Flinders Ranges hard walk -partner(s) wanted

[mikethepike]

The seven biggest ascents in The Flinders are (from S to N and in the order we'll climb them) Mts Brown (near Pt Augusta), Arden, Aleck, Pompeys Pillar(Wilpena Pound), McKinlay, Benbonyathe (these last two in the Gammons) and Freeling Heights (Arkaroola) and the aim is to climb them over 7 days - each day including a peak climb and car travel to the next start point. The first four listed peaks are to be climbed from their western approach. Total of 126 km walking (14-22 km/day) and 5.6 vertical km. It needs to be done in the first week of the month in case we need to make use of the full moon as a couple of the day trips will be fairly arduous. The first week of May (can still be hot in the northern ranges), July (short days, cold nights) or August and September are all possibilities. Anyone interested?
Mike

[frank_in_oz]

Too old, fat and lazy but I have forwarded it to a mate who is younger, fitter and definitely crazier.

Good luck with it!

[Teegs]

Mike

My first post so bear with me. I live in Port Augusta so know most of the areas you are talking about, although I have not done all of them (cringes with embarrassment). Not sure how you picked your peaks, but St Mary's Peak at Wilpena Pound is actually one of the best and biggest in the area. Worth the bragging rights, well around here anyway!

We have a very mediterranean climate here, so by early May the nights should cool down quite well, but the days can still reach up to around 30 degrees, particullay further north. Not sure what sort of weather you usually walk in, but walking in the heat is not very pleasant. We usually limit our walking days to those no higher than 30 degs, but that is probably more a comfort thing for us. That said, it should be fine by then. You will need to carry water on all of these walks. Water doesnt lay around for long up here! The rain tanks placed in the national parks cant be relied on either.

Looks like you will spend a fair bit of time in the National Parks, will be worth asking about the multi parks passes that are available. or try http://www.environment.sa.gov.au for parks information.

Hope this helps

edit.....just found your intoduction and realised you will already know most of this given your an SA'er!

[scrub master]

I may be mad, but I'm not that crazy. The first 4 days would be good, but I'd be a quivering mess if I tried to do McKinlay, Benbonyathe and Freeling in three days. I've been up all these peaks many times over the years so I know what you are in for. Getting from Grindells or Loch Ness to Paralana Hot Springs for an assault on freeling will be a particularly big ask ( I presume you will attack Benbonyathe from the south via Escalator Ck).
BTW I think you've missed out a couple of other classics along the way. What about Mts Abrupt, Hayward, Falkland, Hack & Patawarta Hill ?

[mikethepike]

Thanks Frank, Teegs and Scrub master for your interest and helpful comments. I've been to all the peaks on the list but hope that time hasn't made me underestimate just what will be involved. You are right about it possibly being too hot for comfort and speed in early May and I know I should be a lot fitter later in the waking season. The party will need to be very fit (and with good sense of humour if not of the ridiculous) and with someone on board with stronger will-power than my own because without that, I'm afraid the whole venture may descend to a Flinder's pub crawl probably starting about the time we (don't) drive past the Prairie Hotel, Parachilna en route to the northern three peaks. Certainly if the party includes anyone from interstate (I'm in Adelaide), we don't necessarily need to come straight back but could spend a couple or even a few of days visiting the other peaks you mentioned. They aren't on the list because although most are above 1000m, they rise from higher ground and the climbs are less than 700m (St Mary Peak from the Wilpena car park involves a 640m ascent) whereas the peaks/routes chosen range are the biggest in the Flinders and range from 705 to 910m.

[whiskeylover]

We may be in the area around late June, early July, if you're interested in doing it later. Not committing to any dates but fascinated to find there is more walking to do there than I realised. We're heading toward WA but not in a hurry, love to hear more details of some of these walks.

[mikethepike]

Hi Whiskeylover
The first week of July looks it will be the timing. The first week of June or August would be better (longer daylength and not so cold at night) but I have other commitments. For this venture to succeed, we all need to be very fit, have good confidence in out footware (no blisters) and be highly committed to making a success of the venture. The crux of the whole enterprize will be driving past and not dropping in to the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna on our way north to the Gammons, as that would be the start of the end. We'll save it all for a Flinders Pub crawl when it's all over. I might even shout you a whiskey!
Cheers, Mike

[Kainas]

Would seriously consider joining you, but I think I am off to Indonesia during those holidays.

[nickL]

hi mike

cam across your post and wondered if this adventure had taken place

would love to see a trip report

nick

[jez_au]

Hi Mike, love to hear about your climb of Pompeys Pillar. Attempted this with some mates a few weeks ago, the rain and fog defeated us, well we ran out of time. Tried to climb from inside the Pound, starting from Cooinda Campsite.

