Frankland-Wilmot Range Traverse

[ILUVSWTAS]

A group of us on here (team awesome) did the full traverse last week in 8 days of magnificent weather! Hard to believe but we got virtually no rain (15mins one night was about all) no wind and absolutely stunning views ranging from clear blue skies, to moody and misty.
Started off with a car shuffle from Serpentine dam (thanks Dan and Rachel) and headed up Mt Sprent. From there it was choose your own adventure south. A pad was present when needed but not always easy to locate.
We managed to bag every peak on the way through, including an "interesting" day trip over Frankland Peak and Secheron out to Lloyd Jones and Terminal Peak.
Then it was from Right angle peak, over Mt Giblin and James (Jim) Brown and down to the lake shore where we decided to plod on and walked back to Scotts peak along the shore that day.
The views were amazing, quite similar to the Arthur ranges, Navigation would be an issue in white out weather, and we were lucky enough to find water in the very very dry conditions. We did carry 5 or 6 litres on some days, only to find a small pool in the rocks at our designated camp sites. One party member even offered to carry another members water up a big hill after the exhausted member could not continue under the strain of heat and heavy packs! This poor soul (Stubowling) was carrying nearly 40kg for around an hour!
We were treated to some amazing sunrises (those of us who got up early enough) and sunsets, and managed to camp in places people who have been through the range would be amazed at due to the exposure we would have faced in windy weather!
Anyway, the pics will speak for themselves.....

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First night campsite, This was our worst campsite

This was the second night campsite, one of the best campsites we have all stayed in! The size of a small oval, flat open and sheltered

This was night 3 high up on the range under one of the biggest peaks! the views over pedder was incredible, not to mention out west! Lots of small peaks to climb to keep us entertained and watch the sun set

[ILUVSWTAS]

Then theres was the Range itself

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Coronation Peak. The big 6 pointer!

Looks like the WA

Summit Cairn

[ILUVSWTAS]

Then there was some of the moody weather we were treated to! Mists and beautiful colours!

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Mist over the Folded and Arthur Ranges

Thick fog moving in

Nice sunrise colour

[ILUVSWTAS]

We climbed some interesting features, like the dragon (no points on this but FUN) and had a swim in a lake on a very warm day! This was one of the nicesrt days any of us have had! a 4 hr sidetrip to Remote peak, a swim then an afternoon of drinking and playing cards trying to eat as much as we could to lighten the packs!

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The Dragon

SWIM!!

Lots of ups and downs across the range.

Last edited by ILUVSWTAS on Mon 15 Feb, 2010 8:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Of course theres was LOTS of peakbagging to do climbing some very steep mountains.

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Success! summit shot on Double peak

[ILUVSWTAS]

Some summit shots and an "interesting" route through Frankland peak

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Squeeze followed by a small cave we had to get through, followed by some vertical scrambling

[ILUVSWTAS]

Then theres the sunrise/set shots! Beautiful!!

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[ILUVSWTAS]

Few more of the same

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The lakeshore walk along Pedder.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Just a couple more for good measure! Overall an extremely enjoyable trip and one of the best we have had to date! A great adventure!!

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Returning to camp on the Citadel shelf

Stubowling about to climb up the lower Citadel to join me for a stunning sunset!

Greystone Bluff. This one moved high on our to do list after viewing the amazing peak for most of the trip! the same was with the Prince of Wales! A very rugged range seeming to call us to climb it!

[ILUVSWTAS]

Does Pedder EVER really get this calm??

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Prince of Wales Range!

[Son of a Beach]

Wow... great shots. What a fanstastic place.

I'm very envious - I had planned to walk the Franklands this summer, but circumstances changed and it didn't work out. I probably won't get a chance for another year or two now.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Keep in on the agenda Nik! Absolutely stunning place! Much like the Arthurs but a bit more challenging due to the trackless and waterless nature of the place!

[ollster]

... but ... but

How much convincing will it take to get you fellas back there when Az and I go?

