Newbie on the Overland Track

[alanm]

Hi all, Al here.

A bit of a quick background spiel..... I have a female friend who has lived a 'normal' [not being derogatory] life in the 'burbs of Perth, whilst sharing a hot choc one day, she made the unfortunate remark about having not done anything 'exciting' I guess she was being reflective, seeing as how she was approaching her 50th birthday. I told her for her 50th birthday prezzie, I'd take her on an 'adventure'......... She's fit, enjoys walking on the paths in Perth, enjoys kayaking, but only on very flat water and enjoys short bike rides. After giving it some thought and dismissing several ideas I've settled on taking her on the Overland track. I figured it would be a nice intro to adventure as she'll have the luxury of a hut at night. The catch.......we'll do it in June........ hey! why not, that'll put the 'ad' into 'venture' She'll be well looked after, I'm very experienced. She'll have her own PLB, map, compass etc, I'll short rope her to me if the weather turns to absolute sh*te. I'll carry my Scarp 2 just in case and I've had a full set of custom down gear and outer shells made for her from both Goosefeet gear and Foxwear in the US. I have a sat phone I'll carry with me as well. I'll train her in the Perth hills and we'll do a couple of 3 night walks on the Bib prior to leaving.

OK, that's the spiel.

Snowshoes are what I want to know about, more specifically, is there somewhere in Tassie that I can hire a set of 22" MSR Lightning Ascents for her. I could buy them but TBH, they may not even get used and they're about 500 bucks AU. I'd rather the Ascents for her due to their relative ease of use for a novice + there are a few other techo bits with them I feel are an advantage. I won't be leaving without snowshoes for her and I'll buy them if I have to but a heads up on hiring would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Al.

[HikingPilot]

Hi Al

Not too sure whether the MSR Lightning Ascents are available for hire, however when i tackled Walls in winter i hired snowshoes from Paddy Pallin on George St in Launnie. Good guys and girls in there and the show shoes were ok (read: did the trick). Unfortunately i cant remember the brand.

I completed the OT in late November with my 18 week pregnant wife and loved it. Im sure you wil both have a great time.

HikingPilot

[alanm]

HikingPilot, cheers for that, I'll call them. Mate, taking the wife whilst she's pregnant is a great idea, that way you all get to be on the trail together, but there's no nappies to change.......

Al.

[Nuts]

Yowies from Paddy Palin (unless they have changed recently). Yowies are fine for the intended use (ie. to most likely 'carry').

[pazzar]

You can hire Yowies from Skigia in Hobart too, although if you are carrying them for 6-7 days, hire costs amount to around $200, and for that price you can nearly buy a set of MSR Evo's.

[alanm]

Nuts, Yep its Yowies from PP or I could purchase a set of MSR Evo's for $270 from them.

pazzar, yep it's $190 for Yowies from Skigia.

In my humble opinion Yowies would be OK for someone who knows the deal but I think dropping a complete novice, [she's never bushwalked / hiked, seen snow, let alone hiked in it] would be a bit cruel....... My rationale is that should this trip be kind to her, she'll carry on by herself on other hikes.

Thanks for the input guys. I've got plenty of time so I don't need to panic.

Al.

[CasualNerd]

If you end up considering buying a pair of MSR Evo's (or anything actually) let me know as I'm looking out for a used pair for this winter, and you can sell them on to me quickly in Launceston.

[Azza]

The catch.......we'll do it in June........

Worth pointing out that the likelihood of needing snow shoes in June is going to slim to none.
Its possible, but generally unlikely there will be enough accumulation of snow to justify snow shoes. Maybe the very top of Ossa or Cradle Plateau??
We really don't get much snow depth until almost the start of August.
Micro-spikes incase it gets icy maybe a better option...

Safe to say you can probably look at the forecast the week before and get an idea of whether your wasting your time with snowshoes.

Likely to be cold and wet though.. hypothermia type weather.

[alanm]

CasualNerd, I'll keep you in mind. They will only be 22"'s though, that's all she requires for her total weight.

Azza, My original plan was to take the shoes through to Hobart and then, depending on the forecast, either post them home or keep them. Then I came up with the idea of hiring for Vanessa, mine I have, so they're not as issue.[We'll be flying over from Perth] I'll start paying attention to the weather about 7 days out.

As I'm hoping to take her into Pine Hut, then maybe further up the valley, also into the waterfalls, to Ossa, Pelion and Cradle [all, weather permitting] we'll have microspikes [Kahtoola] with us. Those I already have.

As for the cold, I'm doing my best to keep her warm and toasty I've had a full set of NeoShell outers made, also a full set of down gear, including mittens, booties and balaclava. She wanted Purple....I got them made in Purple.... One things for sure, she aint going to be hard to spot!!!!!!! I've also tricked her out with a layered set of Icebreaker, right down to ski socks! I have to look after her quite carefully as she'll be way way waaay out of her comfort zone. The sleeping bag is one thing I'm working on, I have, among others, an Exped Waterbloc 600 in which I've slept, without shelter, in medium rain [which does seep through in a couple of spots] and temps down to -2 which have encrusted me in ice. I'm really happy with the bag and as a result am thinking of buying a WaterBloc 800, which she could use and I would keep after the trip.

As an aside, I took one of my daughters on a self contained trek from Jirri to EBC when she was 21, her down booties became her most treasured item, she maintained had she had 20 pairs, she could've sold them all and named her price.....

Thanks for your input, it's appreciated and should you think of anything else, don't hesitate to drop it here.

Al.