Mountain Running
This is how you run all the way around Africa's 'Mountain Kingdom'
Learn how Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesel successfully circumnavigated Lesotho during a gruelling 1,100km journey that took 16 days to complete.
'Bagged' read the very simple text message from Adrian Saffy, one of the vital support crew on the Navigate Lesotho project. The text – which broadly translates to 'conquered' in mountaineering jargon – came through just after 1pm local time on April 27, 2022, some 16 days, six hours and 56 minutes after Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesel first set off from Telle Bridge Border Post to circumnavigate Lesotho.
The pair, who have 'bagged' other big FKTs (Fastest Known Times) in the past, including the Drakensberg Grand Traverse and a section on the Great Himalaya Trail, overcame adverse weather conditions and navigated boundaries – both mental and physical – to successfully finish this challenge. One that both men say was by far their toughest yet.
"It’s pretty surreal to have circumnavigated Lesotho on foot," said Sandes. "It was definitely a lot more challenging than we initially anticipated, especially the extreme weather we experienced in the mountain section – ice, snow and severe cold."
The pair described it as their "toughest challenge yet"
© Craig Kolesky/Red Bull Content Pool
Having set off on April 11, the duo's adventure took them to the most remote and untouched regions of the Mountain Kingdom and South Africa, putting their navigational skills, seasoned physical training and psychological fortitude to the test.
There were some really cold nights out there, where we didn’t think we would make it through
The weather also proved to be an additional challenge throughout the 16 days, with wet and soggy conditions and even flooding to contend with.
Sandes and Griesel overcame challenging conditions in Lesotho
© Craig Kolesky/Red Bull Content Pool
Having overcome both the weather and successfully navigated the route, Griesel commented: “It felt like we were building a puzzle. Often we had to take a couple steps back to move forward again and that was mentally quite challenging. Running through the mud and doing multiple river crossings was pretty slow going.”
Calling this their "toughest challenge yet", both Sandes and Griesel covered the length of the entire Drakensberg Mountain range, summited some of Lesotho’s most breathtaking peaks and conquered renowned trails. This included Mafadi Peak, the highest mountain in South Africa at 3,446m.
“There were some really cold nights out there, where we didn’t think we would make it through. Looking back it feels like an eternity ago that we started,” Sandes remarked upon reaching the finish at Telle Bridge Border Post.
“We’ve been on enough crazy adventures together to know that the key to success is ultimately trust and respect - something that Ryno and I truly have in each other. I wouldn’t want to have achieved this with anyone else."
Despite being one of South Africa's most decorated trail runners and having conquered all sorts of physical and mental challenges, such was the difficulty of this task, that Sandes was almost unable to comprehend what he had achieved.
He concluded: “All those curve balls made for a real epic adventure with some incredible memories I’ll hold onto forever. I’m sure the fact that it’s finally done will sink in shortly.”