This hike was organised on the spur of the moment - Merv contacted me at lunchtime on Friday and said he and Jon Wells were going up to Garden Castle that afternoon and would I be interested - it took me just a few minutes to decide I was in! The forecast was looking good and there was snow predicted to falls well at low lying areas which is quite unusual
Temperatures were a tropical 31 degrees in Howick that afternoon and it seemed quite weird that everyone would be shivering in 24 hours time. We arrived at Swimans Hut just after 7.00pm amidst flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder, although we could still see the stars. But something was definitely brewing and after we had settled down for the night, a big storm arrived and it rained throughout the night. We awoke to a steady drizzle and mist outside and decided to wait until the rain subsided a bit before setting out on the path up to Sleeping Beauty Cave. It drizzled on and off and we made good time, the guys being patient in waiting for me up the steep sections. We decided to go a bit further to Sleeping Beauty Annexe Cave as the views would be a lot better. I had not seen this cave before so I was keen. We were all excited to see snow start falling lightly just before we got to the cave. Despite wearing full rain gear we were all very wet on arrival so changed very quickly into dry clothes and had something hot to drink. This cave sleeps three fairly comfortably and probably 4 at a push. As the afternoon progressed, the flakes came down quickly and it was not long before the surrounding area started to get a covering of white. However after a while there was a definite lull and the flakes became smaller, and at one point it started sleeting. This was rather disappointing as we had hoped for a heavier fall, but it was still magical nonetheless! I was feeling pretty cold and could hardly feel my hands and feet so spent an hour or so buried in my sleeping bag to warm up. Later we went for a short walk to enjoy the sights and then it was back to the warmth of our bags and coffee/ hot chocolate ( and whisky and OB’s). It stopped snowing about 5.00pm and it seemed that would be as much as we would get. We were all tucked up by 8.30pm and spent a comfortable night. Jon told us that it had got down to minus 6 degrees in the early hours, so thank goodness for warm sleeping bags!
We awoke to blue skies and clear views of the escarpment and after breakfast, set off on our return trip. We opted to walk back along the Sondomzima Ridge which would afford good views of the escarpment. We visited the Tunnel caves en route and enjoyed walking in the snow, although it was only ankle deep and were back at the cars by 11.00am. We noticed snow on the high areas as far as Bulwer and believe that even Camperdown and Alverstone received some although it melted very quickly.
Thanks guys for inviting me along – its always exciting to experience snow and even better to have the chance to sleep in a new cave to round off the adventure!
