Western/Eastern Arthurs: Difficulty, Fitness, Age [split]

[Penguin]

BTW

May avatar is a photo taken above square lake looking over the now closed morraine e track

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[DaveNoble]

I have been to the Arthurs a number of times - and would not regard the traverse as too hard. Not when compared to off track walking in Tasmania - when you have to route find and scrub bash.

For the Western Arthurs - the tricky parts in terms of scrambling are (and assuming a W - E traverse) -

Descent off Mt Hayes - steep but not too bad
Descent to Lake Oberon - steep with one section involving scrambling
Climb up Pegasus - a few tricky bits, that involve scrambling. Most would take off and pass packs through a short tunnel section
Descent off Pegasus - a number of steep exposed scrambling sections
Descent off Capricorn - Steep and exposed, not too tricky
Beggary Bumps - a lot of scrambling
Little Beggaries - more scrambling
Descent off Mt Taurus - steep scrambling
Ascent of Mt Scorpio - easy but exposed scrambling
Centaurus Ridge - a bit of scrambling like the Little Beggaries

Eastern Arthurs -

Ascent of Luckmans Lead - some steep scrambles
The 4 Peaks - lots of scrambling, some tricky
High level route between Hanging Lake and Bechaivais Plateau - exposed and dangerous scrambling (more care needed than any other part of the full traverse)
Moss Ridge - scrambling needed to negotiate a series of rock steps. tricky

The best way of enjoying the scrambling is to be confident on rock and not mind exposure. Doing some rock climbing will help here. Also - carry as light a pack as you can. Eg do not carry heavy camera gear unless you know the range and what to expect. I have very seldom carried water (unless it is a hot day during a period of drought- when you cannot find pools and soaks). You do nee to watch your knees and other parts of your body - it is best not to go fast - eg racing on the easy downhill sections.

I have placed a short version of the video I took on my last trip to the Western Arthurs on Youtube at -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHPzKneJMTA

I did attempt to film some of the more spectacular scrambling sections.

Dave

[climberman]

Dave, lovely. If you don't mind me asking, what did you shoot it with, and what's the soundtrack, please ?

[ILUVSWTAS]

Oll, Your more than welcome joining me in Mid November for the Western and Martin and I for the Eastern in late December. Though I believe you'll be on the southern ranges in December.

[DaveNoble]

Dave, lovely. If you don't mind me asking, what did you shoot it with, and what's the soundtrack, please ?

This one was shot on a Sony HC1e, edited on a Mac using iMovie. The original is about 25 mins long as has full credits including background music titles. The youtube version just retains the first section of background music - which is from a Vaughn Williams symphony (no 3?)

Dave

[Steve]

Truly amazing video there Dave! A few real classic David Noble shots there such as those from your 70s and 80s trips.

One that note, your shots from 70s and 80s are some of the most amazing photography I've ever seen, no joke.

Living Legend in my books.

Keep up the good work!

- Steve

[climberman]

Thanks Dave.

[ollster]

Oll, Your more than welcome joining me in Mid November for the Western and Martin and I for the Eastern in late December. Though I believe you'll be on the southern ranges in December.

Gonna have too much work on in Nov... and yeah, with Sth Ranges in late Dec that'll be it for me!

[ILUVSWTAS]

Yeh figured so!
I was actually hoping to meet up with the Sth ranges group up near Vic cross to join the attempt on Bisdee. But Eastern Arthurs and Fedders was too good to say no to!! still, theres a chance that may not happen so at least I got a plan B!!

I was thinking i'd walk from lune river to ooze day 1
Then to VC to hook up with you guys day 2
Assault on Bisdee day 3
Back to pigsty day 4 (maybe keep going all the way out, head torach on standby)
If not then day 5 would be out.

I know this seems a long way to walk in short time to some people but bear in mind PB has been done as a return trip in a weekend.

[DaveNoble]

And an excerpt from a video, from 2003, showing the tricky parts of the Eastern Arthurs and climbing Federation Peak -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IhmHUzeWAQ

Dave

[ILUVSWTAS]

Brilliant!

[Son of a Beach]

Thanks Dave... great videos! (and they help answer the original question too)

[corvus]

WOW !! if only but time does weary us
corvus

[ollster]

Yup, that answers the question of difficulty pretty well... technically simple climb, but psychologically pretty daunting!

[Son of a Beach]

Yup, that answers the question of difficulty pretty well... technically simple climb, but psychologically pretty daunting!

technically not too bad, but physically very demanding (as well as psychologically).

[corvus]

Actually would be HARD in mho
corvus

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[Nuts]

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[Nuts]

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[Nuts]

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[ILUVSWTAS]

Yes, I was planning a trip to the WA in november

Now im thinking doubtfuLLY

No im still going...

[Ent]

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[Phil]

And an excerpt from a video, from 2003, showing the tricky parts of the Eastern Arthurs and climbing Federation Peak -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IhmHUzeWAQ

Dave

WOW!

Just found some time to watch it.......my heart is still pumping and I still feel nervous from just watching it!!

It is definitely on the MUST-DO list for the future!!

[DaveNoble]

Yup, that answers the question of difficulty pretty well... technically simple climb, but psychologically pretty daunting!

technically not too bad, but physically very demanding (as well as psychologically).

On the day in the video - you may note that we walked up from Pass Ck to Hanging Lake in one day, set up tents, and then climbed Federation Peak in the evening. Looking at the video - there is one section where I am putting an entry in the logbook - and the time is a little after 7pm. So it was a long day!! When we returned to Hanging Lake - I had some spare battery power left - so we looked at the video showing the ascent and descent of the peak while the dinner cooked......

