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General:  The ice season will be coming to an end soon.  I suspect that gully routes like Mlambonjwa near Rhino will remain in condition till the end of August.  Over the 18th and 19th there have been strong, warm Berg winds blowing and this must have affected  conditions.  Some climbing took place at Oxbow last weekend and this report is by Thomas Abbott.

“We visited the Oxbow bouldering area last weekend, and found it to be in fairly good condition. Piles of fresh snow made the routes start high and end up in snowy ice, but there was good thick ice on most of the wall. Jacques and Justin pointed out one longer route (10m WI1, 8m WI3) which was well formed. The daytime temperature was well above zero, with some water on the ice in the afternoon. With the temperatures dropping and the cold front this week, I expect that this area will last until the weekend of the 22nd at least.”

REPORT COURTESY OF ROELOF BARKHUIZEN:

On arrival Dawie & I found that the main Lepaqoa fall started to break up throughout the course of the week, with only some formations to the sides remaining, the bowl and general climb area to the right of the fall was climbable, with overhanging icicles starting to break off, we had to abort climbing one of the routes due to safety considerations. Katana playground still in good condition, and was climbed. General observation – the ice of the weekend was good, but with prevailing weather conditions warming, ice is thinning out fast, and fear that it may be deteriorating faster this week.

General: On the 1st and 2nd of August there was wide spread snow over the entire Drakensberg and Lesotho. This was followed by rain which did melt the snow at lower altitudes. The snow line was down to 2700m in most places.

Sani Pass: Was climbed on the 1st and  Cool Bananas and French Wench are climable but thin.

Giant’s Castle:  No actual reports. Lotheni Col. should still be in good condition.  The Eastern Gully should also be in conidtion.

Rhino area: The Mlambonjwa Col. will still be in good form.

Bokong: These  should all be good. No actual reports.

For information on guided ice climbing in the Drakensberg: http://www.peakhigh.co.za/ice.php

General:  Over the night of the 23rd  of July some snow fell on the Drakensberg  and a thin layer over the north east areas of Lesotho (Bokong area). The whole area remains very cold.

Sani Pass: Remains thin. No up-to-date reports.

Giant’s Castle: The Main Lotheni Coulior will still be in good condition. The rest of the routes will be thin.

Rhino area: The Mlambonja Coulior snow gully  is in good condition and worth climbing. Colin McCoy reports that the botton section has a 10 m water ice fall. 

Bokong: The routes here are in very good condition. The main Lepaqoa Fall was lead by Gareth Frost, Deon vd Merve and Brett.  Routes such as Siberian Enema,  and Coitus Interruptus are are all very well formed.  Cesar, Thomas Mann and I did lots of good climbing on Wednesday to Friday last week. This included ice bouldering along the road cutting at the summit of Mafika Lisiu Pass.   

Gareth and party on the main falls. Look for the dots !

This report number 8 is from Gareth Frost on conditions at Bokong and Lesotho.

Lesotho Conditions weekend 11-12 July

Ice, ice and more ice. It is everywhere and looks to be getting better.

Bokong is packed with routes and all but the Lepaqoa falls, which is almost ready to climb, are formed with many gullies iced up for lots of fun climbing. Vapour Trail is unfortunately gone with only the top bit showing but there are many “adventure” routes in the southern gullies of the Mafika Lisiu pass.

Oxbow is well formed with the Club Maluti ice fall being in great condition with many variations to climb as well as the Oxbow Amphitheatre routes being observed in good condition. The routes in Moteng pass are thinner than two weeks ago and might not be climbable.

The forecast is still for continued cold weather with ice conditions set to be at their prime this coming weekend after the cold fronts this week.

New Route Description:

Christmas Gully, Mafika Lisiu Pass, Lesotho

This route climbs the left fork in a gully system that ascends up to the second prominent peak westwards of the Mafika Lisiu pass that goes up to Bokong.

Park at a lay-by on the road opposite the peak. Descend down to the river crossing over to ascend the ridge upstream of the gully. Traverse into the gully below the junction. Climb up the left hand fork, ascending 4 pitches. Pitches 1-3 are less than 30m in length and vary between WI2 and WI3, pitch 4 is 35m WI3+.

Traverse leftwards and up to the shoulder of the ridge, then descend the ridge back down to the river and up the slope to the lay-by.

General: The Entire Drakensberg and Lesotho has had no snow for at least 10 days. However it remains very cold over the whole area.  During a rescue mission on the 10th and 11th of July I can report the following as seen from the air. At the time od writing there are 2 cold fronts about to hit the area.

Rhino Area:  Mlambonjwa Coulior is a in good condition and worth a visit. One of the better snow gullies.

Giant’s Castle Area: The Main Lotheni Coulior is in very good condition.  It was on long and thick line of ice to well below the normal 1st pitch.  Makaza and Main Event are formed but thin and patchy in places but still worth a visit.  There is very little snow on the ground round about the routes.

