Mt. Bisdee

Tasmania specific bushwalking discussion.
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Tasmania specific bushwalking discussion. Please avoid publishing details of access to sensitive areas with no tracks.

Mt. Bisdee

Postby stu » Thu 19 Mar, 2009 3:28 pm

Anyone been out to Mt. Bisdee (behind Victoria Cross) on the Southern Ranges that can share their experiences?
I have heard it is very scrubby (scoparia) & a little precipitous getting to the summit?
How long should one allow from V Cross return, or better still, from Wylly camp return?

pm me if you want to share track notes, but I'd love to see some pics / hear some tales :D

Cheers.

Stu B.
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Re: Mt. Bisdee

Postby wello » Thu 19 Mar, 2009 9:00 pm

Stu,

Can't help with any personal info, but the link below describes a trip out that way some time ago.

http://users.bigpond.net.au/dveltkamp/K ... ntains.htm

Sounds like a facinating trip - and seriously wild all those years ago.

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Re: Mt. Bisdee

Postby stu » Fri 20 Mar, 2009 7:30 am

Cheers Wello. I have read quite a few of Mr. Lancasters accounts but had not read this one; they sure bred them tough in the old days!
Even tho they had the advantage of supply drops which we can no longer utilise, I think I'll lug my 30kg of hi-tech gear & freeze dried meals any day.
I can't imagine how uncomfortable, cold & heavy gear must have been in this era; I suppose it's relative to the individual at any point in time tho, I'm sure future generations will scoff at our heavy "titanium pots" & "gore-tex" much like we do at previous generation. At the end of the day the beauty of walking & climbing mountains is that we all go through similar hardships, irrespective of age or era; we all must sweat, toil in the scrub & succumb to mother nature like those before & hopefully those after us (hover boards aside :wink: ).

I digress, back to the topic of Bisdee. I assumed the saddle would be a botanical bonanza, it sounded like slow going in Keiths times & I'd assume it would be little different today. I doubt this mountain gets many more than a handful of ascents every year at best & any pads would be pretty faint. An old Tas Tramp article by Reg Williams describes his ascent in 4 hours return from VC, but knowing his status in the annals of hard men, & knowing his son through climbing I'd say this would be a big ask; any comments on time by those who have been there would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

Stu.
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Re: Mt. Bisdee

Postby scrub master » Fri 20 Mar, 2009 5:20 pm

Howdy Stu
was wandering where you'd got to as I haden't seen any posts from you for a while

Mt Bisdee ey, now that brings back some memories - Definitely one for the peakbagger. The scrub on Bewsher saddle is the benchmark by which I judge all other scrub and it's where I really earned my scrub stripes

My recommendation would be to a BIG daytrip in high summer from Wylly Plateau or nearby just below VC. The scrub on Bewsher with a full pack is horrendous and there is no camping along the way except for a small clearing in the middle of the saddle. Once you get to the clearing, you want to walk around it for an hour just to savour the feeling of open ground.

From Wylly Plateau to the summit of VC is fairly open and cruisy with the luxury of a good pad for most of the way. Once on top it stays open for a while but the further north you go, the worse it gets until you are blocked by a very scrubby and serrated gendarme ridge. From here the best bet is to drop off the side into the scrub and progress as best you can, We dropped off the eastern side which involved a bit of scrambling but nothing too serious. This is where the fun really starts. To describe the scrub here as a botanical bonaza is somewhat of an understatement and Reg's decription of an ant negotiating a hairbrush is rather apt. There were numerous times along this section where we were literaly crawling on our hands and knees and stomach to attemp any "progress". Our Average speed along this section was about 100m/hr :shock: but without a pack, I reckon you should be able to race through at the blistering speed of at least 200m/hr :lol:

Beyond the low point of Bewsher, the going improves in that you can actually walk rather than crawl through the scrub. The final 500m or so are easy going on pineapple grass and boulders. From memory, i think it took us 2 hours return from our campsite on the saddle to the summit

I've lent the disk with my shots of the trip to a friend, but I'll get it back and post a couple up in the next day or so.
When are you thinking of attempting this masochistic folly - I think I'll be washing my hair that day :)

Ivan
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Re: Mt. Bisdee

Postby scrub master » Sun 22 Mar, 2009 11:13 am

here are the shots I was talking about - hope they don't put you off too much

Campsite on bewsher saddle
51 clagged in on brewsher saddle.jpg

52 preparing to climb bisdee.jpg


scrub on the climb up to Bisdee - this is where going got easy !
54 forest below bisdee.jpg
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Re: Mt. Bisdee

Postby scrub master » Sun 22 Mar, 2009 11:18 am

one of the more "open" patches of scrub
55 jim in the forest below bisdee.jpg


On the way back to Wylly Plateau we ran out of daylight, so we had to camp on the back of VC - note the serrated ridge I was talking about
56 campsite on the back of vc.jpg
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Re: Mt. Bisdee

Postby stu » Mon 23 Mar, 2009 7:09 am

Cheers Ivan.
No, you haven't put me off, I'm too stupid / stubborn for that & have now suffered a fair amount of scrub in my travels;
I probably only have the boy scout badge in scrubbage tho rather than the sergeants stripes :wink:
It sounds like it would be a long day from Wylly? I have the Southern Ranges pencilled in for the end of the year so would love to bag this one while I was down that way, hopefully I can justify a full day side-trip; I can convice others in what may be a large group to take a rest day while we nutters do our thing.
Is Wylly a nice camp site? Can I sell it as such to non-peak baggers? Just say yes, thats how I'll interpret it anyway!
That ridge off VC looks like it belongs in Mordor; I hope it's not too time consuming?
Thanks for the pics as always :D

Stu.
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