Du Cane Traverse

[nickthetasmaniac]

Some photos from the Du Cane Traverse last week. We did the walk over four days, going from Lees Paddocks - Du Cane Hut (the LP - KIa Ora track) - Falling Mt - Mt Massif - Labryinth - Pine Valley - Narcissus. In retrospect four days is no where near enough - we didn't have time to do any of the peaks and the first two days especially were very loooooong... But otherwise it was an amazing walk and definitely one of the best I've done in Tassie. I can't wait to have another crack and spend a week up there

All shot with the Panasonic GH2 and Voigtlander Nokton 25mm.




The second LP hut - is this the Wadley Memorial or is that the first one? I forget...


Cathedral from Du Cane Hut.


Having lunch on Falling Mt after climbing up from Du Cane Gap. We foolishly laughed when Chapman said it'd take four hours...


The ridge line toward Mt Massif - it would take us about 5 hours...


Cathedral, Pillanger and LP.




Looking down the valley to Mt Olympus.




South face of Mt Massif.


Hyperion? from Big Gun.


Chapman says go over the top...


Hugging the face just before Big Gun Pass.




The Big Gun, Mt Geryon and the Acropolis.


Will found a nice spot for lunch









Fagus


The Labyrinth with Frenchmans in the distance.


Geryon - next time...




Heading down into Pine Valley.

Last edited by nickthetasmaniac on Sun 11 Dec, 2011 10:53 am, edited 3 times in total.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Wonderful thanks!! Brings back some great memories. Definately in my top 5 walks of all time!!

[stepbystep]

Great pics as always Nick, thanks for sharing.

MUSTDOTHISWALKMUSTDOTHISWALKMUSTDOTHISWALK

[north-north-west]

Great pics as always Nick, thanks for sharing.

MUSTDOTHISWALKMUSTDOTHISWALKMUSTDOTHISWALK

+1

[nickthetasmaniac]

MUSTDOTHISWALKMUSTDOTHISWALKMUSTDOTHISWALK

Must Although now I've convinced myself that linking the Pelion Circuit and Du Cane Traverse is a good idea... Wow that would be an epic week

[north-north-west]

MUSTDOTHISWALKMUSTDOTHISWALKMUSTDOTHISWALK

Must Although now I've convinced myself that linking the Pelion Circuit and Du Cane Traverse is a good idea... Wow that would be an epic week fortnight

Fixed (considering my age and decrepitude).

[Mickeymoo]

Nice work Nick, certainly looks like an amazing area to walk!

[roseart]

Wow what great photos! Thank you for sharing them with us all. We are looking doing the Du Cane Traverse later this month.
The map suggests that it is very rugged. Your photos only confirm that. How long did it take you to walk from Du Cane Gap to Lake Elysia?
We are thinking about spending 2 or 3 days. Are there many places to camp and to source water from? We were also thinking of walking
from Pine Vally to Lake Elysia and through to the Du Cane Gap. Which, do you consider, is the better way to go?

[frenchy_84]

I walked it in the other direction, Labyrinth to Du Cane Gap, and i would say direction choice wouldnt make much difference. Walking towards Du Cane gap means that you walk down hill off Falling which is the only scrubby bit. All the rest is open rock hoping. Camping options include top of Falling, Top of Massif and then multiple options once in to the Labyrinth. Lake Helios is really nice. You will need 3 days from the OLT, 1 to get into the labyrinth, 1 to get to Massif and then 1 to walk out over Falling. This would leave plenty of time for side trips, such as Geryon and Hyperion.

[nickthetasmaniac]

Wow what great photos! Thank you for sharing them with us all. We are looking doing the Du Cane Traverse later this month.
The map suggests that it is very rugged. Your photos only confirm that. How long did it take you to walk from Du Cane Gap to Lake Elysia?
We are thinking about spending 2 or 3 days. Are there many places to camp and to source water from? We were also thinking of walking
from Pine Vally to Lake Elysia and through to the Du Cane Gap. Which, do you consider, is the better way to go?

