I have only done three passes in the Giants Castle area, Bannerman, Langalibalele and Giants Passes and we thought it would be good to explore a new pass. We decided to ascend Jarateng South Pass and then return via Giants Pass. Jarateng South tops out below the southern slopes of Mount Durnford and hikers will know that Mt Durnford is a monster of a ridge to cross. This may well have had a bearing on our choice!
The Berg has been enjoying some very settled and mild weather over the last few weeks and so it continued throughout our hike. We made our way up Middle Ridge to the contour path and the valley where all three of the Jarateng passes begin. We set up our tent and enjoyed the afternoon, admiring the super moon as it rose that evening.
The pass was a bit tougher than expected - the bottom section at the river is very rough and after traversing to the left to avoid the worst of it, we made our way around several gullies. The grass slopes that had looked so smooth from below turned out to have many boulders and nasty dried out thorns which had to be negotiated. Coupled with this was very loose shaley ground which made the going difficult. We topped out at 11.30am and immediately noticed that there was still a lot of snow on the escarpment, particularly on the southern facing slopes. In places it was solid ice and care had to be taken. I always get a thrill from walking on crunchy snow, although this does wear off after you have been walking in it for a while! As water supplies were low we made our way down to an ice encrusted Jarateng River, and thereafter made the long climb up to the Long Wall. Aside from the amazing views from here the Cape Vultures and one lone Bearded Vulture put on a special show for us.
The descent down to the top of Giants Pass was made carefully amongst the patches of snow and ice and we arrived at Makhaza mid afternoon. The Mountain Club had their annual ice climbing meet on the go and there were quite a few climbers in attendance, judging by the amount of tents. The ice on the cliff immediately below the tents however, was not in good condition and was melting fairly rapidly. We discovered later that the climbers had gone over to the other side where the climbing was good.
It was far colder the following morning and we had to break ice in the nearby stream to collect water. While we were packing up, a blustery wind sprang up and we had to dress warmly for our walk back to the top of Giants Pass. This pass receives a lot of traffic and is rough in places with the odd skeleton of some unfortunate donkey or cow along the way. We found the path that leaves the gully at the bottom and cuts across to the contour path and which thankfully avoids a lot of the messy stuff. The trek down the Giants Ridge is a long one and we were pleased to reach Giants camp – but not before the final sting in the tail which is the nasty steep slog up the concrete steps at the end. Nevertheless an enjoyable hike and it was good to have conquered another new pass.
