Sani Pass hikers to raise funds for CHOC
INTREPID HIKERS are expected to make their way up snowy Sani Pass today to raise funds for CHOC, the Childhood Cancer Foundation.
“I’ve done it in the snow before,” said 72-year-old Prakash “Bob” Harripersadh, an annual contender who has walked up the pass more than 30 times since he turned 60 and since then has become no stranger to some of the world’s highest peaks.
He said he would be leaving Durban first thing this morning to head up the pass.
While the snow made only a morning appearance in Underberg yesterday before both rain and sun encouraged it to disappear, the mountains of the southern Drakensberg around the village have remained under heavy snow. It measured 29cm at the top of Sani Pass in Lesotho, according to a local.
Murray Cairns, a transport operator in nearby Himeville, called it “the biggest fall in six years”.
The South African border post was closed yesterday due to heavy snow further up the pass. There is no further snow or rain expected over the weekend, according to the South African Weather Service weather forecaster Stacy Colborne, based at King Shaka International Airport. She said today should be sunny but very cold with coastal maximum temperatures reaching between 18 and 20ºC, 12 to 16ºC in the interior and 12 to 13ºC in the Drakensberg.
Tomorrow would be a little warmer, coastal temperatures in the low 20s, interior temperatures reaching between 18 and 20ºC and an average maximum temperature of 16ºC in the Drakensberg.