It is very rugged (in bits). We walked up from Lees Paddocks and left through Narcissus and the ferry. Day one: LP - Du Cane Hut (big day). Day two: Du Cane Hut - Mt Massif (very big day). Day three: Massif - Pine Valley with side trip up Geyron (medium day). Day four: Pine Valley to ferry (short day). If you were starting and finishing at Narcissus I'd recommend three nights minimum - more if you want to explore. Check the Chapman notes - we found our times pretty close to what he suggested. There's also a couple of really good trip reports on here if you search.

I agree with frenchy_84 that the direction won't make much difference - there's steep bits either way... When we went through there was very little (re: basically none) water between the Labyrinth and Massif, and likewise between Massif and Du Cane Gap. There's plenty of water on the Massif Plateau but I'd recommend boiling it first. As frenchy says, there's decent campsites at the top of Falling (no water) and within the Massif bowl (amazing) and then from Big Gun Pass through the Labyrinth. There's also passable sites scattered across the whole ridge-line.

Take a rope - you'll want to pack-haul on the section immediately to the east of the Mt Massif plateau (we didn't and there was a lot of swearing ).

[DaveNoble]

You can do a fair bit of the traverse as a daywalk if you like. I remember leaving Pine Valley early (6am) and climbing up to the Labyrinth and then waiting for an hour or so for mist to clear, then climbing Geryon North, spending an hour or so on top, then heading out to Big Gun Pass, Massif, Falling Mtn, Du Cane Gap and then a brisk walk back to Pine Valley. Without a big pack - you do the boulder section fast. I think I got back to Pine Valley around 7:30 pm. This was a great day.

Also - there is no need for rope. If you think you need it then you are going a bad way. Leave your pack and scout around and find a better, safer and easier route. Its not hard even if you follow the skyline between Massif and Falling Mtn. But you should not follow he skyline between Big Gun Pass and Massif (stay on the western side)

Also remember a Du Cane traverse should start at Gould and go all the way to Falling Mtn

Dave

[norts]

I agree about the rope. I started to get into an area where It was getting a bit hairy, just back tracked and went a bit lower, no problem, this was leaving Massif. I would never do it from Ducane Gap. Wasnt a problem coming down from Falling Mt, would take probably double the time going up.

Roger

[iandsmith]

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing. I think I've only heard of one of those mountains; have to go and check Bonzle out again.
Sometimes I wish I was a multi day walker......then I remember my comfy bed in my motorhome!

[Nick S]

Nice photos nick! Will looks more concerned there than on Feder i think!

[nickthetasmaniac]

You can do a fair bit of the traverse as a daywalk if you like. I remember leaving Pine Valley early (6am) and climbing up to the Labyrinth and then waiting for an hour or so for mist to clear, then climbing Geryon North, spending an hour or so on top, then heading out to Big Gun Pass, Massif, Falling Mtn, Du Cane Gap and then a brisk walk back to Pine Valley. Without a big pack - you do the boulder section fast. I think I got back to Pine Valley around 7:30 pm. This was a great day.

Also - there is no need for rope. If you think you need it then you are going a bad way. Leave your pack and scout around and find a better, safer and easier route. Its not hard even if you follow the skyline between Massif and Falling Mtn. But you should not follow he skyline between Big Gun Pass and Massif (stay on the western side)

Also remember a Du Cane traverse should start at Gould and go all the way to Falling Mtn

Dave

A day walk from Pine Valley return would be something in the order of 35-40km yeah? Wow, you must be fitter than me! (Although I recently read an essay about a bloke running the Western Arthurs in a day, so I spose all things are possible...)

