Mt Mueller 25th July 2020
Posted: Thu 13 Aug, 2020 1:10 pmMt. Mueller 25th July 2020
Blog and more photos - http://www.benderandxing.com/2020/08/10/mount-mueller/
Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z20xY8U ... =emb_title
With the Snowy Range trio and Mt Wedge summit'd in the past couple of months, Mt. Mueller was firmly in our sights. So it was quite fortuitous when the Pandani Walking Club extended an invitation to join them on an upcoming trip to said Abel, we jumped at the opportunity.
The track to Fossil Lake starts towards the end of Mueller Road, off Spur 6 which isn't marked but some basic Google Mapping will soon reveal the location of the trail head. A long fallen tree had us parking up a few hundred metres before the start of the single track, marked with a lone cairn and ribbon.
The Abels describes the initial track - the remains of an old bulldozer track apparently, that heads in an almost straight line NW towards Fossil Lake - as somewhat overgrown and difficult at times due to infrequent use. This wasn't the case for us as someone had done a goodly amount of track clearing in the near past. The well-muddied pad also suggested the track has seen more use recently than Bill's book suggests.
Despite our large-ish group of 14, we made fast progress towards the lake, gaining elevation gradually and continually until we came out onto an elevated gravel clearing where the first views of Mt Mueller's slightly-lower eastern summit, suitably speckled with snow from recent falls. From here it was a brief drop down to Fossil Lake, where after a quick break, we picked up the route again from the middle of the Lake's northern edge and headed straight up onto the southern shoulder of Mueller's U-shaped ridgeline.
The stiff climb soon got us above the scrub line, with views opening up to the east and south across the Styx Valley and the Snowy Range, the latter mostly obscured by cloud. Fortunately as we continued to climb northwards up the barer ridgeline we could see clearer skies out to our west, including the summit of Mt. Mueller itself.
The ridgeline plateaus around "Mt. Mueller East", the unofficial (?) name of the eastern-side high point, said to be a mere 5m lower than the 'true' high point/Abel approximately 1km to the west.
From here a mostly visible pad works its way through low heath and rock down to a lowish saddle further west, before the route jacks back up steeply for the final approach to the summit. Rocks damp with snow and ice made this last bit rather interesting, as a solid climb is required to reach the cairn atop the highest point.
From the summit we enjoyed awesome 360-degree views... to the east you can see almost the entire route taken, to the south the Mt Anne group, around the west the Lakes Pedder and Gordon with Mt. Wedge in between, to the north Mt.s Lord and Field West and Florentine Peak. Highly atypical of winter in the south west, the weather was perfectly calm up top so we enjoyed a lengthy relaxing lunch before commencing our return journey.
All in all a highly recommendable mountain for all but absolute beginners, and one made all the better with great folk from Pandani. While the track etc. is relatively easy to follow with nothing particularly difficult to deal with save sections of rock scrambling, it is worth mentioning that the ~1.5km section of open ridgeline walking is highly exposed to weather from all sides, and probably not a place to be if things cut up. A few of the folks recounted tales of encountering a blizzard up top on their last trip out there. Something to keep in mind.
Blog and more photos - http://www.benderandxing.com/2020/08/10/mount-mueller/
Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z20xY8U ... =emb_title
With the Snowy Range trio and Mt Wedge summit'd in the past couple of months, Mt. Mueller was firmly in our sights. So it was quite fortuitous when the Pandani Walking Club extended an invitation to join them on an upcoming trip to said Abel, we jumped at the opportunity.
The track to Fossil Lake starts towards the end of Mueller Road, off Spur 6 which isn't marked but some basic Google Mapping will soon reveal the location of the trail head. A long fallen tree had us parking up a few hundred metres before the start of the single track, marked with a lone cairn and ribbon.
The Abels describes the initial track - the remains of an old bulldozer track apparently, that heads in an almost straight line NW towards Fossil Lake - as somewhat overgrown and difficult at times due to infrequent use. This wasn't the case for us as someone had done a goodly amount of track clearing in the near past. The well-muddied pad also suggested the track has seen more use recently than Bill's book suggests.
Despite our large-ish group of 14, we made fast progress towards the lake, gaining elevation gradually and continually until we came out onto an elevated gravel clearing where the first views of Mt Mueller's slightly-lower eastern summit, suitably speckled with snow from recent falls. From here it was a brief drop down to Fossil Lake, where after a quick break, we picked up the route again from the middle of the Lake's northern edge and headed straight up onto the southern shoulder of Mueller's U-shaped ridgeline.
The stiff climb soon got us above the scrub line, with views opening up to the east and south across the Styx Valley and the Snowy Range, the latter mostly obscured by cloud. Fortunately as we continued to climb northwards up the barer ridgeline we could see clearer skies out to our west, including the summit of Mt. Mueller itself.
The ridgeline plateaus around "Mt. Mueller East", the unofficial (?) name of the eastern-side high point, said to be a mere 5m lower than the 'true' high point/Abel approximately 1km to the west.
From here a mostly visible pad works its way through low heath and rock down to a lowish saddle further west, before the route jacks back up steeply for the final approach to the summit. Rocks damp with snow and ice made this last bit rather interesting, as a solid climb is required to reach the cairn atop the highest point.
From the summit we enjoyed awesome 360-degree views... to the east you can see almost the entire route taken, to the south the Mt Anne group, around the west the Lakes Pedder and Gordon with Mt. Wedge in between, to the north Mt.s Lord and Field West and Florentine Peak. Highly atypical of winter in the south west, the weather was perfectly calm up top so we enjoyed a lengthy relaxing lunch before commencing our return journey.
All in all a highly recommendable mountain for all but absolute beginners, and one made all the better with great folk from Pandani. While the track etc. is relatively easy to follow with nothing particularly difficult to deal with save sections of rock scrambling, it is worth mentioning that the ~1.5km section of open ridgeline walking is highly exposed to weather from all sides, and probably not a place to be if things cut up. A few of the folks recounted tales of encountering a blizzard up top on their last trip out there. Something to keep in mind.
