Western Arthur Range February 2009

[PeterJ]

Below is a summary of a walk to the Western Arthur Range in mid February .Photos from the walk can be viewed on the web


A projected easterly weather pattern gave encouragement and our first day was in fine and pleasant weather. I had been hoping that we might reach Cygnus on the first day, but overnighting here allowed an early start of the ascent when freshest and in cool of morning. It is an unrelenting and hard climb which felt nice to have over and although we arrived at Cygnus early in the day, even after allowing for strolling about Mt Hesperus and Capella Crags, I felt that I had done enough.

I had never walked between Cygnus and Lake Oberon in really nice weather but this time the cool, calm and sunny conditions were ideal; as good as it can get. The moorland below the summit of Mt Hayes was superb and after climbs to the top and to Procyon Peak, Sirius and Orion we could enjoy the superb views of Oberon during the descent to the shores, followed by an evening from viewing the light as the day faded to an end.

The only impediment that I could remember, to getting up Mt Pegasus was a tight squeeze through a hole in the rocks, so the tough little cliffy bit early on came as a surprise. The delightful views the other side of Lake Uranus and Mt Capricorn were fondly recalled and, in the lovely weather prevailing, did not disappoint. Some small concern was felt about the likely state of descent off Capricorn after the last 20 years of use, but we did not experience much trouble , although a few of the previous dirt steps have gone leaving just the underlying rock face to negotiate. From the bottom remaining distance to High Moor was much less tortuous even with a side trip to Dorado Peak. After tea I walked back to Mt Columba where panoramic views could be gained, coloured brilliantly by the setting sun.

Just before it was time to arise next morning, rain suddenly started and I thought that this was going to either delay us for a day or make for a pretty unpleasant time getting through the Beggary Bumps. But just as suddenly as it started did it end and we were away not that much later than usual. The two chasms took a bit of time to get through and involved some pack hauling, and the path on the extremely steep faces looked to head off into space. After finishing the main sections one can't help but look back at The dragon and beyond and wonder wherever did the route go; it looks so amazingly rugged and invincible. Not that the ups and downs ended there and it still took a time to reach the summit of Mt Taurus, where a grandstand view of the backbone of the range could be appreciated. The walk on to Haven Lake still presented a couple of challenges, all of which I had completely forgotten existed.

Although the next morning was fine a mist rolled in and soon drizzle and we made the decision to leave the range via Moraine K. A shortcut was taken to Mckays track on the Arthur Plains and during the crossing of a couple of burnt out creek areas I was struck by the amazing volume of seedlings; literally a carpet of Melaleucas and banksias of vivid greens. The weather cleared and the following day was fairly cloud free and quite warm by the time we reached the cars.

[eggs]

Peter,
Thanks for the report.

You are just testing to see if we read it all, right?
Clambering about Mt Hyperion at the same time as the Capella Crags ?? At least your photos are labelled Hesperus
You've covered so much of Tassie its becoming a blur.

I went to Mt Pegasus and then returned back again with a group of 3 young lads in late December.
It was my first visit to the range and for 2 of the lads it was their first walk in Tasmania.
We went from Junction to Square in a long day and they were amazed at the toughness of the up and down.
Fantastic weather for the first 2 and a half days, but the next was a real jet stream with blasting rain going back over Hesperus from Cygnus.

Nice photos too - do you set up your own web site - or do you use a host service?
I have only ever uploaded to this forum directly.
I took all my photos on this trip in RAW and the processing into jpg allows for correction of some of the wash out you get in sunny weather - where the background disappears into the glare. Some basic tools in Windows can improve this as well.

cheers
Brian

[PeterJ]

.....Clambering about Mt Hyperion at the same time as the Capella Crags ??

Thanks for picking that up and i have corrected it to Hesperus. It would be beyond anyone to walk between those landmarks in a day eh.

Nice photos too - do you set up your own web site - or do you use a host service?

I just use free sites, such as Jalbum for the photos and they also supply the software and I also use Picassa.

Cheers
Peter