OVERNIGHT IN SPARE RIB CAVE
13/14 April 2002
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At 06:30 on Saturday, Dave and I together with three
students, my son Tremayne, Fabian (Swiss) and Alan (American), headed off to
Giant’s Castle. After a warm up hike,
we reached Bannerman Hut by lunchtime.
We were able to shelter under the eaves during a brief, gentle
rain. From then we were blessed with
perfect weather. We ascended up to
Bannerman’s Pass, reaching the cave at 2601 metres by 16:00. The guys had to backtrack down the pass for
water and we were also able to collect water, drip by drip from the roof
seepage of the cave. In the large,
spacious cave we selected our sleeping spots and settled in. That night we were entertained to an
intellectual debate between a Swiss omnivore and an American vegetarian on how
to cook their pasta and rice, which proved a complicated affair!
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Next morning after a quick breakfast and catching a
beautiful sunrise, we were ready ½ hour before schedule to tackle the steep
ascent (I’m sure a grade 5) to the top of the pass at 3200 metres. Personally, I found the altitude slowed me
down and it felt as if I crawled up, past all the dry cattle bones and skulls,
but I was rather proud of myself to reach the top by 10:00. I’m sure Dave was relieved that we had all
made it thus far. The view as always
was magic and the stillness of the mountains soul soothing.
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Too soon we were off again, with no definite path,
heading up and over (quite difficult) into Lesotho. Fortunately there were no locals to ambush us with stones
(remember to pack a catty next time).
We passed Bannerman’s Cave on our left, and had a short break and
history lesson from Dave at the top of Langalibalele Pass, noting the
Cabineer’s buriel site marked with a cross on our right, before descending down
Langalibalele Pass. The descent was
rather steep and slippery for Tremayne, who amazed us all by continuing
unhindered in his faithful old, holely, treadless Addidas takkies. Following the path down the crest of the
mountains was the best for me. We ate
our lunch relaxing next to a lovely waterfall and pool before tackling the last
stretch home.
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We reached the resort just after 16:00. I felt as though I could not walk another
step thanks to a blister on the ball of my foot. Fabian looked fit for another 20 km.
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A tough but very enjoyable hike. Many thanks to our intrepid leader, Dave,
for sharing his wealth of knowledge and history about the area, making it much
more interesting. Thanks for the
company Alan and Fabian, hope you have many more happy hikes in South
Africa. Thanks Tremayne for always
backtracking to check on your old mom!!
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Carolee Thomson
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