Western and Eastern Arthurs Traverse - Part 6

A 12-day traverse of the Western and Eastern Arthur Ranges in Southwest Tasmania by Kylie and Clinton Garratt.  Part Six takes us home over the familiar route descending Moss Ridge before crossing Crest Range and the South Picton Saddle.

Day 11 - Bechervaise Plateau to South Cracroft River
In theory our timing could have still allowed a sniff at the Federation Peak summit.  If conditions had been perfect we could have spent the morning slipping around the eastern end of the Southern Traverse, up the Direct Ascent and back to Bechervaise by lunchtime.  An afternoon slogging down Moss Ridge would then need to be followed by an evening getting to at least Paperbark or Forest Camp to allow time to get all the way out on Day 12.

As well as the epic walking needed to achieve the summit and on-time return home we needed a few miracles to greet us as we opened the tent door.  The early sun would have to be zapping snow and ice at an amazing rate.  It would need to be accompanied by a hot, dry northerly wind swirling around to the back of the mountain and drying the south-facing Direct Ascent where the sun don't shine.

As such impossible dreams were drifting through my head I opened the tent door to look at what should have been sunrise and found us surrounded by thick, damp swirling fog.  The terraces above our campsite were not out of the cloud, let alone Fedder itself.  No sunshine or miraculous hot northerly wind either.  Just the constant sound of water running off the cliffs above us indicating the peak would be snow free in a day or three, not an hour or two.

Between the teeth of Moss Ridge.  This is typical of Moss Ridge and the Beggary Bumps.  In several places you clamber down tens of metres vertical height, take two steps forwards then clamber up the next knoll.

I'm not sure either of us gave voice to the fanciful thoughts in the paragraphs above.  Instead we set about matter-of-factly doing breakfast, and packing up the tent and setting out for the penultimate time this trip.

At the top of each prominent knob forming the 'teeth' of Moss Ridge we looked back half expecting a snow-clad Fedder to come out of the cloud and jeer at us.  It did not.  The cloud did not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Kylie clambering up one of several knolls (or 'teeth') on Moss Ridge

The jungle-gym fun of Moss Ridge was almost over when near disaster struck.  I opted to walk along a huge fallen tree-trunk instead of following Kylie's sensible lead.  Just as Kylie was about to compliment my acrobatic ability I succumbed to the sleek bark-free surface and found myself propelled by the weight of my pack head first towards the ground below.  The head-first landing hurt but...  I survived.  At the next log crossing a smart move would have been to adopt the straddle method but no - I'm a slow learner! Thankfully this time my head was not the first thing to hit terra firma.  A short, groggy 10 minute wander delivered a much needed sit-down beside Cherry Creek at Cutting Camp.

Typical Moss Ridge where the track squeezes between pack-grabbing horizontal trunks

After lunch the kilometres beside the Cracroft River melted away slowly but surely.  We were both suffering quietly in our own ways as we steadily plodded along.  At Crest Range we looked back one more time to see cloud denying our last clear view of Federation Peak.  Eventually we were safely esconsed in the warmth of our Hilleberg Alak beside a peaceful South Cracroft River.  After setting off Millie (our PLB) one last time we quickly dozed off.

Tea tree shelter at South Cracroft campsite

Day 12 - South Cracroft River to Farmhouse Creek
Although it's only a half-day walk from South Cracroft to Farmhouse, this is a walk that does not let you go easily.  Deep bogs between towering button grass clumps surrounded by bauera, tea tree and cutting grass feature soon after leaving the campsite and again around the Mount Bobs turn-off.  Many tree-falls make hard work of the steady climb to South Picton Saddle.  Even the last dry section of track through relatively open eucalypt forest nearing the end seemed to drag on and on.  Are we there yet?  Are we there yet?  A proliferation of fungi provided some distraction on the final descent.

Ancient myrtles at South Picton Saddle

Right on time, at 1pm in the Farmhouse Creek car park, clean clothes, fresh food and comfy seats heralded our return to 'normal life.'

That's where the story should end but little did we know...

Farmhouse Creek car park.  The end of our adventure...  Or was it?

