Walled Gould Circuit

[PeterJ]

Here is a report on a walk on 17-20 October 2011

Back in 1991 a friend took a 3 day walk from the Gould Plateau, over the top of Mount Gould and to The Guardians and out via The Labyrinth. I thought I would like to do this walk again and that was the plan when we set off from Hobart on 17th October. The previous day had been pretty cold and wet in Hobart, but as predicted by the bureau all was fine on the Monday; however the site of Mount Wellington covered quite low down in snow that morning was somewhat disconcerting. This was further added to with the view of the snow clad peaks and hills of Mount Field then the site of snow beside the road on the approach to Derwent Bridge. Plan B was hatched when Mounts Olympus and Rufus came into view.

We were on the only ferry for the day, soon after 1PM, and walked into Pine Valley to a campsite about 20 minutes upstream from the hut. During the walk from Narcissus we thought the warm sun would melt a lot of snow fairly quickly and there was some evidence of this happening. Nevertheless the walk next morning to The Labyrinth was through plenty of snow and it was nice to be the first to people to make our impression on it and not be following others footsteps. The two of us, Greg and I, turned off from the track at the bottom of the descent from The Parthenon, crossed the Cyane Lake outlet creek, climbed the hill above and trudged over to set up camp near Lake Eurynome. We cleared the snow away, put the tent up, had lunch and then climbed Walled Mountain where a very impressive and dangerous looking cornice shed the odd bit of snow every now and then down a huge drop. We were easily able to retrace our footsteps back down, but as we moved out to the sunnier areas the snow had diminished considerably. On arrival at camp the snow had nearly all melted, leaving the tent surrounded by pools of water.

Day three was delightful, again with a cloudless sky and hardly any breeze. The face of Mount Gould that we could see was now free of any white patches and we were soon at the base of The Minotaur. There was a pad all the way up this rather steep mountain side; I knew it was steep just from looking as well as my recollection, but I had no memory of a pad being there in 91. Once on top, Gould looked just as steep as did from The Labyrinth, which was enough to convince us to take the easier way around the side slopes. This was free of rocks and on arriving at a little perched plateau lunch was had followed by a very steep climb to the top of Mount Gould. It is not a peak for the fainthearted but once back to the packs was when the first serious impediments arose.
My memory was lots of scrub, particularly scoparia low down and some notes suggested sidling. However at what level to sidle? It was a bit of a climb to reach the cliff line so I made the decision to proceed at the level we were at. This entailed a bit of scrub, but then some lines of Fagus forced a more circuitous route until we dropped down lower to see if the going was better there. It wasn’t. So a way had had to be forced through a bit of pointy scrub until the open part of Gould Plateau was reached. The day finished well though, with camp at a scenic spot on the plateau.

An early start saw as the bottom in nice old forest, although a muddy section in the middle of the descent had to be negotiated. Now the area doesn’t seem to get as many visitors as in days of yore and on exiting the forest a pad was followed that continued over a floodplain. Then it ended at a barrier of Teatree and bottlebrush. After a bit of searching including on the close by river bank, we gave up looking and went back to the forest where a red arrow, that had not been noticed, pointed sharply right. Close on half an hour was lost by all this and when we eventually walked along the near the river my GPS indicated that we had got to within about 30 metres of the track, if only we had known.

Once I could walk the lakeside track beside Lake St Clair in something less than the signed hours, but nowadays I need the whole 5 hours to get to the visitor centre. It has always seemed a tiring walk and this was no exception; no wonder I am usually happy to catch the ferry.
The bureau forecast fine weather for 3 ½ days and they were spot on. Just before reaching Cynthia Bay the increasing high cloud let out a few spots and soon after starting the drive home close to 5 PM it began to rain.

There is an album of photos on the web

Last edited by PeterJ on Fri 18 Nov, 2011 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

[PeterJ]

Here area few photos from the walk.

Attachments

Cushion plants on the summit of Walled Mountain with The Acropolis in the distance

The climb ahead, up The Minotaur and then Mount Gould.

Mount Gould with The Guardians from Gould Plateau

[taswegian]

thanks Peter
great show of images. Brings back some good memories.

Beautiful part of Tasmania with weather too.

[Graham51]

I have done this walk in both directions a few times and it remains one of my favourite 2-4 day walks. What a fantastic area with remarkable views and some wonderful campsites. The only part I haven't mastered or enjoyed is the scrubby sidle around Gould. I loved your photos - so clear. Thanks for the report. My regards to Greg.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Is the ridge traverse over Gould difficult?? Why do people sidle through the scrub if not....?

Great photos btw Peter...

[stepbystep]

Nice report Peter, we just missed the opportunity to do the same trip a couple months ago, had to settle for 2 nights at PV with a sidetrip to The Acropolis.

[ollster]

Is the ridge traverse over Gould difficult?? Why do people sidle through the scrub if not....?

I think I've said it before? Not difficult, just tedious with some hefty rocks. Better to just dash up and down via the gulley below the summit and save lugging packs.

[mjdalessa]

I'm thinking of doing this back to back with a northern Du cane traverse; Lake Eurynome looks better than the conventional campsites. Thanks for the inspirational photos, that tarn at the end of the Guardians looks like a great campsite as well. Looks like the weather treated you as well!
I'm thinking this will make a great trip:
Night one: Du Cane Gap
Two: Mt. Massif
Three: Lake Helious
Four: Walled Mountain High Camp
Five: Lake Eurynome
Six: Tarn at the end of guardians

[Azza]

Is the ridge traverse over Gould difficult?? Why do people sidle through the scrub if not....?

Great photos btw Peter...

The traverse was slightly annoying, too much longer than we anticipated..
we almost got benighted in the scrubby bit at the bottom just before you bust out onto the plateau.

The traverse itself well -

we climbed the gully on the northern end in very web and loose snow.
This ends up hitting a rather awkward notch below the summit.
The gully was steep enough that going back down on the snow posed some significant danger of going for a slide.
We ended up using my pack hauling rope to get our packs up across a ledge and from there it wasn't too difficult to the summit.
Whether we absolutely had to pack haul - it certainly reduced the risk of falling and made one of our nervous companions a bit happier.
Along the top was pretty easy - the whole way it looked like you could drop off the eastern side pretty easily.
Off the end began a tediously long descent over large boulders, down to two large snow drifts that in themselves were a little dangerous to cross.

Given that we carried full packs, it would have been easier to have just gone up the gully to the summit and back down again.
The significant amount of snow still present at the time complicated things.
The traverse is quite fun though.. good views.

[PeterJ]

I'm thinking of doing this back to back with a northern Du cane traverse............Four: Walled Mountain High Camp Five: Lake Eurynome Six: Tarn at the end of guardians

There is not much distance between Walled and Eurynome so unless you plan to walk out to Macs or you wouldn't need a day (4&5). There is a tarn (6) on The Guardians near the end or do you mean on Gould Plateau?

[doogs]

Grat report and pics Peter, a trip for the future perhaps for me.

[mjdalessa]

Peter, I plan to camp at that tarn on the guardians after the eurynome night. The tarn at the end of the guardians looks idyllic for sunrises/ sunsets etc. The short day from walled to eurynome allows for macs and/ or nereus (if I'm in the mood for masochism). All weather permitting of course. The relaxed schedule allows for hyperion sunrises and ensures eros, geryon north, hyperion, walled, macs, gould and the guardians are climbed. I have done walled before but the rest is all new; really looking forward to it.