm. Sometimes the tax for crossing their land is a bit of food, but a piece of chocolate or a few jelly beans is plenty.

Many of them love to see themselves on the back of the camera, a shepherd I met this last weekend wanted me to take a video of him and put it on the internet. We gave him a few chips, spent a good 15 minutes chatting and got some photos - overall quite an enjoyable part of the hike!

Agreed 100%. But rather safe than sorry for the odd very rare situation. Those guys who were attacked earlier this year, I wonder what would have happened if they didn't have pepper spray...

Direct stream has a range of 4 to 5 metres and I've had dogs a lot closer than that.

Thanks everyone for your replies, I read them all and there was a lot of helpful information there so thank you.
This is how the trip went...
Day 1 - we started at Injisuthi at 2pm and made it to centenary hut at 8, I had a 30kg pack in the end and poor fitness. The beauty of the route absolutely blew me away. The last hill was indeed a bit of a slog.
Day 2 - we took the route directly up the ridge from centenery hut. There were three scrambles all of which I did without difficulty with my pack on. One member of our group had never hiked before and she had a fear of heights and exposure. She hated corner pass but completed it without issue when we carried her pack up. About 200m from the top we were hit by a severe thunderstorm and heavy hail which soon started to turn the pass into a stream. We did the last 200m rapidly, the last chute was challenging when wet. At the top of the pass it was extremely cold and our waterproofs did little to keep us dry. We bivvied under a tent flysheet and warmed one of the group who was showing early signs of hypothermia (quite a surprise). When the storm had passed we completed the route to a campsite near the top of Trojan Wall. We all struggled with fitness that day.
Day 3 - the route up Mafadi was easy and the route down to Old Woman Grinding Corn gave us a welcome chance to rest in the afternoon.
Day 4 - the route to near didima cave was longer than I had anticipated and took the best part of 7 hours with one of our group considerably slower than the rest. It was a beautiful beautiful day with sensational views over the inversion below.
Day 5 - we headed down the valley into Lesotho and went swimming in spectacular pools. The route back up to Roland's Cave more or less finished some of the group off! The cave was occupied and two of the group refused to walk the route anyway . We camped west of organ pipes part way down the hills.
Day 6 - the views from Cleft peak were incredibly good and we were keen to stay in the area. We camped on the ridge to the west of Cleft so that we had the option to summit Cleft again, or drop down to Pyramid and Column for sunset/sunrise.
Day 7 - we split the group with two heading down towards tarn hill via organ pipes (they were too scared to try the Camel). I headed back to Roland's Cave with another group member. We arrive in the mist but had a spectacular inversion in the morning.
Day 8 - I headed down the Camel, perhaps the most beautiful hiking route I have ever done and relatively fast and easy. I have to say that I feel the challenges of this trail are trivial for a competent hiker. The rock chute near the top is such a doddle I don't really understand why it is even mentioned!

Things I learnt...
The trip was broadly too hard, we might have enjoyed ourselves more going slower, but then again we saw so much and avoided areas that I was less interested in by covering lots of ground.

The injisuthi area is so insanely beautiful that it warrants much more time - hopefully I can return in march.

Photographically we were limited sometimes by tiredness but managed to force ourselves out! It was incredibly windy from day 2 to day 5. This was particularly frustrating for me since a large portion of my pack weight was timelapse equipment that simply can't deal with high winds!

Roland's Cave is an absolute gem, a truly memorable experience.

All in all I once again feel priveledged to have hiked in such an outstanding mountain wilderness with friends. It blows my mind that hiking in the Berg isn't more popular, I have no doubt that will change!

Thanks again for all the replies,

Alex

Thanks for the write up. I always enjoying hearing stories about hiking. Some photos would be fantastic Too bad about the wind affecting your photography ambitions. I can only assume it was NW? Maybe some SW too?

That sounds amazing. Myself and my regular hiking partner will be hiking in the same general area from the 23rd for 8 days and your report made me look forward to the trip even more, if that is possible.

That was quiet something, thanks for sharing! A good thing Hilton Pass was inspected before you tried to use it - I suspect that falling down a cliff was likely outcome for a tired group on icy snow.

The most important lessons in life are learned when things go wrong. It is also where the best memoriea and stories come from.