10 of the "best" mountains to climb

[tasadam]

Hi. I stumbled upon this article in Australian Geographic, listing what they call 10 of the best Australian mountains to climb.
I thought I would share the link here and see what people thought.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/ ... tralia.htm

I have to admit I haven't done much mainland climbing, only having done Mt Warning from those on the mainland.
Interesting list though.


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[stepbystep]

Seems pretty silly list to me, Cradle is a nice mountain but of the 130 odd peaks in Tassie I have climbed Cradle wouldn't be in the top 20, as for Kosciusko, it's just a hill, my dad drove to the top in the early 60's...

[eggs]

Yes - a curious selection.
Seems to require the ability to do as a day walk + status for being the highest + some kind of spectacular view.
Maybe a variety of locations as well - alpine, coastal, desert, tropical...
I have done 5 of the 10, but have often wondered about Walshs Pyramid as I passed by. The track has not always been open.
Of the Tassie entries, there was a thread about this http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6754&start=30&hilit=top+3+day
It was looking like places like Cradle - Barn Bluff - Anne and Murchison were the common picks.
I do think Cradle is pretty good bang for buck as a day walk - particularly for a first up visitor to Tas.

Strange that they do not have a WA entry - Bluff Knoll must tick all the above boxes.
Nothing from the NT? - which apart from Uluru has Mt Sonder?
So maybe nearness to population was a factor as well - but Mt Gower got a gurnsey.
Probably the oddest entry was Mt Ngungun. It was a simple walk with young children. Views were nice, but I wouldn't rank it with the other entries.

Top of Mt Ngungun

[WarrenH]

Those listed are just tourist walks.

How about, Genoa, Nunnungatta, Charcoal, Lindsay, Tinderry, Booroomba, Buffalo, Arapilies, Frog Buttress and Kalbari?

Warren.

[nq111]

I guess a list like this can never be right. My primary criteria would be exposure to a 'mountain experience' - if that is even definable.

Mt Barney deserves to be there as a legendary destination in SE QLD for walkers and climbers alike. It is a mountain playground you can go back to many times with all degrees of difficulty available to ascend.

I would argue that Cradle Mt deserves to be there for its iconic status and it is a great mountain and location. Just because it is incredibly popular and reasonably straightforward going shouldn't disqualify it. For many people it would be their only time on a 'real' mountain.

Some others are pretty poor IMO (Which may not carry much value). Mt Warning is nice, like a walk around binna burra can be nice, but if barely feels like a mountain experience. Kosciuszko is the crappest 'mountain' experience ever - feels like walking in an alpine botanic garden. Sure it can be a fun place particularly with snow but a mountain it ain't.

Mt Ngungun at 253m is not a mountain but a hill (needs to be over 300m). May as well put in Castle Hill in Townsville - on that thinking would do better. Crookneck is more fun - but again a mountain experience it ain't.

Bishop and Clerk, Tas: Nice bushwalk and view but little mountain feel to it

And how can Federation Peak not be there - probably the No 1 icon to serious walker-climbers in all of Australia? I agree Bluff Knoll WA should be there as well.

[Ent]

For Tassie Barn Bluff is a mountain as it stand remote and grand. Similar is Frenchmans Cap. My measure is three sixty degrees views.

[tasadam]

Kosciuszko is the crappest 'mountain' experience ever - feels like walking in an alpine botanic garden. Sure it can be a fun place particularly with snow but a mountain it ain't.

While it may be true, that's kind of funny since it's Australia's highest mountain. Just saying... (never been there though).

[tele-whippet]

Jagungal should be there instead of Kosciuszko IMO.
What about Federation Peak, maybe the "truest mountain" of Oz.

[stepbystep]

For Tassie Barn Bluff is a mountain as it stand remote and grand. Similar is Frenchmans Cap. My measure is three sixty degrees views.

Barn like Cradle has pretty average views IMO and are harly remote, the Windermere Plains don't excite greatly and you can see extensive trackwork and a carpark. Pelion West is better than either of those 2.

Other than 360 degree views I think a wilderness feel would be the other criteria. Anne you can see Scotts Peak Rd and fake Pedder dominates in one direction.

If you had to go for 2 Tasmanian mountains I'd say Frenchmans and Federation, but then all ten should probably be from Tasmania

If you are taking token mountains from other states, Bluff Knoll would be WA's finest. Can't comment re other states.

[doogs]

I have only been up Bishop and Clerk, Cradle and Mt Warning on that list and none deserve to be there. I love Maria Island but Bishop and Clerk not in my top 50 walks that I have done in Tas. Cradle is a nice mountain but again it is only a half day walk so lacks the challenge of a true mountain. Warning has a massive track up it to near the top and then a chain to aid you to the top where there is a massive viewing deck, and again a half day walk only. If they want a popular walk list why not Ossa, its the highest in Tas and has a well marked track to the summit (oh sorry that generally takes more than a day so can't be on the list for best mountains in Australia!!!!) Frenchmans, Geryon, Fedders, Western Arthurs and Snow Hill should all be on the list as Tasmanias entries

[Ent]

Interesting peoples perspective and like any subjective matter, just about any view is valid. Personally never give much credence to remote and hard view, sounds too much like self promotion of the walker rather than the mountain to me. This would mean Everest would be down played compared to more technical mountains. Do we measure significant in the percentage death toll of people climbing it? But back to Australia and Tassie.