General: There is still a thin layer of snow over the tops of the Lesotho mountains. Conditions have been very cold and seem set to stay that way. However, there is not much moisture/snowfall around and so ice at Sani Pass was thin on the 5th of July. It is most likely also the same at other venues.  There is snow snow forecast in the next 7 days.

Rhino area:  Mlambonjwa Coulior and Rutting Rhino Route. Now very thin to non existent.

Sani Pass:  French Wench is very thin and requires much dry tooling. On the 5th of July we all top roped it and had a lot of fun climbing some very tricky stuff.    Cool Bananas and Banana Split are thin but leadable.  See pictures of all 3 routes.  (Cesar lead

Cesar seconding Split Bananas rcok section F2

 the top pitch of Cool B…. and then traversed right to Banana Split. I then lead up it’s final pitch on the usual ice and F2 rock at the top.) 

Giant’s Castle:  Makaza and The Main Lotheni Coulior will be thin but probably safe enough to lead.

Top roping French Wench. The pillar on the left was also climbed.

Bokong and Oxbow :  The area is still very cold, so these routes could still be in okay condition after the snows of 2 weeks ago.

Banana Split on 5 July. Thomas top roped by Colin

Cool Bananas top pitch. 5 July

General: The past 5 days have been very cold in KZ-N and whatever water is in the Drakensberg must be well frozen. Snow gullies in the southern Berg should be incondition. The Eastern gully of Giant’s Castle does not seem to have got much snow.

Sani Pass: Will be thin but climable.

Giant’s Castle: Thin but climable.

On the weekend of 28-29 June the Bokong and Oxbow areas were visited. The rest of this report is by Gareth Frost.

Bokong: Lots of snow and the wet summer has produced a lot of water seepage in the region that has resulted in many ice formations in the pass going up to the Bokong Nature Reserve. Here a new multi-pitch route was climbed. The Main Lepaqoa Falls was very wet and not climbable but a large amount of ice has formed in the gully on the true left. Some other formations have also formed up in the valleys downstream and on the true left. If the cold conditions remain for the next week and longer, there will be plenty ice in this area but it is doubtful that the main fall will form properly due to the large volume of water coming down the river.

 Oxbow: Some nice climbing potential has developed in the Moteng pass, fed by the recent cols and snow. This can be found on the right hand side going up Moteng pass about 500m from the pass summit. It will need continued cold conditions to keep in shape and might be gone in a week or two.

The Club Maulti fall is very wet but has ice forming on either side. Will also need the cold to continue forming.

The bouldering area is good and is being fed by loads of snow and wet ground conditions above the ice. Will be good for the whole of July.

A good ice fall is forming in the Oxbow Valley climbing area and should stick around for the next month or so.

Other: Lots of exciting looking snow gullies to be climbed in the Bokong and Moteng areas. Nice for “Alpine-Style” day routes with lots of adventure.

Many people may not know that the Sani Pass border post has changed its opening times: The South African side is no open 8am to 6pm and the Lesotho side is open 8am to 5pm.

General: On the 23rd and 24th of June the southern and central areas received a light to moderate amount of snow.  The Giant’s Castle south slopes certainly had a fair dump of snow, as seen from Hilton near Pietermaritzburg.  Another cold front on the 26th should bring even more snow to a wider area.  These falls should go a long way to making better conditions by early July.

Sani Pass:  Both the main routes should come into condition by early July and remain that way.

Giant’s Castle: All the major routes should be fat by mid July.

Mlambonja Coulior: This snow gully will be in good condition in 10-14 days. Worth a trip.

Rutting Rhino Route:  Depending on how big the snowfall of the 26th is, this seldom climbed line could easily be formed for a few days.

Giant’s Castle Eastern Gully: Should be good in 10-14 days time and for the rest of July.

Bokong:  Should be good anytime after the beginning of July.

Oxbow: These rather fickle routes should ok in 7-10 days time.

Lorna leading Split Bannanas

http://www.peakhigh.co.za/ice.php

Cool Bananas on the 18th June

General: A High pressure continues to sit over the central part of the country causing warm, dry conditions.  To see more on ice route: http://www.peakhigh.co.za/ice.php

Sani Pass: Having just returned on the 18th of June from Sani Pass I can only report that here is no climbable ice in any of the gullies.  French Wench is just water, with a few small patches at the bottom.  The picture of Cool Bananas   and Banana Split speak for themselves.

Giant’s Castle area would also have got worse from last weekend and I would say there is nothering to climb, even on Makaza.

Banana Split on the 18th June

Bokong and Oxbow I have no information on. However they would be most likely in a worse state than Giant’s Castle and Sani. Certainly not worth the effort yet.