Thanks for your interest in this matter

https://www.ski.com.au/xf/threads/thorn ... st-4499287
Baeng72 wrote:Epic photos!
Helicopter Spur sounds extreme.
Baeng72 wrote:Epic photos!
Helicopter Spur sounds extreme.
north-north-west wrote:Baeng72 wrote:Epic photos!
Helicopter Spur sounds extreme.
It's straightforward. A couple of easy scramble that can be sidestepped, although the open ground around them is loose and sometimes awkward. It's a lovely little walk.
north-north-west wrote:Chin-ups are about upper body strength. When scrambling, hands should be used for three things only: balance, brace, hold. It's the legs that do the work.
CraigVIC wrote:The second and third bands (if you are following the distinct footpad) both have sections where it is impossible to proceed without using your hands. I think that's a good definition of a scramble. Museli spur does not so I think, for me, it isn't a scramble. But PCV does so it's a personal thing to some extent. It would be good if there were a grading system that was easy to apply and understand. If you read trip reports on the cathedral ranges, for example, you will come away no wiser as to whether it is near impossible or a simple walk. I no longer bother trying to find out how hard things are in advance and just assume if it's a known walk then it can be done.
bigkev wrote:Nice walk PVC, thanks for sharing.
I find scrambling a little like off track walking in that differant peoples tolarances can vary wildly. What a fat old bloke like me would conside crazy hard, someone with better reflexes and flexability would consider fairy routine (it's not all about age though).
For what it's worth I find most of the fairly well known scrambles in Vic fairly straightforwd.
I find that if I'm reading Chapman, Tempest, Thomas or anyone else's notes then I can calibrate my brain to their description. What I mean by that is that after walking a few of the Chapman's routes I soon realized that when they say "climb steeply up the gully" translated for me that means "climb an almost vertical wall of inevitably loose rock". It works for scrub too...when they say "follow the faint pad" it translates for me as "push through a wall of re-growth"
Baeng72 wrote:There's a bit of that. Some people must find a section challenging and you'll read in their write up that it's risky, other's probably skip right through and don't feel the need to mention it.
I've read one report of someone hiking up to Mt Buggery, wherein he describes a ledge he had to scale and if he slipped, it'd be bye bye. I haven't read that in others' reports of the Crosscut saw.
I've read there's some rock bands up to Mt. Spec, but not Mt. Buggery.
Regarding the chimney/chute at the Viking, some seem to find it a doddle, and others like the Hilary Step.
So, I think your advice is pretty good CraigVIC, if it's a known route, not called Western Arthurs Traverse or Anapurna, and you are reasonably fit, it's probably OK.
Baeng72 wrote:I've read one report of someone hiking up to Mt Buggery, wherein he describes a ledge he had to scale and if he slipped, it'd be bye bye. I haven't read that in others' reports of the Crosscut saw.
At one point (I think shortly before Mt Buggery) the trail leads up to a ~3m rock face with a rope hanging down and you have to climb up. It's probably do-able without the rope, pushing your pack up first then using rocks just to the side for footholds, but would be quite dangerous as the landing at the top is not flat and slipping would mean a big fall
north-north-west wrote:Nope. There's nothing like that on the Crosscut, and I've never seen a rope there. Only rope I've seen on any of the standard Vic Alps walks is the cave on the Viking, but this doesn't sound like the cave. And the step between Horrible Gap and Speculation does not need a rope, even with a pack.
paidal_chalne_vala wrote:http://hikingfiasco.com/2012/02/15/helicopter-spur-to-hells-window-alpine-national-park/
The Hiking Fiasco report on this hike is amusing and has good photos too.
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