One reason we put in the long day, the weather forecast (heard on small radio) - was for that day to be fine and then a front overnight and bad weather the next day. So we climbed the peak at the end of a long day (it probably helped that I knew the route pretty well - so we didn't loose any time). And we were all fit from the first part of the walk over the Western Arthurs, and our packs where much lighter. The next day was indeed very wet (the rest of the video - that I trimmed off for YouTube shows the storm and wind) - we stayed stormbound at Hanging Lake, and the day after we retreated to Stuart Saddle and the weather gradually improved.

On the next trip to the Eastern Arthurs, we got to Hanging Lake on another long day from Pass Ck again, but decided to climb the peak next morning (the forecast was OK) - but the wind picked up and a bushfire picked up as well - so we left before 6am and retreated as fast as we could off the range back to Pass Ck. My next trip in the range was the one featured in the Western Arthurs video (the one on YouTube) - and you can see in that one that we had another bushfire flare up near West Portal. It was heading our way - so again we retreated back towards Prom Lake and eventually exited via Moraine K.

Dave

[Son of a Beach]

we didn't loose any time). And we were all fit from the first part of the walk over the Western Arthurs, and our packs where much lighter.

The time we did both ranges together, we were using Chapman's notes as a guide and for the first few days were taking about 50% longer than his longest recommended times for some sections. We were getting rather concerned that we may end up running well behind schedule, and so had to put in some longer than anticipated days to make up for this.

On the last few days we were nearly halving his recommended times for some sections.

The lighter pack weights, and improved fitness from having being on the track for several days made a huge difference to our speed.

[volcboy]

I'm planning a Western Arthurs traverse (west to east) beginning in early January with a friend from Vic who has limited time. I have a couple of questions for those who may have been there recently;

1. How busy is it likely to be in the first week of Jan? I'm betting we won't be alone, but I hope it won't be overcrowded....

2. Due to time constraints and the unknowns of weather and our walking pace on a track we haven't walked before, we may have to make a decision to leave the traverse early to make sure my friend makes it back to work in Vic on time. Are the tracks on moraine K and (only in a disaster) moraine E still passable and/or open? We both have some experience walking in untracked areas of the Alpine NP, so as long as they aren't covered with totally impenetrable scrub......

Thanks

[norts]

I did the WA in Mar 08 and came down morraine K, It is a well defined track. Morraine E should be fairly clear since the fire.
You can see from this photo that the fire went up a fair way into the range so I would presume E wouldnt have much impenetrable scrub in 2 years

[under10kg]

I did the western Arthurs this year. I am 55 with knees that can be an issue.
I feel you really need to train for this walk if you are not 19
I did lots of hard day walks with climbing and decending at Laminton with a full pack and some 2 day walks in preparation over about 3 months. Every secnd day I did a 1 hour walk and one day walk each weekend.
The other key for me was to take light gear. The total pack weight for the walk was about 12kg total.
Pacer poles really helped me with the knees expecially on decents and are my tent poles too.
The guys that had the usual traditional gear really struggled on this walk.
Another guy really freaked out at the exposure of some of the scramples.
This is not a walk to do if you have issues with scrampling.
One of the best walks I have ever done as we got pretty good weather most of the time.

[volcboy]

I've read with interest a lot of info about this walk on here, and I'm heading down to start walking on the 3rd of January - West to East up to Moraine K due to work commitments of my walking partner (who has been with me on all of my longer walks). It seems that the range of opinions on how difficult the Western Arthurs walk is on this forum, so I'll be interested to see how difficult I find it. I am not really interested in less challenging walks like the Overland Track, although I might give it a crack in winter if the offer comes up

I've had a more limited physical preparation than I would like - I moved house this month (some preparation in itself), and walk for 1 to 1.5 hours per day with my dogs. I've also been walking every second day with a light pack up the zig-zag track to Duck Reach Power Station and back every second day. I also teach, and helped supervise a TCE Outdoor Education camp that included off-track navigation exercises with full packs at Ben Lomond NP in late November.

I haven't walked in SW Tassie before, but I have walked on many sections of the Alpine Walking Trail in Victoria, including the Razor-Viking and to the untracked peaks of the Cobberas. However, I have worked as a geo in Rosebery, and spent many cold days sampling and putting in sampling grids in the rainforest on Mount Black and alpine/Huon Pine/King Billy on Mount Read. I have some multi-pitch and multi-day (in Yosemite) rock climbing experience, which I'm hoping will hold me in good stead for the scrambling and exposure.

I've got gear that I'm confident will stand up, and should be able to start out with a full food load at less than 20kg.

I'll give you my opinion when I get back

[JamesMc]

volcboy, how hard the Western Arthurs are depends on the weather as much as anything else. You won't know 'till you go. My first walk in Tasmania was also along the Arthurs and it was hard. Last time we were there we met a father with two children, about 10 or 12 yo. They started off slowly, then walked from L Oberon to Haven L in a day, then out to Scotts Peak in a day. That was in a horrendous heatwave. (There's no shade on the WAs, though it doesn't normally matter).

Don't dismiss the Overland Tk - it's a fantastic area.

Have a great walk.

JamesMc

[volcboy]

Thanks James. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for at least a couple of clear days over the walk, but expecting everything. I have been up through the Walls of Jerusalem as well over New Year (in 1995/6) and copped 5cm of snow, so I know what can happen

I'm not dismissing the Overland Track - I just want to walk it when there isn't a continuous procession of tourists walking it, which means going in winter. Having huts available makes winter walking that much more pleasant as well!