9 hours and 25 kms of climbing/hiking has never been so god damn good! Cradle Mountain is truly amazing.
With intentions on going to the top with some decent scrambling en route, I found myself in more of a solo mountaineering type situation. Knee deep snow and ice covered boulders above the cloud was a welcome surprise, however being unexpected I came ill prepared as some sections felt dare I say it...axe worthy? Well, at least boot spike worthy at a minimum. As such, I had to turn around about 20 vertical meters from the summit because of falling ice, and a feeling that the risk reward ratio was not swinging in my direction. Gutting, but the perfect excuse for Round 2 in a couple of weeks time. This time with spikes!
See you at the top.
Andy.