Mt Snowy North - Track where art thou?

[Miranda]

So I planned to climb Mt Snowy North on the weekend. I got all prepared and drove up past New Norfolk towards Mt Field on a beautiful clear morning, and when I saw the snow on the peaks got quite enthused about the views I might get. Unfortunately I was thwarted for a very frustrating couple of hours by locked gates, fallen trees and another gate that was closed - but not actually locked, which I didn't find out until the second try. I'm glad no one was around to watch me have a tantrum on the tree that had fallen over the road and was just a little bit too big to move by myself (next time an axe is going in the car). Anyway, when I eventually got to where the start of the track should be, it was too late to attempt the whole ascent, but I thought I could go part of the way and get acquainted with the route.

Now, the start of the track on Ted Ranseys Road (which appears on my TasMAP, so I thought it should actually be there) appears to have been logged (track seems to have lain right along the edge of where a patch of forest has been cut down). But according to the map the track should have continued up along the creek, and I should have been able to find it again further up the hill past the logging where another little road comes close to the edge of the track marked on the map. So I went in there, and bumbled around in the forest for a good while, looking for anything that might be a track. No luck. I found a few tags, to my brief excitement, but they didn't go anywhere, despite thorough searching. While I could have done an off track adventure, I wasn't really prepared for it and it was getting a bit late by this time. There was a bit of snow on the ground, which could have been obscuring a track, but not that much.

Anyway, has anyone done this walk recently? If so, is the track still there, what kind of condition is it in, and is the map accurate? There should have been a gate that wasn't there, and there was a small creek that shouldn't have been there (yet I am certain I was in the right place).

Cheers

BTW, there was also a forestry notice, that I didn't see until on my way out (as it was in rather small print on an A4 notice nailed to a tree) apparently prohibiting members of the public from the area where the track starts from June to November.

[stepbystep]

Hey Miranda,
It's a tricky sucker to find, it was only through perseverance and luck(not a certain forum members dodgy directions) that we found it.
We started in a logging coup with an 'island' of trees left in it on Ted Ransley Rd walked up through the coup to another rd from here we found some tags that led nowhere. The track was a fair way(200m-ish) to the West of the one indicated on the maps and we only found it by luck, although not well marked at the start it was however tagged pretty well all the way to the final ridge ascent and then easy off-track across the plateau up top.
Bit busy at the mo. but will dig out a map for you tomorrow, ILUVSWTAS may still have GPS data or may not...
This was back in Jan see viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3449&start=0&hilit=snowy+north

[stepbystep]

Here's the coupe, car bottom left of coupe, the 'island is the clump of trees rhs, lovely stuff hey

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[ollster]

Went up that way about... erm, 3-4 years ago to do the range. We found that the forestry coup at "the start" was quite a bit higher (50m or so) than it should have according to the information we had (ie; it was encroaching on the "no not log" boundary, or whatever it was, by quite a margin). We wandered off into the forest and picked up a taped route after a few hundred metres by chance. This later turned into a scrubby and indistinct pad on the steeper sections.

My group's suspicions are that the route used to start lower, and be more obvious, but was chopped up by logging. I'll try and find some pics of where we started.

Either way, call it a track is a bit of a stretch. I'd be taking tape and a GPS or map/compass if I was going in there.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Once you find it, it's actually a very good track!

Here's our GPS route, the arrow with the black dot is where the track starts. It's marked by a rock on a stick on a log that also requires some spotting.

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Capture.JPG (79.42 KiB) Viewed 15739 times

[Miranda]

Hi Stepbystep and Iluvswtas

Thanks! It sounds like I did exactly what you did, but didn't find the proper track 200m to the west. Now that I know it exists, I'll be able to have another go at finding it. The rock on a stick on a log, that marks the start 200m to the west, did you find that on the little road (where you found the tags that went nowhere like me 200m east?) The little road directly above and kind of parallel to Ted Ranseys Rd (that doesn't appear on your topographic map)?

Or did you go through trees? If it is on that little road, I will be a bit sad, cause I walked up there.

Ollster, maybe you found another route? Or maybe it has been tagged again since then? Maybe I will take some tape just in case anyway.

Ta!

[stepbystep]

Hi Stepbystep and Iluvswtas

Thanks! It sounds like I did exactly what you did, but didn't find the proper track 200m to the west. Now that I know it exists, I'll be able to have another go at finding it. The rock on a stick on a log, that marks the start 200m to the west, did you find that on the little road (where you found the tags that went nowhere like me 200m east?) The little road directly above and kind of parallel to Ted Ranseys Rd (that doesn't appear on your topographic map)?

Or did you go through trees? If it is on that little road, I will be a bit sad, cause I walked up there.

Ollster, maybe you found another route? Or maybe it has been tagged again since then? Maybe I will take some tape just in case anyway.

Ta!