As I mentioned, we followed Chapman's notes for most of the walk. This included following the skyline between Massif and Big Gun Pass (well sort of - we sidled left the Massif bowl to the west and sidled around to the beginning of the Pass, and then went directly over the rocky knoll at the eastern end of the Pass), which gave us no difficulties. Following the notes around the southern side of the big heap of boulders to the east of Massif, we felt that it would have been safer with a rope but was perfectly doable without. As Chapman had said that 'most groups will need to packhaul', we never bothered looking for another route, figuring it to be par for the course

I agree that a true traverse would come out at the Gould Plateau, and next time (there will definitely be a next time!) that will be the aim. Unfortunately we only had four days this time...

[Graham51]

Some great photos. I'v done the circuit one way or another three times and loved it every time, Looks like you took a challenging route into Big Gun Pass.

[roseart]

Thanks to everyone who responsed to my request for information with regards to the Du Cane Traverse .
It is all vey helpful. The experience and the knowledge to be gained by chatting on this site is amazing.
We had planned to do the Du Cane Traverse commencing this coming weekend, but my walking buddy
has a viral infection and is now unable to go . We are hopeful that after a couple months they will be well once more
and we will be able to get some leave and do it then .

[Vern]

I'm looking to do the DuCane traverse in 5 days next month but I may have my bro coming along. He has a bit of a shoulder issue at the moment
Can anyone tell me how much climbing is required? And how would you compare the walk to say something like the North East Ridge Mt Anne?
He was fit enough to do Mt Anne Nth East Ridge and then the rest of the circuit in 4 days. How would that compare to this traverse?

[Vern]

Thanks for the PM...looks like I'll head out there and give this one a go. Great trip report and pics by the way.

[Rick]

Hi Nick,

Great pics!!

In pic four is that some sort of map protector I see on the ground?

Cheers
Rick

[nickthetasmaniac]

Hi Nick,

Great pics!!

In pic four is that some sort of map protector I see on the ground?

Cheers
Rick

I think that's Will's collection of drugs

[Nuts]

(Just the basic necessities then? )

Nice set of pics Nick.

I met a couple of mates heading for the gap and the traverse on Saturday, seems popular all of a sudden...
We were all sweating just standing around talking... I guess they'll have few problems with ice.

[nickthetasmaniac]

We were all sweating just standing around talking... I guess they'll have few problems with ice.

We had a group of guests on Ossa on Saturday - I've never seen a more rooted bunch of punters Faaaaaaaaaark it was warm... Gotta say tho, it wouldn't have been much fun if they were still on the Range Sunday night - we were at Windy and it was blowing it's tits off with a nice show of thunder + lightening...

[Nuts]

Some of the designated campsites don't inspire a good nights sleep in such wind... (apparently we are 'the only ones to have mentioned it'???)


(i have to say your not sounding like the average c/h guide... yet.. Nick )

[nickthetasmaniac]

Lol what does the average c/h guide sound like?

[Son of a Beach]

In my experience, they sound like, "Hey, we've got all this left over food, and can't be bothered carrying it any further. Would you like some cherry pie?" To which of course I answer, "Get stuffed! Carry out your own garbage, ya lazy sods!"*

*Not. I usually answer, "yes, please!"

[nickthetasmaniac]

I ate four cherry pies for lunch on day 5 of my last trip - couldn't give the *&%$#! things away...



Oh well, beats scroggin.

[Nuts]

Do you get ice cream as well?

[wander]

To add to the resource that this thread is, here are some pics of our Du Cane Range Traverse from January this year.https://picasaweb.google.com/105622138270107185062/201201DuCaneMtGould

I have just noticed I did not take a pic of an important feature, we found a deep rock pool on Falling Mountain that was the only water in this area and looked as if it is normally the last water prior to well out on the link ridge to Mount Masiff. We might have a GPS of this location.

[stepbystep]

To add to the resource that this thread is, here are some pics of our Du Cane Range Traverse from January this year.https://picasaweb.google.com/105622138270107185062/201201DuCaneMtGould

I have just noticed I did not take a pic of an important feature, we found a deep rock pool on Falling Mountain that was the only water in this area and looked as if it is normally the last water prior to well out on the link ridge to Mount Masiff. We might have a GPS of this location.

Great pics and conditions, very envious!