Suicide gorge – Hottentotsholland Nature Reserve

The epic unfolds

Paddlers - Andrew Kellett and Philip Solomon

This attempt was always going to be an epic, we just tried to put this reality at the back of our minds and concentrate on the possible waterfalls we would find. As bad starts go, neither Phil nor I had been in the area before, never mind kloof the gorge before. A recent fire had also raged through the area destroying most of the signage for the multiple paths leading into the amazingly remote place.

Without knowledge of the area and the lack of a willing driver we packed the Landy and headed out regardless.  Huge rains had fallen during the night and we were apprehensive about what we were going to find.

We were directed by the CNC staff up the valley and eyed out as rather mad beings for wanting to be in the mountains in such bad conditions as well as wanting to paddle what is normally a very challenging day kloof. There have been various deaths on suicide gorge and most resulting from higher water.

It felt like we were driving into the snow and the Landy clawed its way up close to the snow line. Jackie, who was from KZN, was looking rather miserable in these conditions but we decided to gear up and walk to the river to give it a bash. The first water we found was the Riviersonderend River, above the confluence of the Bogoekloof River, which we thought was suicide gorge. Jackie opted out as the hail and sleet dropped from the sky and Phil and I decided to jump in. The river at this stage was quite tight and technical and we were reading most of it from our kayaks. As the sun broke through the clouds, we came to a corner with a sharp drop and loud noise; we were one pool away from a 7m unrunable waterfall, which was landing on rock. We decide to scout and found the confluence pool just below the drop. We mistook this for Junction pool which had been described to us many times. We looked up stream and saw a large amount of water coming in from the tributary which made the Riviersonderend a rather large and fast running river now. We scouted a section below the confluence and it looked solid class 4/5 but fairly open. We decide to man up and all looked good and then experience prevailed, as I said we should look around one more corner as well as look for possible places to get out if things turned bad.

Good decision, around the corner was a 90 deg bend with a 4m waterfall heading straight into a wall! Sheer cliff face meant that there is no option for a portage. This would have spelt disaster if we entered the gorge. Below the gorge narrowed to around 1m and at times we couldn’t see the water. No more paddling for that day.

Heading up in the Landy a week later was very different than the week before – the sun was out, no sign of snow on the peaks and around there was a better feeling all-round, but was there water? We decide to tube the Riveiersonderend River so that we have an idea about the gorge for the next high water. On completion, it was clear that we had made the right decision a week before. After a night in the mountain hut we were amped to get some paddling done. We decided that enough was enough we were her to make history and paddle where no one had paddled before, Suicide Gorge. We had worked out on the map where the start was but were undecided on what to expect. Walking this route without a 22 kg kayak is hard enough but we also had harnesses and static ropes for Abseiling as well as Floating ropes for traversing where necessary, first aid kit emergency kit. The route takes you on jeep track across the Riviersonderend up the mountain up the Bogoekloof valley, down to the river, across a rope bridge up the mountain the other side along the plateau down a valley and up to the starting pool of Suicide Gorge, around 6km long. Now kayaker are not known for their walking ability so you must know that there was a lot of swearing and questioning en route. At the start of Suicide there was little water and things were not looking good. If the level remained like this it would be a long day. We could see below that this was actually a tributary to the gorge so there was still hope. It was super steep and beyond any gradient I had ever attempt before, what were we getting into? We ran some drops and portage others which were blocked with dangerous siphons. With some relief we saw that there was quite a bit of water coming in at the confluence but at the same time we saw the first horizon line which indicates a gradient drop i.e. waterfall. At first glance it looked like a difficult entrance with the possibility of dropping around 8m onto a slab of rock on the left. I decided to head down stream to take photos of Phil jumping into the pool after lowering the boats. On impulse I asked him to ghost ride my kayak through to get an idea of how thing would turn out. It had a great run, and now it gave me no excuse not to run it. I headed up and Phil took photos. The entrance was tight and difficult to set your kayak up for the freefall. I entered the stream and focused on where I wanted my kayak to be, if you focus on the obstacle which makes the run dangerous, it is likely that that’s where you’ll land up! The run was good and the landing angle ideal. Phil was not as convinced so we head on downstream.

