Nicholas Mulder and Ryno Griesel made an attempt on Andrew Porter’s recent Drakensberg Grand Traverse record. Conditions were not in their favour, with rain and mist in the mountains. And, with Nicholas battling in the high altitude conditions, they aborted the attempt just over 24 hours in, after covering 89 kilometres.
Mountain runner Andrew Porter’s 61 hour, 24 minute record, for this 210km route, set in mid-December 2009, still stands.
These are updates from the mountains:
Sat, 23 Jan @ 06h23: At 24h28 into the challenge, at the 89km mark just short of Mafadi, we halted our attempt. I [Nicholas] had trouble with the altitude and oxygen yesterday and was completely exhausted overnight as a result. I wouldn’t have been able to complete the second half. Ryno was as strong as ever. We’ve walked back to Leslie Pass and will descend to Injasuthi shortly. Learned a lot and will definitely make another attempt.
Sat, 23 Jan @ 00h20: Champagne Castle. 19h58 down. Bad mist and rain on last section. Conditions are tough.
Fri, 22 Jan @ 15h44: Cleft Peak. Took 10h57 to get here. Just started raining for the first time.
Fri, 22 Jan @ 06h10: At Mont-aux-Sources. Took us 1h50 to get here.
Fri, 22 Jan @ 04h14: Start at 04h14. There’s mist, but it has been dry since 02h00.
Thurs, 21 Jan @ 19h12: We’re at Sentinal Car Park and ready for 04h00 start. Ground is wet, but no rain at present. Hopefully we will be above the clouds tomorrow morning.