Mt Helder (offtrack in the Southwest)

[ILUVSWTAS]

A few of us had an off track walk to a rarely visited peak last weekend to Mt Helder.
Located on the edge of lake Pedder, we walked the shores of the lake (sometimes in the lake) for a couple of hours until deciding on a lead up one of the ridges to take us to our camp for the night.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Once up on the ridge we encountered a little bif of scrub, but this was soon dealt with, at one point while I was leading I even found an old bash by another party which assisted in the passage through.
As soon as the plateau was reached we found a suitable spot to pitch the tents, before lazing around in what can only be described as a clear but warm winters day.
We then decided to shoot up to the top of Mt Helder which was only 600mtrs away and looked to be an easy stroll "It's just over there, how hard can it be"....... over an hour later and after a near miss with a very large boulder falling on 2 of the party we made the summit.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Great views of the Frankland range and many many other Southwest beauties rewarded us from this rather modestly heighted summit.
Our camp site also had some nice views, especially of the Sentinals, and Eliza plateau cacked with snow.
The following day we intended to visit Mt Cawthorm, but once confronted with the valley between us and it, we decided (wisely) to abort due to the time required to get back, pack and and retreat to the cars.
It was a fun little overnight trip, not too hard for offtrack, but enough of a challenge to be very rewarding.

[ollster]

Noooice. You did threaten to post a trip report... but no GPS maps?

[ILUVSWTAS]

Hahah I thought we all agreed we'd do one?? Then we could all post pics? Ah well it's not a sensitive area, so no one should ???
Ok here's GPS.....

Edit by moderator: swearing removed (more info).

[farkewie]

Great photo's.

Looks like you had a bit of a swim at one point on the GPS map

[ILUVSWTAS]

Haha not quite.... That shows how much the water levels in lake pedder are down.

[stu]

A few of my photos from this fun little overnighter...
gotta love SW weather (or at least the weather we seem to always get)

Early morning abstraction on Lake Pedder.

Morning relections.

The scungy valley between our camp (in the distance) & the summit of My Helder...hard, slow work.

[stu]

...and a few more...

Looking toward Mt Cawthorn & the Franlkland Range.

The team (minus me) on the marsy flats on our return leg.

Walking the lake shore.

[ollster]

I'll chuck in my only really nice photo for the record. Twas a good trip. Sigh.

[north-north-west]

If those are the photos for the trip report, I can't wait to see the ones for the competition!

[kanangra]

I like the morning reflections shot.

K.

[flyfisher]

A nice lot of pics fellas, thanks for sharing.
Love the early morning shots.

ff