Day Fifteen – The Sani Pass

This is simply at the limit of what these bikes can cope with.

We have attempted nothing as difficult as this over such a sustained period.

It is monstrously difficult.

The boulders on the road are enormous, the gradient severe, the drop off intimidating and jagged rocks protrude through the boulders and shale.

You simply have to attack each hairpin having no idea whether the bike will make it over the boulders and rocks strewn everywhere….it is not possible to stop except on the outside of the hairpins where there is a small flattish section.

If you stop on the uphills there is no chance of restarting as it is just too steep and bouldery….so we just did our best to keep going. With 2 exceptions…where a 4×4 had got stuck we had to stop twice. In both cases we had 5 people per bike with the engine engaged but being walked to get each bike to the next hairpin.

It was backbreaking, exhausting. Heaven knows whatever happened to those vehicles but good on the locals to knuckle down and help us get those bikes going again. It was an awesome climb in the true sense of the word and sheer elation when finally the whole team managed the summit.

Broken down on the Sani Pass.

And, just in case you have seen the Ford Everest Sani Pass TV commercial, it didn’t make it!!! It broke down half way up!!!

We are now in a lodge at 3000m looking down the Pass with snow still dotted around.

The beer tasted good tonight. J

We could not find the ad for the Everest. Not surprising given its performance. So here is a clip of the Ford Ranger, which seemed to cope a little better.