Walls of Jerusalem & Solitary Hut Trip

[ryantmalone]

Just got back from a cold three days at the Walls of Jerusalem.

Walked in via Trappers Hut, George Howes, Tiger Lake and Solitary Hut. Originally planned to head up through Golden Gate, into the Walls past Pool of Siloam and camping at Dixons Kingdom, but due to a late start, and taking a little too much time to soak it in at Solitary Hut, I had to make a hard call to camp out at Wild Dog Creek.

Was expecting to follow a faint pad to George Howes, didn't realize that the track was cut and extremely easy to follow. Was a nice suprise considering I was expecting a little route finding.

Took a day to explore the Walls as much as possible, heading up Solomons Throne, then following the ridge line to King Davids Peak, which was more of a slog than it appeared. Beautiful country though, with ice on the large boulders leading up the final summit ramp slowing progress.

After arriving at Dixons Kingdom, smoke blew in from somewhere, cloud covered the peaks, and temps dropped quite quickly, so headed out via the Pool of Bethesda, missing out on The Temple, and leaving Mt Jerusalem till next time.

Walked out via Solomons Jewels today, and hung out with two interesting German fellas at Trappers Hut for a few hours, until it was time to head down and meet my ride.

Was a great trip. First real test of the warmth of my new gear, with the first night getting a few degrees below zero. Was warm as toast, although I was battling with a build up of ice on my bag most of the night when the moisture in my breath was freezing.


George Howes Lake


Solitary Hut


Origin of Solitary Hut in the log book


Walking up Wild Dog Creek


King Davids Peak


Solomons Throne


The icy climbing gully up Solomons Throne


King Davids Peak from Solomons Throne


Central Walls from King Davids Peak

[philm]

Some great photo's and sounds like a good trip. We were there about a month ago and had a snow storm 1 night but otherwise had some mild and great weather. Interesting to see the snow/ice in King David Peak gully. This is one of the most scenic areas in Tassie and is quite accessible.

[ryantmalone]

Agreed Phil. This is my third time in the area, the first time I day walked into Solomons Jewels in the middle of winter with a nice deep cover of snow. Second time was in summer, perfect weather, and day walked in to near the Pool of Bethesda. Third time was typical April weather. Damn crisp, and very icy.

I was originally meant to walk in on the Friday, but changed to the Saturday. Turns out they got a decent dumping of snow that night, which melted on my walk in, leaving only a small amount of snow on the tops and gullies. Made for some interesting walking along the West Wall, with snow in the gaps between boulders hiding some potential broken ankles!

[Hallu]

Already snowing ? It was quite hot when I did it in Easter. You had nice weather though, you could probably see Cradle Mountain & Barn Bluff from King Davids.

[ryantmalone]

Already snowing ? It was quite hot when I did it in Easter. You had nice weather though, you could probably see Cradle Mountain & Barn Bluff from King Davids.

The whole state got a dumping on the Friday, although most melted pretty quick, there was a lot of ice remaining on the tops. Was minus a few degrees on the first night in, and in the pics on the tops, there were very strong winds with a wind chill that at times would have been close to freezing, if not below. It was extremely cold that day. I spent the whole day in full thermals, gloves, and beanie, and was able to stay warm. Pretty sure I had my fleece jacket on too.

Pretty normal for this time of year. When I think about it, it's normal for any time of year here really.

[philm]

The picture below is from March looking out towards Cradle Mountain. We had some greatweather after a snow storm.

lloking toward Cradle

[ryantmalone]

The picture below is from March looking out towards Cradle Mountain. We had some greatweather after a snow storm.

IMG_0157.JPG

Thats a great photo! The views over Cradle were great this weekend, especially those towards the Du Cane Range and Frenchmans Cap from the west wall.

[Hallu]

Hem problem with the photo perhaps ?

[edit] corrected apparently

[ryantmalone]

Aha! Thought it was a photo if philm looking out that way. Makes sense now.

Still a great photo!

[Mutley]

Great spot. I spent three days there in the first week of April. Great weather but did get a light dusting overnight. Spent night one just before wild dog, night two at solomans throne and walked south west to the top of lake Victoria for night three, which was a beautiful spot.

[ryantmalone]

Very nice! Already planning to return soon, so much more that I want to see. Such an awesome area.