Cathedral White Christmas

[crazyone]

Now i might be drawing a bit of a long bow here, but the way i see it, monday the 27th of December was the public holiday representing christmas and so i see it as "christmas day". So it was "christmas day" that saw myself and my good mate Hayden approach the start of the Moses Creek track with the intention of making it up onto the Cathedral Plateau, having a decent poke about and then exiting through lees Paddocks. Never mind the bushwalkers weather alert of snow to 600 but rising through the day, thats what Central Plateau walking is all about. Being prepared for anything. It all started nicely enough, registering at jacksons Creek and pushing our way to Chapter lake. A few snow showers later and there we were admiring the lake and Grail Falls. Thanks to 2 nice ladies who sent us on our way with how to find the Cathedral track (we'd have got it eventually!) After admiring the lake from above (and more snow) we tramped our way onto the plateau proper and started sucking up the awesomeness that is Chalice Lake and its bowl like bleak surrounds. One thing i had forgotten in all the excitement was finding out where the best camping spots were likely to be, with the prospect of more snow we decided upon an early finish to the day, a nice stand of pencil pines and enough dry ground to pitch the tent was enough to convince us. A few more snow showers and the gazing upon the mountains in the distance was a fantastic way to finish an easy walking day. Time to rest up for the day ahead we thought. Little did we know how much rest was needed!

Tuesday the 28th of December seemed to start the way the previous day had finsihed, cold and cloudy. After a hearty feed, we proceeded to work our way to some mersey views. it turns out that the cathedral plateau is pretty scrubby (duh is what i guess you just said) but it wasnt too long before we found our way up through the tarns and pencil pines to the higher ground of the ridgelines of the edge of the plateau. Just between Twin Spires and Bishop Peak the skyline opened up to awesome views of Pelion East, Doris, Ossa et all, cloud and snow capped for dramatic appeal. also my first glimpse of Lees Paddocks and that part of the Mersey. These were sights I had dreamed of and speculated about from looking at my Cathedral 1:25000 about ten million times so you can imagine the excitement!. We then sidled our way around behind Bishop and approached where we I had heard about a rough track down to the paddocks. Creek tick, track no tick. it was about this time that mr sunshine popped his head out for the first time during the day, he then went on to burn our eyes out for the duration. Now our descent of roughly 700 or so metres started poorly, continued poorly and ended up being an exercise in determination and grit. two incidents stand out for me. The first was when i realised i had lost my glasses. They could have been a metre behind me, i wasnt finding them tho, the bush had swallowed them whole. The second was when we had bashed for hours to get down to about the 700 metre mark, it suddenly turned from a slope to a cliff. No mention of this on good old Cathedral 1:25000. Some sidling north and we found slope and not too long after that the welcome sight of open ground and Mersey River. Yay! After refreshment and fording we continued through the magical place that is the Mersey river and surrounds. The views all the way to the paddocks are stunning (duh you again go) and the walking is very enjoyable. after a quick look at the hut and a foot rest, we continued on our way back to magical place of sit down, the car. Now it wasnt our intention to visit Lewis and Oxley falls, it just happened. Just happened that we lost the track a couple of times and had to bash again. Our poor brains had had it by this stage and whilst never in any danger, i already had enough bruises and scratches to last me a while. Still, the falls were impressive and we made it back to the car before dark so all was good.

In summary, it was as i expected of anything to do with the mersey and the area. One word. Magic.

I apologise for this rambling narrative, its a bit of a dogs breakfast of a trip report and im not much of a photographer so i wont bore you with those. maybe i can convince Hayden to add some of his photos, he has a fancy pants camera and seemed to know what he was doing. I think people would enjoy his headstand on ridgeline with Dean Bluff in the background. I know i was relishing telling his mother how he perished.

If you have done this trip you know where im coming from and if you haven't,well, you should! Its great!

[corvus]

Great report crazyone glad you had fun it is a magical spot ,the Strollers are looking forward to doing it again soon and this time I know we dont need to waste time looking for the "track"
corvus

[doogs]

Glad to hear you had an awesome trip. I am the strange bloke who appeared and walked with you from chalice to tent tarn and then disappeared! Maybe I shouldn't have rushed to the summit as there where no views and just ice cold wind and mist! Thanks for the company for a hourish and I am glad you both had a memorable trip!

[Nick S]

Great report! Certainly one of my favorite spots I've been able to explore

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