Mt Anne Circuit vs Western Arthurs?

[Stonie]

Can someone that has completed both the Mt Anne Circuit and the Western Arthurs full traverse compare the two walks?

In particular I’m interested in how the section of the Mt Anne Circuit between shelf camp and lonely tarns (the bit that contains the notch, Mt lot summit and lighting ridge) compares to the Arthurs traverse.

Thanks in advance!


Cheers,
Stonie.

[pazzar]

The two walks are very different. You will find a lot more exposure on the route over Mt Lot, and it is mostly just up, then down. The Western Arthurs is very undulating, and is exposed to high winds and rain. The Western Arthurs are quite a bit longer too.

Give it a go, if you find that it is hard getting to Lake Oberon, then you should turn around and go back, it gets a little harder from there on.

[Stonie]

Thanks for the information, will do a preliminary walk to Lake Oberon and some surrounding peaks.
Sounds good. Cheers.

Stonie.

[stu]

Can't go wrong with either Stonie, both absolute classics!
The Anne Circuit is one of the best 3 (+/-) day walks in the state IMHO & the Notch is generally over-rated for difficulty...i'm sure you'd be fine.
The WA's are arguably the best walk in the state tho & you'd be remiss not to take the time to fully absorb yourself into this amazing range (ie. a full traverse (8 days or so) or at least 5 days to Morraine K).
The WA's obviously have more sustained difficulty over several days, particularly the 2 days from Oberon-High Moor & High Moor through the Beggary Bumps to Haven Lake (tho nothing that difficult really).
Anne circuit is dolerite and WA's are quartzite & generally the terrain of the 2 ranges is quite different.
If in doubt regarding difficulty I'd suggest the Anne Circuit as a warm up.
Have fun!

Stu.

[Stonie]

Thanks for the info Stu

I have already done the Anne Circuit (south coast track and Frenchman’s twice)

I agree... with all the focus on the notch it ends up being kind of underwhelming when you get there… (We had good weather however)

I did think that the section just before the notch and between the notch and the summit of Mt lot was a bit more exposed than expected after reading on this forum and chapman’s book – so I tried to fill in some gaps and made a couple of comments on the Anne thread: http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=253&start=60

I had no issues with the Anne circuit or the other walks, so the Arthurs seems like a logical progression.

Thanks for your input.

Cheers,
Stonie.

[north-north-west]

You'll be fine.
The hardest bits of Anne and the circuit are harder than the hardest bits of the WArthurs. It's just the the WArthurs are more full-on - you don't get much of a let-up once you're near Oberon. It's as much mental as physical.