Yup and yep, I'd say you only just missed it, the little road isn't on SWTAS's map, but is the little green line that runs kind of parallel to TR rd below, the logging coupe is what connects the 2 roads.
The rock and stick on a log is obscured from the road by shrubs, so needs a bit of hunting out, once found there were plenty of tags in the forest and it was easy to follow.
An HWC party had been through sometime before us, so I think the track had improved a lot since ollster had been through.
Great views once up top

[Azza]

Went up that way about... erm, 3-4 years ago to do the range. We found that the forestry coup at "the start" was quite a bit higher (50m or so) than it should have according to the information we had (ie; it was encroaching on the "no not log" boundary, or whatever it was, by quite a margin). We wandered off into the forest and picked up a taped route after a few hundred metres by chance. This later turned into a scrubby and indistinct pad on the steeper sections.

I check the maps after the walk and the WHA boundary follows the 700m mark except for that particular coup where the boundary was adusted so they could log the choice timber. So it was by the book.

Also I'm pretty sure that the track shown on the 1:25000 map doesn't match reality either.

[ollster]

I check the maps after the walk and the WHA boundary follows the 700m mark except for that particular coup where the boundary was adusted so they could log the choice timber. So it was by the book.

Also I'm pretty sure that the track shown on the 1:25000 map doesn't match reality either.

ILSWT can probably confirm the accuracy of the track, I assume he's gone up there with GPS in hand...

Actually, I just had a look at listmap, the route on that is slightly different... I vaguely remember coming around the western side of the ridge of rock before the uphill but, then down into some scrub, then steeply up onto the range proper. This sort of matches ILSWT's map, moreso than listmap anyway.

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[L_Cham_67]

Reopening this forum to ask if there have been any updates in regard to accessing the track to Snowy North? A friend and I plan to head there Sunday if the weather gods are friendly, and we're keen to know what the situation is now.

[Azza]

Reopening this forum to ask if there have been any updates in regard to accessing the track to Snowy North? A friend and I plan to head there Sunday if the weather gods are friendly, and we're keen to know what the situation is now.

No idea.. but you can probably ring forestry / whatever they're called now to find out about the gates.
However mountain bikes work really for getting around gates etc. if your on a day trip.

https://www.sttas.com.au/using-our-fore ... k-closures

Pretty sure the styx road closure is well past where you need to go.
We stumbled across the track by accident years ago heading up from the logging coup (maybe 8 or so?), but the forest was fairly open and easy going, we just found the tags and kept following them.

[L_Cham_67]

Thanks Azza,
I went to their office in town today. No luck there - they were closed for training purposes. I'll give them a call tomorrow or try their office again.

[pazzar]

Probably doesn't help that much, but the access as per the Abels description was fine 18 months ago, albeit with a few trees making things interesting. A chainsaw or at least a rope for moving fallen trees won't go astray.

[L_Cham_67]

We attempted Snowy North today in better conditions than expected. Didn't make it to the top unfortunately, as we followed the wrong set of tape and ended up in scrub below Pluto Bluff - still had great views!
In regards to access: There was a gate at the bottom of South Styx Road (despite Forestry Tas thinking it'd be clear). So we went the long route, following Styx Road and turning up the eastern end of Waterfall Creek Road. We made it to the end of Ted Ransleys Road (where the coupe doesn't seem to exist anymore as it appears to have grown back), having to remove a couple of fallen trees along the way. We parked the car at the 'Road Ends' sign, and kept walking up the road for a couple of hundred metres until we spotted a cairn, arrow and tape on the side of the road. From there, we worked our way up the mountain, unfortunately not spotting the actual route until the descent (a small arrow had been carved into the tree).
By the sounds of it, we were on a different route up, as we never saw the large rock on the log which is supposed to mark the start of the track.
Some pics below. One last thing: has anyone heard of the Tolkian Track? I took a picture of the sign, and it was located on Waterfall Creek Road.

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Where the road ended

We turned off the road here (not a great pic)

rock cairn.JPG (114.11 KiB) Viewed 14691 times

Arrow carved into tree (where actual track goes)

Tolkian Track?

Last edited by L_Cham_67 on Sun 08 Oct, 2017 9:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Some good info here about that walk and others!


https://www.wilderness.org.au/styx-self ... king-guide

[Last]

We went to Snowy North 09/01. We used a different starting point to L_Cham's. Before we went we read all the above and carefully perused the list. ILUV's map above was most useful. His starting point is still accurate. On the list I looked at the aerial imagery and the topographic. A clearing is visible at the top of the logging coupe and the roads not marked on the maps are clear. The South Styx road is closed as previously noted so we went up via the Waterfall Creek road as suggested. At the intersection with Ted Ransleys rd there were barriers across the Waterfall Creek rd. A culvert is collapsing a short distance along the road. It would be easy to get to this point in an ordinary 2wd car but we did have to clear a few things along the way. Take a saw. We had bicycles and rode along about 800m to the unnamed road up into the coupe, then left up to the top of the road in the coupe. There is a sharp bend near the top, obvious on both The List and on the ground. This leads to the start of the walk. The road in the coupe has many fallen trees across it and would not have been trafficable by car but was fine on a bike, especially on the way down. The road ends at a clear area. The start of the route is marked with tapes and a small cairn. The route is reasonably well marked with tape.

[L_Cham_67]

Thanks for the update Last.