West Ridge Mt Buller

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West Ridge Mt Buller

Postby South Col » Sat 07 May, 2016 12:33 am

Wow I have a new entry in my top 3 favourite walks. West Ridge Mt Buller. What a totally enjoyable and fun little walk. I say little cause it only last 150mins, including lots of stops for lots of photos. I started at the Trail Head about 5km up Dougherty's Rd, just past Sawmill Settlement. I was lucky cause I brought my mum and she dropped me off then drove to the summit to meet me lol. Sorry but the idea of walking 5kms uphill on dirt road just sounds horrible and boring as all s%$t. The track starts off pretty steep, and the day I started it looked like several motorbikes had been up here the day before. There was a large tyre width trench for the first few hundred metres which made the path awkward. About 300m up, an arrow on a tree says the path veers off to the left. This was a little confusing cause the path looked like it went straight ahead. The walking track did actually veer left and another arrow on a tree a few metres later confirmed the turn. The track straight ahead was for access to the logging coup just up the hill. The path was actually really well formed and very easy to follow. It headed uphill at a steady incline and I was on Round Hill within half and hour. From here you get the first few of the Ridge and Mt Buller, and it was beautiful. Round Hill obviously gets lots of wind because nearly every dead tree was blown over or broken. Its quite flat over this section and after a few hundred metre you turn left and go downhill into a saddle that would make a great campsite, if there was water (might be better in winter with snow). From here you continue heading uphill following the ridge to the first of three big uphill sections or hills. The first big hill was quite steep but involved now scrambling with hands. At the top a sign told you now bikes or horses could go any further and you also got to see the ski runs for the first time. Down the other side quite steeply and across a saddle, you reached another big hill, but this time it was even steeper and on a couple of occasions, I had to put my sticks down and scramble up the rocks. There was one little section where the climb was quite exposed (but easy), but definitely had to hang on as the rock on anything facing south was wet and slippery. The final hill was a big massive trail heading straight up to the summit of Buller itself. I got about one fifth of the way up and decided I wanted to get out of the wet and cold and onto the ridge, so I headed up one of the chutes and into the sun. It was quite steep, wet and slippery, but once in the sun it was way warmer, although very windy. Once on top next to one of several stone cairns it was a pretty straight forward walk to the summit of Mt Buller. I saw my mother at the fire lookout and waved (she didn't see me lol) and headed up.
All up its only about 4 km, 99% of it is up hill, the trail is well defined and easy to follow, and it was very wet, slippery and cold on the south side. The odd arrow marks the way, but the trail is good, and when its not, well your on a pretty obvious ridge so not hard to follow.
I thoroughly enjoy this hike, it has a bit of everything and would certainly do it again.
Please visit my blog at 30peaksin30days.wordpress.com for a full trip report and photos
James
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Re: West Ridge Mt Buller

Postby north-north-west » Sat 07 May, 2016 10:00 am

Yes, it's a lovely little walk. Fun in the snow too, although you have to be extra careful on the steep bits.
"Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens."
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Re: West Ridge Mt Buller

Postby Stew63 » Sat 07 May, 2016 6:22 pm

Thanks for the trip report James.
I'll definitely put that one on my list!
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