'Ratherlight' (not Ultralight) trekking Walls of Jerusalem

[Bigfeet]

Hello all!
Been following and searching this forum for awhile and thought I'd post as i've still got some unanswered questions and I like to be prepared. Please advise (PM me if you prefer) - much appreciated!

My background:
1. Never been to Tassie!
2. 'A few' years hiking experience in Europe / Asia / US - snow, low visibility, jungle, multi-day, etc.
3. Love to be free!

Where: Looks like it'll be Walls of Jerusalem unless anyone can convince me otherwise.
When: First week of Dec 2010, only 4 days.

Any suggestions of a route please?
- I'll be happy with 12km a day (8km if v. undulating).
- Solo experience = freedom! yea.

What gear / weights have people gotten by with? - I've got a 3-season tent which isn't very windproof (appears to be a SW prevailing wind, but how likely to be windy? Seems to have lots of sheltered areas)
- Debating whether to take my 1.5kg down sleeping bag or the 700g one. Have a thermarest, normally feel warm sleeping.
- Looks wet wet wet from charts - correct? Also, I shouldn't have issues finding water right? (Have a good filter).
- Can you get any mobile reception at all? (This will probably ruin all my kudos - not that I had any)
- Oh... the map I ordered from Tasmap sucks! It looks like someone drew that in the tourist office. (Guess I'm spoilt). Haven't found any other route plots online yet... help?

Thank you thank you!!

[azzatas]

Hi,

When i did the walls, we had to walk through snow and frost. It was very cold at night but warm during the day.

I also took a very cheap budget tent and it lasted, but now i have an all season tent, so I have no problem again!

There is no issues what so ever for water, plenty of streams everywhere.

Cheers

[pazzar]

I went to WOJ for my first ever overnight walk. I think it is a good walk to start off with, its not a difficult one. As far as the weather goes, you could get anything, especially at that altitude. Your tent should be fine though, as long as you pitch it well. Temperatures in December can vary from freezing to the mid 20's, but I would take the lighter sleeping bag, it is more likely to be warm than cold.
There are plenty of places up there that you could visit, and there are a few huts that you can stay in, although not in the main part of the walls.

You should be able to get mobile reception up on the peaks, but only if you have a telstra 3G phone. It would be wise to hire an PLB if you are going solo, you dont want to rely on phone reception if something goes wrong.

As far as the maps go, the parks map for WOJ should be enough, although if you wanted more detail, the 1:25000 maps are available at Service Tasmania.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Jared

[johnw]

+1 to the previous posts. For a trip of 4 days (3 nights?) I think a circuit similar to this one I did may be achievable:
http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=1565

E.g.
Day 1 Walls car park to either Wild Dog Creek or Dixons Kingdom
Day 2 To Lake Meston North via Lake Adelaide (although would be more than 12km and a bit undulating)
Day 3 To Lake Myrtle
Day 4 Exit via Lake Bill

I took the WOJ map and Cathedral 1:25000; that was enough as they covered the area concerned.
Weather can do anything, including strong winds and snow in Dec/Jan so please be prepared.