The gorge looked like it was dropping faster now with the drops becoming larger. After paddling some class 3 – 4 rapids where we drowned our video camera, we got to a large horizon line bigger than anything we had seen so far. At first glance, it looked way too high for us to consider, also taking into account that the next drop was 5 m away and was over 10 m high. Things were getting serious. Be careful about what you ask for, you might just get it and then have to deal with it!

Phil said no way, so headed downstream using a small fault line and some ropes. I was keen to run this drop, that’s why we were here, to find amazing new drops and run them. We sacrificed Phil’s Fluid Solo for the Ghost run. The kayak entered the slide and then hit the hump I was concerned about and veered off to the right flipped and freefall upside down into the pool with a huge thud! Not exactly what I was looking for? I walked down a little to gauge the extent of the drop and to try and work out scenarios and consequences. In this remote gorge it would be critical if we had any injuries and I had to work it out that I had the run clear in my mind. I had run a drop of similar height in the Transkei, but this drop was different in that there was a slide of about 8 m before the drop went vertical another 8 meters below. This meant that my kayak would gain allot of speed before going into a vertical drop, the danger being that the kayak gets propelled horizontal and clear of the aerated water below in the pool. Yes, there is allot more that goes into running a waterfall than you think.

My thoughts were clear, my line good and my kayak slipped off the moist rock. I was surprised at how fast my kayak gained speed – no turning back now! The critical move was missing the hump that Phil’s kayak hit which ended in disaster. My kayak was on course for the hump and there was very little chance of changing direction but at the last minute my blade grabbed a part of the rock and I was able to straighten up. The kayak still went into a horizontal position but throwing my weight forward, I was able to straighten up enough for impact in the bottom pool. I felt my kayak come to an immediate stop as my body slammed into the deck, my ribs taking full impact. Luckily I was in my Favourite Goya Recce PFD which has 50mm of close cell foam to help protect my torso. Phill looked at me with a concerned face and gave me the ‘are you ok’, all good, a little bruised but all good.

There wasn’t even enough time to celebrate as the next drop was right there. I must admit that I was quite relived to see that there was some rock spoiling the 10 m drop. This is definitely runable at slightly higher levels. It wasn’t over yet we still had to get around this compulsory jump. I headed down to take photos whilst Pill lowered the kayaks and jumped the biggest jump of the day, around 12m. No sight of the junction pool yet and it was 4pm – it was getting tight, and our level of energy was dropping quickly. The next two drops fell onto rock and we had to do multi pitched abseils to get around. Without ropes this would have been impossible to pass.

At last we caught sight of the junction pool and were left with the decision to kayak on to the weir which we didn’t know how far it was or weather to hike out and try to find the road back up. Not great options at 5.30 pm so we decided to head downstream putting the thought of carrying our kayaks out of our mind. We reached the Weir at 6.30pm after some frustrating paddling with siphon blocks where the river goes under rock leaving you no way through. The signs pointed up the mountain to the office and we headed off. At the second sign we made a critical decision to carry on straight instead of following the path which seemed to be going over the mountain to the office. At 7.30pm we were officially lost, out of energy and Phil was cramping. We could hear the cars but couldn’t see their lights and were indecisive probable due to the fatigue. We had last eaten the night before and were out of energy bars. With Phil only able to walk 10 m before cramping I decided we should leave the kayaks there and find our way out and make sure that no one is looking for us! We walked on and after 20 min noticed allot of broken glass and some old car wrecks. It meant only one thing – the pass was directly above us. In the pitch blackness of the night we scrambled up and found the road, now all we needed was a lift. Hitch hiking at 8.30pm at night on a mountain pass in our dry gear didn’t seem very successful and at least 10 cars passed us. 2 Km up to the reserve gate and we found it locked. We carried on further into the reserve about 6km back to our Landy passing one of the staff on the way to let him know we were Ok. Two gates were locked and 11pm at night Phil was quite bad now. His mind was good but his body was cramping. I decided to run ahead and get the landy and come and pick him up. There was no hope getting out so we headed up to the hut at the top of the mountain looking forward to our cup of tea we had been dreaming about for the last 6 hours. The quietness of this Hiking hut on top of the mountain allowed us to reflect on what was a very successful but epic day.

For a selection of photo's go to Andrew's Web albums - http://picasaweb.google.com/ak4foot7/SuicideFirstDescent?feat=directlink