The descent from Willies Saddle on the drive home brings the first mobile reception and with it a barrage of messages.  There were dozens of missed calls from my siblings.  I ignored those in the first instance to reply to a call from my daughter.  She just had a small change to school pickup plans.  With that worked out I started to wonder what all the other calls were about.

Right on cue my sister called.  She was in a car with my dad and they had passed us earlier back on Arve Road.  Apparently our final PLB message had not gone through.  After receiving "Ok" messages from every campsite except the last one my wonderful family had gone into rescue mode.  After my brother in Victoria had mixed results dealing with the SPOT helpline in the US the next logical step was to check the Farmhouse Creek car park.  They saw us 3.5 hours into their 4.5 hour drive from Launie!

I'm fairly sure I saw Millie's confirmation light to say the message sent successfully from beneath the tea tree canopy at South Cracroft.  However, with tiredness and a hit on the head, perhaps I was seeing what I wanted to see before switching the unit off so I could doze off to sleep.  Either way, it was heartwarming to see a family of would-be rescuers looking out for us.

...and after all that, school pickups went beautifully to plan.

Western and Eastern Arthurs Traverse - Part 5

A 12-day traverse of the Western and Eastern Arthur Ranges in Southwest Tasmania by Kylie and Clinton Garratt.  Part Five features challenging conditions and an eventful traverse of the Eastern Arthurs including a rarely traveled route.

Luckmans Lead

Day 9 - Pass Creek to Goon Moor

Our departure from Pass Creek campsite coincided with a brief pause in the heavy rain.  This was just enough time for us to ascend the first part of Luckmans Lead to a point where hail was still settled on the ground from the last shower.  Right on cue another heavy hail shower lashed us and added to the icy drifts.  We appreciated the hail bouncing off us without having a chance to get us seriously wet.

Stuart Saddle

Just before reaching the forested section of our climb clouds opened to reveal the valley between an invisible Mt Hopetoun and the peaks immediately above us.  A spectacular waterfall plunging into the forest in the middle distance looked surreal - as if the scene was lifted from a book about fairies and unicorns.

The Needles

Above a brief forested section settled hail was replaced by settled snow.  Bracing southerly winds encouraged us to make excellent time on the snow-covered descent around the Boiler Plates and up into Stuarts Saddle.  We gazed up at the ominous dark cliffs of The Needles and wondered at how anyone could contemplate the direct ascent mentioned in The Abels as an alternative to the more common sidle around the back.

Mount Hopetoun from Stuart Saddle

The tent platforms offered a salubrious midday lunch venue before we continued through delightful pandani studded forest in a particularly heavy snow shower.  As if right on cue, the snow halted and clouds parted just as we arrived at a clearing which offered superb views of Mount Hopetoun.

Clint at Stuart Saddle

Chapman spends several paragraphs detailing the route as it makes its way among the southern peaks of The Needles.  With heavy snow falling and extremely limited visibility we simply followed the track in front of our noses and, consequently, were quite surprised when Goon Moor suddenly appeared in a break in the clouds.  Within minutes we had arrived at the tent platforms and set about clearing snow ready to pitch our tent.

Goon Moor

Day 10 - Goon Moor to Bechervaise Plateau

The day started with a bleak old trudge over the fan-out section of Goon Moor before a very well formed track led us on a curvy path through The Gables.  Extremely limited visibility and cold conditions encouraged speedy progress through the Four Peaks.  Seemingly vertical walls rising into the cloud all around us made it hard to imagine any way of collecting the multitude of peak bagging points to be gained in this area.

Federation Peak, Devils Thumb, Stegasaurus Ridge and Geeves Bluff from Four Peaks

Right on cue a break in the clouds greeted us as we emerged at the end of Four Peaks. Thwaites Plateau, Devils Thumb and a broody Fedder emerged from the clouds.  Renewed optimism spurred us through the mist on the gradual ascent over Thwaites and we arrived at the Hanging Lake turn-off right on midday.  The snow and ice at the junction guaranteed a Federation Peak ascent would be out of the question.  With children arriving at our place after school in little over 48 hours the question weighing heavily was, 'How would we go on the Southern Traverse in these conditions?'

