Du Cane Range Traverse

[Nick S]

Du Cane Traverse

The Du Cane traverse was a trip that I'd been very keen on for a few years now, having gazed up at its boulder lined defenses many times on previous trips in the area. I'd just finished uni a few days ago so I was not only excited to get back into the bush, but also because the forecast was of cold but fine weather! So on a cool cloudy morning my friend and I drove up to meet with forum members ILUVSWTAS and Ollster at Lake St Claire.

We planned to camp at Du cane gap for our first night but on stopping by the new Windy Ridge hut along the way, the wood fire and drizzly weather outside made it a comfortable if somewhat soft decision to stay. Miso soup, salmon and thermarest cushions were also enjoyed

The second day was very promising with clear views to Mt Geryon from the hut and blue sky around. We quickly walked along the Overland Track up to Du Cane gap and then leaving the track, made our way up through the scrub to Falling Mt.

It was a great feeling to reach Falling Mt and be greeted with perfect views of the range after climbing through the scrub.

We exceeded our expectations of reaching Falling Mt by midday, and had time to explore the nearby cliffs of Castle crag and have lunch before heading off along the range by 12:30. It was a careful descent from Castle crag as there had been a light snow the night before, making shady rocks a bit slippery.

The first half of the afternoon was quite straightforward boulder hopping following a cairned route along the ridge, but at a certain point halfway along to Mt Massif we either left the cairns or they stopped, and we just continued to make our own way along the northern side of the range toward the much talked about 'menacing cliffs' at which we were to "turn right, not left!". Picking our way along the ridge, we weren't sure if these cliffs were the very large ones we could see bordering Mt Massif, or the 'car sized boulders' becoming more obvious up along the ridge. We ended up staying close to the ridgeline and on reaching the base of these large leaning boulders we found a large cairn on the right (northern) side as was described in other track notes, and on traversing to the right we made our way up through a snow filled gully to the Massif plateau.

Time from Windy Ridge to Falling Mt - 3.5 hrs
Castle crag to Mt Massif - 4.5 hrs

[Nick S]

The Massif plateau was a joy to walk across, with awesome views in all directions.

We made camp in the Massif bowl at close to 1500m elevation surrounded by streams of snowmelt. A fine place to camp at the time but not much fun in bad weather I imagine.

The weather put on a show for us as the sun set, clouds blowing over the Mt from the north, bathing the whole area in a rich yellow light.

[Nick S]

The third day found us leaving west from the bowl and sidling around the northwestern side of Mt Massif toward Big Gun pass, not over the top as others have done. All the boulders were dry which gave us good time and it was just a short scramble down grassy slopes to the saddle. A cairned route reappeared as we began climbing, and it was quite a steep but simple climb over rock and boulders, taking us under 3 hrs to reach the Du Cane high point/plateau.

The Big Gun

It was close to midday by this stage and we had plans to summit both Geryon north and Hyperion, so we packed our daypacks and headed toward Mt Geryon via Du Cane highpoint (for the 1 point). While the track to Mt Geryon was easy to follow, we knew the summit route was not so simple, and began to feel the excitement of the climb ahead of us! We had read Tasadams post about the climb and speculated on how hard it could be.
The rocky bridge was smaller than we had imagined and we all jumped across without much deliberation, but the actual climb to the summit had 3-4 harder sections where you had to use a few handholds and be fairly confident where to put your feet, but that just made reaching the top feel more of an achievement!

We had lunch back at our packs after the 2.5hr return trip to Geryon and headed west down toward Lake Helios. The scrub was particularly thick on the SE side of the lake and we found it was easier to go further west before descending to the lake.
We setup camp near the lake by 4:30pm and after a short rest, made our way toward Mt Hyperion.

I had recently read a sci-fi book of the same name, and it can also refer to a Titan god from greek mythology, regardless, Mt Hyperion was on similar par with Mt Geryon with some airy sections that would put off a good number of people. Particularly one steep chute which we initially disregarded as the track due to it's steepness, but after finding no other way we deduced that it must be!

Hyperion took us 1 hr return from Lake Helios.

[Nick S]

The 4th day ended up being the best of the lot, and the warm sunny morning allowed us to dry all our gear and soak up the sun.
From our campsite we headed directly toward Mt Eros through some knee high scrub, and within the hour we were resting on the summit of Mt Eros.
We soon returned to our packs and over the next 2 hours made our way down to the Labyrinth via the well used route past the Pool of Memories. While some may know this place from the Dombrovskis photo, I will remember it for its ants...

Continuing on to Lake Elysia, we left our packs at the western edge and climbed Walled Mt, giving us great views of the Eldon range and the classic Abels shot of Mt Hyperion. It was a great feeling to look around and see all the peaks and valleys which we had traversed.

