Kowyns pass

La Kowyns pass es una subida de 7.3 kilómetros. Este es una subida de la categoría 2. Se encuentra en Sabie, Mpumalanga, Sudáfrica. La pendiente media de esta subida es del 6.6% con un máximo de 7%. La Kowyns pass sube de 966 metros al inicio a 1.448 metros en la cima, con un total de 483 metros de ascenso.

Descripción

Kowyn Pass is situated in Mpumalanga province, on the R535 road between Graskop and Bosbokrand. The pass was completed on 3 October 1959. The top has an altitude of 1,448 metres above sea level near Graskop.The pass is believed to have been built along an ancient pedestrian route which connected the lowveld to higher areas towards the west. It is named for the 19th century Bakwena chief Kobêng Moxane, who the voortrekkers referred to as Kowyn. He settled his faction of the Pulana tribe on the Graskop escarpment, after the Swazis scattered them from a former settlement near Pretoriuskop. They were Sotho-speaking people who were initially displaced from the highveld by the disturbances of the Mfecane, and subsequently migrated northwards to escape raids by the Swazis.

The story is told that the original route was created when the tribe sent two donkeys up the escarpment to find the shortest and fastest route. Creating the footpath that was used for many years.

A major rock fall occurred in 1973 at a point where the pass skirts a very steep hill. When rock falls continued despite the area being anchored, the Transvaal Provincial Roads Authority decided in 1977 to construct a reinforced concrete rockfall shelter as a permanent and fail-safe protective measure. The construction of the shelter, some 170 metres long, was completed in August 1980.

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