For me a mountain must be recognisable and dominate the landscape so when you see it you know instantly what mountain it is. Ben Lomond suffers simply because nothing really stands out on it with maybe the exception of Stacks Bluff. Barn, Cradle, Frenchmans Cap and even say Pelion East have that impact. Mountain Ironstone is very high by Tassie standards but stuffed if I can pick it out most of the time. I have a personal interest in joining the mountains of Tassie so what is the fewest you climb to see the state. Valentine Peak for that reason I like but it would not make it on the list. Ossa to me misses the great mountain status simply that it not always instantly recognisable.

I like Ragoona for the vista of views it gives over the OLT mountains and Cathedral for the sheer drops but that is only on one side as the other sides look back over a high plateau.

For me iconic is Frenchmans, Barn and Cradle. Frenchmans wins in my books simply because you see it from just about anywhere. Just because someone decides to whack a lift up mountain or build a road close to a mountain does not reduce its presence, at least to me, unless it is scar.

Cheers

[Nuts]

17 of the WA's doogs, are there that many .. well done!
I'd agree with Cradle, the infrastructure spoils the view and feel, doing it back in the old days would have been a different experience altogether. Something with a really remote 'feel' would be my pick. It does say 'Best' though, purely as random as peoples individual motivations. Also restricted to what they (personally) have done.. and therefore a meaningless list for public comment perhaps? Anyhow..I'd go the other way and choose Federation Peak as it looks like a 'mountain' and i still haven't made the climb. Others could argue that there were no 'real' mountains in OZ.. relative to their experience.

[doogs]

17 of the WA's doogs, are there that many .. well done!

Believe it or not 19 peak on the PBL in the WArfas

Others could argue that there were no 'real' mountains in OZ.. relative to their experience.

Growing up in Scotland I would refer to the lumpy things I went up as 'hills' in the summer and 'mountains' in the winter. I didn't do that consciously, the definition mountains for me definitely has a large part of degree of difficulty in its definition as well as the height thing
I like your new avatar Nuts, is that the secret road to the Eldon range? Sorry to here about the bad luck on your attempt, hope you get to have a crack again in the near future at a couple of Tasmanias top 10 mountains.

[Nuts]

Exactly doogs, and for the same reasons Eldon is fast rising on my 'bucket list'

I'm itching to get back there!! (quiet literally... i'm also recovering from a tick, wasp and several leech and mozzie bites).. from the couple of days i managed to hobble around exploring. All the while it loomed above in the sun..

I mean, who could resist a mountain with such an approach???

(you missed 2?? )

[Nuts]

is that the secret road to the Eldon range?

PS, yes.. thats one of them?? (I did find another heading further east... found it late and only guessing where it ends up (but then that's not going to bother you guys is it.. lol)

[lifesydney]

Come on, is that offically....??? Well, it really depends on people's personal interest and perspective of appreciating a mountain.....there are really so many mountains in Australia, it is interestingly fair, each state...choose some th rank....

[mjdalessa]

Surely if we had to pick well advertised mountains Frenchmans and Feder would defecate all over that list?

Haven't climbed either, but Mt. Barney and Gower look quite worthy.

[telopea truncata]

Mt Sonder in the Western Macs.

[nq111]

Ok,

so fair to say some agreement around:
1. Federation Peak
2-5 Mt Barney, Frenchmans Cap
2-10 I vote Cradle belongs (controversial), Bluff Knoll, Barn Bluff (maybe for me). For ones i haven't been to that seem to be right to go in here here Mt Sonder, Mt Gower.

Personal view - I love Anne and the circuit but my view is it isn't the 'mountain' thing enough - relative to its impact, surrounds and status. I acknowledge that these sorts of opinions are why this list can never be settled!

Also a likely point of agreement - the best thing about mountain climbing in Australia is New Zealand

[north-north-west]

Well, I like all the peaks I've climbed from that list, but can think of better options (except for St Mary's) in each state/area.

If height is important, shouldn't Bogong beat Feathertop? It's also less busy. But McDonald, Howitt, Speculation or the Cobberas are also better walks (IMO).

Jagungal or Townsend rather than Kosci. Hell, even the Ramsheads have more of a 'mountain' feel than the big hill with its endless line of ants.

Prefer Barn Bluff to Cradle. But Ossa or The Acropolis are better. And then you have Anne, almost every summit in the Arthurs (East and West), PB, Pindars, Wylds . . .

[John Sheridan]

There is a mighty Mountian in Dubbo NSW, IT is called MUGA HILL, climb it if you dare

Climbing ability -50.

Cheers.

[doogs]

Just realised I have been up Mount Ngungun, it was that exciting that I had forgotten. Not really much more than a pimple compared to the more impressive Glasshouse mountains. Snow Hill should definitely be on the list if that is!!!

[mattmacman]

I think you made a typo the title should be;
'10 of the best 'mountains' to climb.
Mountains in Australia =)

[mjdalessa]

You could write a list topping that of just Tasmanian peaks quite easily?
Federation
Anne
Frenchmans
Acropolis
Ossa
Barn Bluff
Oakleigh
Western Arthurs
Rugby
Pindars
and thats just the ones with well marked tracks...