Central Berg escarpment traverses

We are planning the above route for our annual hike in 2 weeks time (we came down Giants last year).

I would be grateful for any advice on:
- whether we are likely to find water in the vicinity of Giant's Hut (and between the hut and the pass)
- the water situation at the top between the two passes (GPS co-ords for any streams would be great!)
- what the descent down Mlahlangubo Pass is like in terms of technical difficulty and how long it should take to descend and then continue down to Vergelegen camp site
- how long it takes to drive between Vergelegen campsite and Lotheni camp

Regards
Rolf

You won't be able to sleep in Giant's Hut - it is lacking a roof. There is a tarn near it, but I wouldn't drink from a tarn. The tarn will probably be dry this time of year anyway.

There are streams on either side of the hut (I seem to remember at least 1 being within 1km), they might be low, but seeing as some Didima streams had water above 2000m this weekend, you will probably be ok. Giant's Pass itself has a rather substantial river which I would imagine flows year-round. I have never seen it dry at contour path level, even when I did it in September last year. In summer it flows higher up than Giant's Cave, but will probably be dry around the cave at this time of year.

There is a stream that flows south off the Long Wall ridge and down the gully where Giant's meets the escarpment on the south side. There are also rivers in the valley behind Hlathimba Pass (memories of using these to find the team camp when I got lost in the mist on GT2012). There is a small stream behind the Tent, but it will probably be dry this time of year.

As a follow up question.... does anyone know if there are paths that enable one to link from Mlahlangubo Pass to the Hlatimba valley so that we can hike back to Lotheni camp site instead of heading onto Vergelegen camp site?

Regards
Rolf

I am working on a similar plan with Viking - we want to cover the entire escarpment in stages. So far we have got as far as doing Giant's Castle and basically agreeing the route for the rest. Our plan for Vergelegen/Lotheni is do go up Mlahlangubo and stay over at/near Lynx Cave when we do Vergelegen. When we do Lotheni we will also sleep in/near Lynx Cave, but use Hlathimba Pass. That way we don't miss that bit of escarpment, but don't have to contend with the lack of a trail to link up or have to repeat an obscure pass. Both passes top out in same valley anyway - Mlahlangubo Pass tops out north of Mlahlangubo Peak and Hlathimba is south of Redi.

However, this opinion is based on the maps, not personal experience. There probably won't be a trail anywhere near Mlahlangubo Pass anyway, but with no trail on the map I would be very surprised if a trail actually does exist in that area.

Thanks for that. We are also doing the escarpment in stages (sadly only on annual hikes) and we have made a habit of going up the pass we descended the prior year which makes this particular stretch a bit complicated.

This year we need to ascend via Giant's Castle Pass and I think we will leave our cars at Lotheni camp site and then aim to descend via Hlatimba or, if we are going well, descend via Mlahlangubo and try and find our way across to Hlatimba and back to Lotheni.

Thanks for the responses.

Hi guys i would like to do a traverse in the central berg (giants castle /injisuthi) over a period of 4 days. But i havent really done much in this area and would like some route options / ideas. My basic plan was to start from Giants castle and ascend a pass, possibly do something like spare rib cave first night and injisuthi summit cave second night , with the third night somewhere on the way back. Any suggestions would be appreciated

Central Drakensberg, hmmm, I vaguely know that area

My suggestion would be that you can start and finish at Giants in 4 days without any doubling back - so why not do a full Giants Castle traverse. Myself and Viking did this a few years ago. There is a writeup somewhere on the site, can't remember what I called it, so a google search isn't helping right now.

What we did was:
day 1: to Bannerman Hut (late start, this is easy)
day 2: contour path north (vague in places) to Corner Pass, traverse across to near the top of Bannerman Pass (although you could push on to Bannerman Cave)
day 3: traverse to just below the top of Long Wall Ridge, you could push on to the cave at the top of Giants Pass (see Tony's writeup on it)
day 4: bag Giants Castle and head down Giants Pass - although I would recommend using Elandshoek Pass instead.

Of course it all depends on how fit you are, I would rate the above hike as a bit easy these days - having set out to do roughly the above in 3 days (2 + headstart Friday) 2 weeks ago, and having not even come close! This option also means that, if you have to bail (by any of the 13 passes you go past) - you have plenty of options.

If you are set on starting and ending at different reserves, Bannerman Pass is a decent pass, but I rate Corner and Judge to both be more worthwhile passes. Giants Pass is the best pass in the area, IMHO, and has a few good caves two thirds of the way up - but then it is a bit more of a push to reach Injisuthi.

There is a strong trail up Mafadi from the top of Judge Pass. To find Upper Injisuthi Cave, before the trail goes around Injisuthi Dome, turn off and aim for the saddle between Injisuthi Dome and Trojan Wall - traverse at this altitude till you find a trail, and this trail goes straight into the cave.

From the cave, a short walk to the escarpment edge affords some exceptional views of the Triplets - don't miss this view.

The quickest route from Mafadi to Leslies Pass is the boring valley route - rather follow the ridge down from Lithabolong (SA's 4th highest peak, not named on the map - 3375m). This view has some great views and it drops you down right by the top of Leslies Pass.

Thanks so much for all the advice Ghaz. Smurf I did the northern berg traverse Amphitheatre - cathedral during december. About 15k a day is very comfortable for me. You mentioned that the view of the triplets is amazing and this is exactly what i had in mind. Also bagging mafadi along the way would be a first for me, with a good chance of some snow in there makes for a good adventure.

How does it work with the huts , do i have to book them ahead like caves?