We returned around 2pm, (2hrs 15 min return from Lake Elysia) to find a legion of ants all over our packs and spent the next few minutes flicking and swatting them away. We decided that the rocks near the shore would have the least ants and spent our last break in the Labyrinth sitting beside the lake.

We'd already decided that we would be continuing into Pine Valley, but just a warning to anyone setting up camp at Lake Elysia, the ants could have made this quite miserable and I would suggest setting up in late afternoon when their activity is reduced.

So we made our way in what ended up being quite a warm day down to Pine Valley, two of our party climbing the Parthenon along the way.
The fifth and final day was a pleasant wander back to Narcissus and then catching the ferry, with strong winds and eventual rain preventing a morning summit of the Acropolis.

And our final route, thanks Mark.

Ducane traverse.jpg (117.27 KiB) Viewed 28000 times

Overall an amazing trip that I'll remember for a long time.

Nick

[ollster]

Nice report.

I certainly rate the trip up with the best I've done. As a bonus it was lot easier than I expected, and we were amazingly lucky with 3 days of perfect weather bookended by snow/rain/cold. Bravo!

[ILUVSWTAS]

Awesome report Nick, beautiful photos and an awesome adventure I was very fortunate to be a part of. Certainly in my top 3 walks of all time.

[Son of a Beach]

Sounds like a fantastic trip. I'm very envious as that one has bee near the top of my to do list for a while.

Thanks for the trip report and the pictures. Just beautiful. Well done guys.

[flatfoot]

Fantastic photos! You locals are so fortunate having vistas like that so near (relatively) to home.

[Blister]

Cracker of a report and photo's. Another one to add to my list

[ILUVSWTAS]

A few of mine from the same trip.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Couple more

[ILUVSWTAS]

A few from the amazing light show we were priviledged to see

[stepbystep]

Stunning........um, yep STUNNING!!!!
Thanks for posting guys, and a great report Nick, can only imagine how it felt wandering around up top......

[ILUVSWTAS]

Panorama

[Liamy77]

wow

[eggs]

Terrific photos - both of you.

And I see Mark is now getting onto the OT

[ILUVSWTAS]

Terrific photos - both of you.

And I see Mark is now getting onto the OT

Only as a means to go to better places. I've seen enough of it to know I dont like it at all. The huts are awful to sleep in, the people are NOT bushwalkers, and if you touch anything you get gastro.

Thanks for the photo compliments though

[crockle]

Man, your photos in addition to Nick S's: - icing on the cake.
The 'amazing light show' shots look quite surreal . Nick's "rich yellow light" one just leaves the senses aching to be there..
Great trip report - enjoyed it immensely.

[tasadam]

Thanks for the memories guys. The second half, anyway. Shame you missed Acropolis, but having tasted the area, I'm sure you'll be back!
I had a sunset like that once when I was camped between Cathedral and Twin Spires, a layer of cloud and a bold yellow sun appearing up the valley, turning orange and eventually the most spectacular red.
Well done to all of you.

[Lizzy]

Only 1 thing to say- AWESOME!!!

[stu]

Very nice report & photos guys, glad the weather was on your side.
I'ts a great area isn't it, the Southern Reserve in general is a magical area, we're so lucky

Stu.

[ollster]

I'ts a great area isn't it, the Southern Reserve in general is a magical area, we're so lucky

Stu.

I can't imagine why people live on the big island. Yuk.

[stepbystep]

can't imagine why people live on the big island. Yuk.

When you are in WA next month, go to Cottesloe beach and wander into the water, you'll get some idea, and trust me the view there is something you won't find anywhere in Tassie, if you know what I mean....

[ollster]

can't imagine why people live on the big island. Yuk.

When you are in WA next month, go to Cottesloe beach and wander into the water, you'll get some idea, and trust me the view there is something you won't find anywhere in Tassie, if you know what I mean....

Nudist beach then?

I'm not a beach person, so I don't get much out of warm salty liquid. Plus I'm there for work, not play. Reckon I'll barely get out of the conference hotel.

[stepbystep]

Nudist beach then?

Not quite, but nearly..... only thing I miss about WA is the ocean, it looks the same here but repels with a severe bite upon touching it!
I'd still take a day in the mountains over it though

[Phil]

Wow, great report and AMAZING picutres guys. What an amazing trip!!

Gotta love our little state

[samh]

Great stuff, guys. It's time for me to go on a walk again, but sadly it's hard to find time recently.

[greyim]

dem ants are shocking

[north-north-west]

Brilliant. Top report, great photos.
You lucky, lucky *&%$#!.

[photohiker]

Thanks for this great report! Love the photos too.

Ducane Traverse added to the list. Check.

This month's Wild Mag (120) has a (shorter) winter Ducane Traverse in it by Cam Walker. Also a good read.