OLT December

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OLT December

Postby Lophophaps » Fri 27 May, 2016 8:40 pm

Tentative plans are being made for the OLT in mid-December.

Bookings open on 1 July, and there may well be a rush of bookings on that day. Can anyone please give me an idea about how quickly mid-December bookings fill?

The only certain transport is the Tassielink bus that arrives at the Cradle Transit Centre at 11.20 am, which means departing Ronny Creek at about noon, not much time to reach Waterfall Valley via Cradle and Barn Bluff. One option might be to bag Cradle and camp on the track, perhaps at the BB turnoff or nearby. The next day go up BB, and hence to Pelion West campsite, climb that the day after. Another option might be to camp near the start of the OLT, and leave early the next day. This does not appeal much as I'd rather be walking. I'm not sure which option is best. Suggestions would be valued.

Depending on pace and weather, I may want to camp away from the huts. I've been unable to locate any PWS policy about this. Is camping away from the huts permitted? If the weather looks reasonable, I'm considering camping on Ossa. I have no recollection of what the summit area is like. I can recall a steepish section before the summit that was okay with day packs but may mean that a bigger pack would need to be hauled. How hard is it to get to Ossa with a big pack, and are there viable campsites, with water?

The rest is straightforward.

Many thanks.
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Re: OLT December

Postby weeds » Fri 27 May, 2016 9:45 pm

Just going through the same planing...see my thread a few down...

I too would wonder if there will be a rush on booking on the 1st....either way I will be booking on the first hoping I can gets the date we want.

We are planning to fly in on the mid afternoon virgin flight and charter a ride to cradle arriving around 5pm.....staying the night at cradle. Probably book a cabin at the caravan park. This allows us to start the walk with a full day.

Good question re: camping away from the huts.....I'm guessing the would not encourage it due the the high number of walkers. Frog Flats (I think that's what it's called) is one place we considered.

Sounds like you will be scooting along.....we are taking eight days so not such a rush for us although I have everyday packed at the moment, allows us to drop Pine Valley if we wish.

Look forward to the answers re: camping
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Re: OLT December

Postby Hermione » Fri 27 May, 2016 10:27 pm

You could just give yourself an extra night. Spend your first night at Scott Kilvert hut and then head up onto Cradle Plateau that way instead of via Marion's lookout, then knock off Cradle and Barn ( weather permitting). That way at least you're walking on your first day. As far as I know you can camp away from huts, though in certain areas camping might be prohibited. I wouldn't think camping on Ossa would be encouraged because of the potential for environmental impact, there's sensitive vegetation , no tent platform and no toilet, coupled with the fact that practically everyone on the track climbs it.
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Re: OLT December

Postby Lophophaps » Sat 28 May, 2016 10:05 am

Weeds, I'm booking the walk and then the flights. Mine will be a leisurely stroll, many side-trip, including out of Pine Valley, 10 days in all. I want to be able to wait out bad weather and bag summits. Some of the official days are very short. The only days that go much over four hours are day one to WFV, day three to Pelion, and day seven to Cynthia Bay. I start early and finish early, but finishing at 11 am is silly.

Hermoine, Scott Kilvert is certainly a posibility, but it means backtracking to get up Cradle. My recollection of the track south of Scott Kilvert is steepness. Also, my preference is to walk the OLT, Ronny Creek to Cynthia Bay.
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Re: OLT December

Postby South_Aussie_Hiker » Sat 28 May, 2016 10:56 am

There's no camping in the day walk area. This means there is no camping until reaching Waterfall Valley, unless you go via Scott Kilvert.

Other option with a midday start is to climb Cradle on the way to Waterfall Valley, then next morning head back up to Barn Bluff. Day two is very short - if you walked straight through, perhaps 3 hours at most. A Barn summit at the start of day 2 would add about five hours, so you'd be looking at a comfortable 8 hour day.

Other option as suggested is to stay overnight at Cradle so you can get an early start.

The best laid plans are generally destroyed by Tas weather. While you can plan all these summits and a busy schedule, you may find mother nature determines how it pans out.
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Re: OLT December

Postby Johnnie Walker » Sat 28 May, 2016 11:00 am

Lophophaps wrote:Bookings open on 1 July, and there may well be a rush of bookings on that day. Can anyone please give me an idea about how quickly mid-December bookings fill?

On August 12, 2015 I booked the OLT for departure December 14, 2015. Back then it was only booked out around Xmas and New Year.
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Re: OLT December

Postby Nuts » Mon 30 May, 2016 12:42 pm

Iv'e had reason to keep an eye on the public bookings and i'd agree, unless its peak holiday times you'd get a place. Watch mid Dec though, between school holiday starts and Xmas lul can be busy.

I could be wrong, I wasn't around at the time. As I understand Evelyn Temple Emmett first made reference to the new 'Overland Track'. To combine previous routes and promote a track start from/to end at Narcissus, off or on to a prospective boat shuttle service.
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Re: OLT December

Postby Lophophaps » Thu 23 Jun, 2016 11:55 am

PWS will not open booking for summer prior to 1 July. Flights to Devonport are expensive, and I may spend a night in Launceston pretending to be a tourist. In mid-December there will probably be charter buses to Cradle, and I'm attempting to determine the best day to be added to a charter. Would there be more chance of a charter on a weekday or a weekend? The fallback position is Tassielink, which is fine.
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Re: OLT December

Postby weeds » Thu 23 Jun, 2016 6:50 pm

We are choosing private charter Launceston to Cradle and from Lake St Claire to Hobart. It works out nearly double what it will cost on tassielink but we believe it gives us more time on the track.

Study the tassiel ink timetable as the St Claire pickup is at a different time on a couple of the days......from memory.
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Re: OLT December

Postby Lophophaps » Wed 29 Jun, 2016 2:27 pm

I've just realised that PWS only accepts Visa and Mastercard, neither of which I have. Australia Post have a Load and go Visa
http://auspost.com.au/money-insurance/l ... .html#tab4
Does anyone know if this is acceptable to PWS? TIA.
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Re: OLT December

Postby Son of a Beach » Wed 29 Jun, 2016 3:18 pm

My preferred option is to walk right through to Windermere on the first day, without climbing any mountains (and skipping Waterfall Valley huts).

Cradle and Barn can be done as day walks at some other time, and this gives you more time to do more side trips that can't (easily) be done as day walks.

Of course this would only be feasible if you either don't feel the need to summit Cradle/Barn, or if you are confident of getting the opportunity to do them as day walks some other time.

As others have already mentioned, camping is not permitted before Waterfall Valley, except at Scott Kilvert.
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