A short pass with lovely views
A short pass with lovely views - Photo: Trygve Roberts

Killian's Pass is located in the high mountains between Dordrecht and Barkly East on gravel R396. It's a fairly short pass at just 1,3 km and presents an altitude variance of 64m, which produces an easy enough average gradient of 1:20. The pass is generally maintained to a reasonable standard and is suitable for all vehicles, except in very muddy or snow conditions, when a 4WD vehicle would be a better option. The tiny settlement of Rossouw is reached just 2 km from the summit on the northern side of the pass.

The full content of this article is restricted to subscribers.

Subscribe for only R550 a year and get full access to our website (936+ mountain passes), including the videos, the full text of all mountain passes articles, fact-file, interactive map, directions and route files.

Subscribe Now (1 year)

New: Lifelong subscription. You'll never have to worry about annual renewals or price increases. Enjoy a Lifetime Subscription to our website for just R5,000 once-off.

Subscribe Now (Lifetime subscription)

If you have already subscribed to our site, you can Log in to view the full article.

Log in


You will gain full access to the best parts of the website, which include:

  • the full content (non subscribers only see about 10% of the text) of 936+ mountain passes,
  • plus you get the video(s),
  • Fact File,
  • Interactive Map,
  • Directions
  • and the downloadable Route File.

You will also get our weekly newsletter packed with the latest interesting passes information delivered to your email each Thursday.

Paid subscribers qualify for 10% off the digital downloads from our online shop.

Still not convinced?

You can visit five ‘Open’ pass pages on Mountain Passes South Africa to evaluate what you’ll be getting: