Bushwalk Australia

I've already confirmed that side access via ART, Lees Paddocks etc. doesn't need to be booked. So unless they're going to have rangers permanently stationed at Pelion, Narcissus and Pine Valley keeping track of everyone, I reckon numbers management will be a crapshoot.

Better than them trying to keep all the tracks closed though.

Thanks for putting together a very enjoyable few hours reading Mark!

Thanks +dj_hansen for your comment - much appreciated.

Question for the brains trust here. Have there been many groups/individuals out to the Guardians and the Minotaur in winter over the years? I was lucky enough to get out there with Grant Dixon this week via Gould and exiting via the Labyrinth. Fortunately we actually had a reasonable snow cover. Whilst there I was wondering whether many others had skied or snowshoed out there. Grant was wondering whether you, Jon MS, might have been out there on skis?

No doubt Grant will have some amazing photos out soon and I'll try to get a few of my shots together with a photo story.

Cheers

Did a trip to the Labyrinth on the late 1990s where we left Hobart when the snow was down low on Mt Wellington. Drove up to Lk St Clair in the snow and got the ferry up to the top of the lake. I then walked through to Pine Valley while Andrew and Alex skied from Narcissus. They said that skiing over the swing bridges was very high risk!

It then took us a very hard day, often in chest deep snow, to get up to the Labyrinth and to Lk Elysia.

We then did day trips to Walled Mtn, the back of North Geryon and the Guardians. The issue we had was that there was not much snow base and when the new snow came down it was very cold so the snow was deep, soft and unconsolidated. All of the north facing slopes quickly lost their cover which meant we had to walk up onto the Minotaur.

Walked the Overland Tk a couple of weeks ago in that extended period of fine but #@&*$^! cold weather. Six days on minimal wind and cloud with very few people on the track. Had 3 of the huts to myself. Not a huge amount of snow but lots of ice. Wore boot chains for about 90% of the way from Ronny Ck to Cynthia Bay.

Jon, I would be really interested to read both of the papers you mentioned above, if you wouldn’t mind sending them please?

mclaine@bigpond.net.au

I also skied the Labyrinth area several times from the late 80s into the 1990s. Magic!

Haven’t managed to get there with skis for ages, with family commitments in winter, so am really enjoying Mark’s adventures.

I also enjoy Ossa in winter. Have summited several times in full winter conditions, including one occasion with Ian Ferrier when the snow was incredibly deep, we estimated up to 10m thick in the final bowl before the summit. The snow was well consolidated and no trouble to kick steps up the steep pinch on that occasion.

It’s very satisfying when the steep pinch is just the right level of difficulty with snow conditions to make it achievable but still relatively low risk.

Have needed to turn back several times from the section before the steep pinch that is prone to icing up. Too dangerous when iced unless properly equipped for mountaineering. Similar with Anne in winter.

Cheers, John

Hi all. About to do the OLT again but first mid winter trip. Any views on boot chains? Two brands in hobart. Yaktrax walkers and XTM boot chains from
Paddy

Cheers

I can't say much about boot chains. I took Kahtoolas when I walked the OLT twice a couple winters ago. It looks like the XTMs are similar. I thought the Yaktrax looked skimpy and prone to rolling off my boots. But they probably would have been fine as I only needed them for just part of one day.

What I can say with certainty is that the photography in your stories is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that.

I discovered that the near freezing temperatures of Tasmania were too much for me. I had never stayed in a hut in Tassie before that trip and had no plans to start. But once the weather changed and I kept getting wet each day I stayed in a hut every single night. I was the guy sleeping closest to the stove. Tasmania in winter is beautiful but I found too hard for me. So it's a great pleasure to see your photos and dream a little. Thank you.