In early March 2014 I led a group of friends (Doug, Rowan, Nic and Richard) on an ascent of the Rhino Peak in the Garden Castle region of the Southern Drakensberg mountains. It was a new region of Berg for me as I’ve mostly explored the central to Northern parts of this beautiful landscape of South Africa. Due to us not wanting to infringe of work time and guys having to take leave on the Friday we set out to do this ascent in a single day ie. leave Durban at sea level by 4:30am and the plan was to be at the summit of the peak for sunset. Little did we know what a challenge this would be – it was my first single day ascent of the escarpment as the trip up is normally split over 2 days. I think the body also takes quite a shock ascending 3000m in 12 hours or so.
The walk to the base of the pass was easy going the group was all in good spirits but from Pillar Cave the path turns right into the steep cliffs of the escarpment and it seriously starts to go up! The guys were quite despondent quite near the top as we’d lost the path a bit and so the traversing over the rocky section started to get rather hectic! Doug was amazing in keeping spirits high and pressing on ahead to make sure we could actually do this thing! With the motivation of radical adventurer Bear Grylls foremost in the minds of some, we all reached the top of the pass just before 4pm, 7 hours after starting our walk. What a sense of accomplishment together with a feeling of terror at facing that descent the next day – a few experienced some serious vertigo coming up! We knew that a good nights rest would make all the difference in our mental mindset.
After setting up camp and having an hour rest in our tents while waiting for the massive afternoon thunderstorm to pass, 3 of us still had the energy, or maybe sheer determination, to reach the Rhino Peak summit. It was a 45 minute walk up to the peak and were rewarded with fantastic, dramatic views with lightning storms taking place below us. The rain started to wet us just after sunset so we opted to head back to camp to enjoy our reward of the traditional summit steak cooked in whiskey!
The next morning we awoke to a glorious, cloudless day. We had our Aeropress coffee (Rowan even bought his grinder up the mountain!), breakfast and then packed up camp ready to head back down the same route we ascended.
The descent was much easier than expected mostly because we found and followed the path! Some very weary legs and tired backs back at the car park but after a warm shower at the camp site we were already reminiscing fondly of the adventure from the past 36 hours. A great weekend away I’d recommend to anyone wanting a tough, physical but rewarding challenge. Enjoy my photographic feedback below.
Amazing! good work! next time I’m there!
fantastic footage Grant. Debbie and I are heading up to Rhino first thing in the morning, weather permitting. Your pics have given us a good idea of what to expect!
Bruce
Hey Grant
lovely pics, these are going to be my inspiration this weekend as we attempt our accent and decent in one day…19Km full day in the mountains.
lekker Gary