It's been well over 6 months since my last overnight walk, so I was very keen to get away at some stage between Christmas and New Years. The Walls of Jerusalem has been a long time favourite destination of mine, so I decided to head back and spend new years eve up there. The weather report wasn't exactly promising, with rain predicted for Wednesday and Thursday, and the chance of snow overnight on Thursday, but I wasn't going to let a bit of iffy weather put me off.
The walk in on Wednesday was pleasant enough, overcast, and with a bit of wind. I walked in to a favourite campsite of mine that's tucked out of the way, and was sheltered from the westerly wind that had sprung up during the day. I attempted to take a few photos, but the forecast rain sprung up not long after I broke out the camera, so I retired to my tent, to wait for a break in the weather that never came. In fact, the weather got a bit worse (depending on how you look at things), as it started to snow. I was actually quite happy about that, because I've not had the opportunity to test my tent out in the snow, and I've also not seen the walls when it's been snowing.
The snow didn't settle overnight, and the weather looked a bit better in the morning, although there was some cloud covering the peaks of the mountains, so we decided to take a chance that things would improve and head up Solomon's Throne. The walk up to the Damascus Gate saddle was a bit chilly, as the wind was still blowing, and it was snowing every so often. By the time we'd reached the top of Solomon's Throne, it looked like the snow had set in for quite some time. Still, we waited for a few minutes, just to see what would happen. I did manage to take a few shots, which I'll post up in the Gallery.
In the absence of a break in the clouds, we decided not to bother climbing Mt Jerusalem or the Temple, and instead decided to head to Dixon's Kingdom, and then walk around the Temple via Gate of the Chain. The walk down to Dixon's Kingdom was pleasant, despite the snow, as we were sheltered from the wind. After a short break, we headed up Jaffa Gate, in increasing snow, and then headed around to Gate of the Chain. As we reached the saddle of Gate of the Chain, the wind picked up considerably, and we were forced to walk into the worst snow that we'd had for the walk so far. At this stage the snow was falling heavily enough to actually start building up on the ground, so we headed back to the shelter of the tents. The afternoon saw more snow fall, and being the wimp that I am, I declined to put on my wet boots and go for another walk, even when there was a short break in the weather.
During the night snow continued to fall, and there was a considerable build up on the tent when I got up. Having got breakfast out of the way, pausing only to defrost my frozen boots, we packed up the tents, and headed out. The scenery that greeted us was vastly different to the day before, with snow covering everything. The snow on the West Wall was simply stunning, especially when the sun came out briefly and lit it up with a beautiful golden light. Unfortunately, it all happened too quickly for me to get any photos, but I still managed to get a few decent shots without the golden light. The walk out along the duck boards was rather interesting, as the snow made things rather slippery, and we had a couple of falls, and quite a few near misses until we reached the Wild Dog Creek campsite.
As we headed from Wild Dog Creek to Trappers Hut, I kept a lookout to see if I could see Cradle Mountain, but the cloud stuck around, and I had to be content with a brief view of a snow covered Cathedral Mountain. We took a quick break at Trapper's Hut to shed a few layers of thermals, and to grab a quick snack. Having done that, we set off back to the car. All in all, I had a great 3 days, and enjoyed myself thoroughly, despite not getting to walk as much or take as many photos as I wanted, it was just great being able to see snow, for the first time in the 6 years or so since I've been walking up there.