Managed to get up Mt Campbell and (most of) Cradle this weekend, which was great.
We were lucky enough to be greeted by this on our arrival:
Started the walk heading along the lefthand side of the Dove Lake circuit, before taking the Hanson's peak/Scott Kilvert Hut turnoff. After heading up the hill for 15-20 minutes, we arrived at the start of the (unsigned) ascent of Mt campbell. Multiple tracks wound their way through loose rocks and fagus to the rather disappointing summit. At least the views on the way up/down were worth it!
We then kept on heading around to Hanson's peak, which was scaled without much difficulty, thanks in large part to the handy chain installed on the toughest bit of the climb
The view from the top of Hanson's Peak across Lake Hanson to Mt Campbell was lovely
We then headed along the face track, under Little Horn and along to the base of the Cradle summit track
For someone as scared of heights as I am, particularly given the weather (and the numbness of our hands...) the ascent up Cradle was really quite a challenge! I'd never actually done it before, and nor had my partner, so both of us were a little surprised to realise just how much climbing was required. In wet, cold and windy weather, with about 10m visibility, neither of us were really comfortable to push ourselves too far, and hence stopped at the base of the final ascent, which must have put us about 30m from the summit. Good enough for us! Then it was time to head back down... Not sure which was worse!
All in all, a lovely way to spend 7.5 hours on a Sunday, and nice to finally get a taste of tassie's most famous mountain. I'm sure we'll be back at some stage!
Thanks for reading
From our camp on a wet day though, it was never gonna happen huh!! Probably should be on the PBList as it was a fine looking crag!!