*Self promotion*
There is a website where you can mark off peaks you have climbed. (Of course this is self promotion, I created the website, it is free to use.) Many of the peaks you mention in the Flinders are on the website, you can add any others you have climbed. It might be of interest to you.
Flinders Ranges peaks: http://www.peakclimb.com/index.php?region_id=1&region=Flinders%20Ranges
World peaks: http://www.peakclimb.com/

If I had created a website which marked off failed summit attempts I might be able to put more posts on that

[eggs]

Yes - Pompey Pillar would be interesting.
I climbed it twice in the one year back around 1982. The route up from inside the pound was pretty clear due to recent fires through there.
However, when I went back in 2004 the ranger scoffed at the idea of approaching from Cooinda side saying the vegetation was too thick.
We went up into Edeowie and I had to agree it was extremely thick even along the track.

However, on the earlier trips, we had seen in the log book on Pompey Pillar that someone had climbed it by moonlight from outside the pound.
We had also climbed down into the saddle to the south of the peak and it looked like folk may have camped there at times and I suspect this is the gully one would use to climb it from the outside.

[jez_au]

Heya eggs, yeah this was our experience, after a year or so of good rain the vegetation was very dense (maybe it always is, but people certainly have climbed up from the inside before.) The five of us spent the day slapping each other in the face with wet branches and not making particularly much progress. I would need to check my notes but I think we walked about 1.5km in 3 hours. We set out from the Wilpena Pound Vis Centre at 7.50am, we probably would have made the summit by nightfall (we planned to camp up there, we too had heard of the tent-site possibilities.)

We thought next time we would evaluate an outside approach, or repeat the inside-the-pound approach allowing ourselves more days to play with.

[eggs]

Yes - as I noted - when we went up the vegetation had been cleared away by fires. It had grown back a lot by 2004.
We also bivouaced at the top - as at the time we did not find enough room for a tent to go amongst the rocks and scrub.
Memorable night too - light rain and we had not properly set up for rain - so got up and ended up at 4 am sitting with my legs dangling over the cliff edge looking at a lightning show way out to the west.

[jez_au]

good work!

[scrub master]

Yes, the bivvy site on the saddle below Pompeii was certainly one on the more scenic places I've set up camp

this was the last night of a 4 day skyline circumnavigation of the pound starting at Black Gap. Certainly one of the harder walks I've done and also one of the more memorable which is not done very often. I've normally tackled Pompeii from the inside, but as Eggs has mentioned, this was back in the early 90's when the place was still recovering from the fires. I don't think I'd like to do it that way today.

I've also approached it from the outside, from the gully to the north of the peak. It gets a bit steep in parts, but it's not too bad. The descend into Edeowie down the creek system on the other side is lovely, coming out just above Kanalla falls.

[eggs]

Hmm - gully to the north?
I would have thought the gully up to your bivvy spot [which I presume is the sadlle south from the peak] would have been easier and closer from the road?

[scrub master]

Different trips...
on the circumnavigation trip, we climbed Pompey from the watershed between the pound & edeowie and bivied on the southern saddle after coming down from the summit.
When we came up the Northern Gully - it must have been Aliena Ck we dropped down into Edeowie and continued on to Coodinda and back out over Bridle gap to the cars at black gap. Mind you, it was 13 years ago and the memory is starting to fade a bit as the trips merge into one, but we definitely crossed over the rim if the pound to the north of Pompey.

[mikethepike]

In reply to nickL, no, despite several trips to the Flinders since I did the initial post, the 7peaks in 7 days walk wasn’t among them. In fact I’m wondering if I still have the energy to do it. One walk I did attempt was a Flinders sea-to-summit - Pt Augusta to St Mary Peak - in late July, taking advantage of the full moon. The walk followed the Gulf’s estuary north and then along the salt flats and low country to Monument Hill and to the bottom of Lake Torrens and 30km along its eastern shore to Salt Creek. From there it was E to Mt Torrens Station and then NE to enter the Pound via Edeowie Gorge. It was over 40 years since I’d last been through the Gorge it so I was keen – and a little apprehensive -to go back. What was meant to take 5 and a bit days, took 6 ending at 8pm as I was slowed up a bit by not feeling well on days 1 and 3 and by rain late on day 5 and on the morning of day 6 (apart from the tent, I didn’t take any waterproofs).
The walk was 185 km, all but 20 km was cross country (and half of the track was inside the Pound) with days 2 and 3 finishing after midnight and day 5 starting at midnight after stopping for dinner at sunset and having a sleep. On all the long days I got an hour of sleep after dinner while waiting for the moon to get a bit higher and it really did my legs a lot of good.
After all that, I didn’t get to the summit despite being so close - I’d lost interest! Also I dropped in to Edeowie Station hoping for a cup of tea to cure all ills and restore me (I’d run out of food and any stimulants by this time) but was also fed - such hospitality! I also thought that a sea to summit should be unsupported. I returned the hospitality later on with a bottle of homemade olive oil.
I would love to see that route become an ultra marathon where the fastest runners would probably do it comfortably in under 20 hours….maybe I should leave the 7 summits in 7 days to them also!