At Hanging Lake Junction

From Hanging Lake Junction traversing the fan-out section between us and Stegasaurus Ridge was no easy feat.  The visibility was so poor that we could not see from one fan-out marker to the next.  Eventually we located cairns indicating the path ahead.  At the Stegasaurus high point of 1165 metres we were tantalisingly only 60 metres lower than Federation Peak itself but problems were about to set in.  Soon after the high point the route traverses a large boulder above a cliff line which dropped into the swirling cloud between us and Lake Geeves.  With much trepidation we traversed the ice and snow covered boulder only to find an even more daunting descent ahead.  At this point we pulled the pin.  After traversing back over the snowy boulder we took a few deep breaths then scooted back towards Thwaites Plateau.

Looking towards Stegasaurus Ridge - an innocuous start to the Southern Traverse

Devils Thumb

At Devils Thumb we left the track and located the large cairn indicating the start of the Forest Chute, a little-used emergency route between Thwaites and Bechervaise.  As if to taunt us, Federation Peak briefly showed itself as we started the steepest part of our 500 metre descent.  A faint pad existed until the forest was entered from which point it was impossible to discern that anyone had ever passed that way before.

Top of the Forest Chute

Eventually the slope eased but progress was slow due to the multitude of fallen trees, some solid, some completely rotten and unable to support our weight.  In many places the ground was metres below us.  We looked forward to arriving at Lake Gaston where Chapman nonchalantly says we need to, "Pass along the southern shore of the lake..."  How hard could it be?

Federation Peak from above the Forest Chute showing Lake Gaston, the Rock Slide and the cliffy forest on the left where we actually climbed up to Bechervaise Plateau

When the lake appeared through the dense forest there was no easy shoreline to traverse.  The dense forest extended well beyond the shore.  Walking anywhere near the lake meant ominous deep pools of jet black tannin stained water lurked beneath the mossy rotten tree trunks over which we scrambled.  A watery plunge was the last thing we needed.

Forest Chute

Keeping a safe distance from the lake shore the forest opened and, like a beacon in the night, a large cairn appeared beside a torrent tumbling down a steep, rocky bed.  Hoping this was a marker for the long-awaited rock slide we headed up the northern side of the stream.  As the terrain got steeper the scrub got thicker and we had to choose between splashing our way up what was beginning to look like a waterfall or move away from the stream and attempt to find more open climbing in the forest.

Cairn marking a very watery Rock Slide

Moving away from the stream the forest opened ever so slightly.  In several places the mossy ground was close to vertical and the only way to progress was to remove packs, climb the protruding tree trunks like a ladder and pull the packs through narrow gaps behind us.  An hour after leaving the stream bare walls of rock ominously closed in above us and day light was rapidly running out.  Were we even heading towards Bechervaise Plateau?  Was the Rock Slide further around to our left?  Were we heading towards a cliffy dead-end part way up the north face of Fedder itself?

Climbing these trees was one way we ascended the near vertical, mossy slopes

After crawling up a narrowing, mossy ramp between rock faces we were able to climb a rock protruting above the beautiful but suffocating forest which had hemmed us in for the past three hours.  To our delight, in the fading light, we could just make out the ridge ahead of us leveling out.  On our left an adjoining ridge appeared to be scrub free while behind us we could see we had climbed to the same height as our Forest Chute entry.  Below us to the right we could still hear the roar of the stream tumbling down a deep and narrow cleft between us and what must be Fedder's menacing north face.  Was that powerful stream the Rock Slide which was meant to give easier access between the lake and Bechervaise Plateau?

Bedraggled packs tell a story

A nasty, densely scrubby and not-so-minimal-impact traverse to our left delivered us to what was a delightfully scrub free walk of two hundred metres around to the tent platforms at Upper Bechervaise Plateau.  Right on dark, as we cleared snow to pitch the tent, at least some of our questions had been answered.  The roaring stream was indeed the Rock Slide.  We still do not know just how difficult it would have been climbing that route while a snow-melt-powered torrent took the same route in the opposite direction.  Something to investigate another day.  At least we were still on track with our goal to be home by mid afternoon on Day 12.