concrete road

  • This short, but extremely steep pass is the access road to a set of telecoms towers on the conical peak just south-east of Graskop, accessible from Kowyn's Pass. At 0,8 km it's one of the shorter passes on our database and you will experience very steep gradients of 1:4. With an average gradient of 1:9,4 it slots in as the 12th steepest pass in South Africa.

    We do not recommend this road for inexperienced drivers for a number of reasons, one of which is that it is very narrow and there is nowhere to pull over should you meet up with an oncoming vehicle and a stall at one of the many drainage ditches could mean a burnt out clutch. This little pass has to be driven in 1st gear (high range) as you cannot drive it in full 4x4 mode, due to the issues around axle wind up on the hard surface.

    The views from the summit are breathtaking covering a full 360 degrees. If you feel the drive is too hectic, you can always walk up as it's really not far and is doable in 15 minutes on foot.

  • This is a modern, well constructed (but narrow) concrete road that makes use of part of the original historic Oudekloof Pass route and then swings away to the south to climb to the very top of the peak, where an array of Telkom and other microwave towers bristle at the summit. This is an out and back route, requiring drivers to descend along the same route to return to Oudekloof farmstead. This is generally not a publicly accessible road, with one or two exceptions. We obtained special permission to film the route, which provides magnificent and varying scenery, but it is seriously steep and as well that it is concreted.