[ILUVSWTAS]

Depends if you want to do it in the next 10-20 years... No real reason to go back before then I'll certainly go back one day, but with so many moer great trips to do it wont be for a while!

actually it'd depend on what everyone else was doing at the time! If Stu's in Isreal and no other walks were happening, i'd probably come again! Just stroll through and drink cups of tea while you guys were peakbagging!

[Taurë-rana]

Absolutely awesome, it's great that you had such good weather. I'm very, very jealous!

[Mickeymoo]

Great photos, looks like an amazing trip.

[eggs]

Mark

Glad your trip went well.

Not sure how you can say "A couple of the spots MJD spoke of were simply amazing campsites" when he only mentioned Double Peak..

As for "Does Peddar EVER really get this calm??" - many years ago on my first trip up Mt Anne we had an early morning view over Peddar where the entire surface was mirror smooth.
It was like looking down and seeing the sky.

I can't imagine 40kg packs - was stu carrying climbing gear for you all?

Which was the hardest peak? Coronation or the Citadel?
And it appears Peddar was down a bit - how did that affect the walk back to Scott's Peak?

Congratulations again
Brian

[ILUVSWTAS]

Well whatever he said the campsites were truly amazing! Under Double peak was probably the best but our football field equally impressive!
Im sure Pedder does get calmer at times, I was simply trying to alert peoples attention as to just how calm it actually was on the range!

No climbing gear was carried or necessary, if your comfortable at steep scrambling. Stu just likes to roll in style. Cans of chicken for lunch every day, a 500ml can of solo etc etc that plus 10 litres of water had him near or maybe even over 40kg!!

Citadel was probably the toughest, Coronation was a piece of cake! The section from Frankland Peak to Lloyd Jones was definately the steepest.

The walk around the lakeshore wa s abit boggy in places but generally easy. A bit tedious after such a long day!

Thanks for the congratulations!!

[Azza]

:D ... but ... but

How much convincing will it take to get you fellas back there when Az and I go?

wahhhaaa...

Let gets sharpy, bunch and the old team together..

[DaveNoble]

Nice photos from a good trip - thanks for sharing

Dave

[ILUVSWTAS]

Pleasure! Thanks for looking and taking the time to comment!!

[tasadam]

Yeah, looks like a great time eh! Well done.

[flyfisher]

Yeah, well done team, and what fantastic weather just to make the trip more enjoyable.

The Frankland-Wilmot trip has to be more of an achievement than the Arthurs being the road less travelled.

And thanks for the trip report and the fab pics.

ff

[ILUVSWTAS]

Definately more satisfying than the Arthurs! Mostly due to the trackless nature of the area. Like you say, On the Arthurs you get on the track and enjoy the walk, On the Franks you have to plan things alot more from carrying water to avoiding the scrub to finding a suitable place to camp. It's all part of the adventure!

The weather certainly was a huge factor in our time and success. 8 days with 2 sidetrip days and every peak bagged. I doubt this would have been possible otherwise!

[melinda]

Hi ILUVSWTAS,
Great photos!
Did the little green dog walk all the way up Double Peak by himself or did you guys have to help him out a bit???
(Summit shot on Double Peak)
Melinda

[ILUVSWTAS]

Team mascot Wentworth Brown manages to pop up on most of our summits! He's a very capable boy!

Thanks for the kind words!!

[Nick S]

looks like an amazing trip

[stepbystep]

Great stuff guys, glad you got such amazing weather and maximum points.
Don't know about the bumcrack shot of MJD though

[tas-man]

Fantastic trip report and photos! Did you take any photos looking south to the Companion Range eg Remote Peak/Croaking Lake area? How much regrowth is there in the valley that was burnt out in Jan 2008? Please feel free to post more photos <ENVY>

[eggs]

Ian,

reading between the lines, the but-crack photo is almost certainly at Croaking Lake - which might make the peak above it Remote Peak