A big thank you to anyone who's walked the Face Track in the last week. You saved me many hours and possible the night up on the Face Track.
I was up near Kitchen Hut last night to see the best sunset I've ever witnessed at Cradle Mountain. There was not a cloud in the sky, not the slightest of breezes and not a single person in sight. With the sun going down and with all the snow around it was total magic. As the sunset climaxed Cradle turned orange before it started turning dull, then to my surprise it turned pink before turning dull again then fading away with the last light.
I decided to return via the Face Track and down to Lake Wilks, I not one for walking back the same way when there's an option. I was loving the snow and was enjoying the twilight walk, until it started getting dark. I would have been right but I didn't account on the snow being quite so thick. At once point every few steps one leg would go over thigh deep in the snow and still not hit the ground. The markers were few and far between so all I had to guide me was a set of footprints, it looked as if the last person to walk the Face Track had done so close to a week ago. It was going ok until it was well and truly getting dark, lucky for me I premeditated needing my head-torch (as all my cradle trips end up going unintentionally into the night.. i guess that does kinda make it intentional doesn't it
). It was about this time I started getting into the real deep snow to make matters worse it was about a 60 degree slope. I started off without a worry following track mans footprints until I almost lost my balance as my foot broke though the snow and almost lost my footing entirely. I could see the loose snow sliding about 10-15 meters down the slope and over the edge. If I have of slipped there was no possible way I could have stopped the slide and would have gone clean over the edge.. and all the way down to Lake Wilks, not an approach I felt entirely giving my life away for. 
From then on I made a nice big ledge, which took a fair bit of effort. I punched into the snow as hard as I could getting my right arm in about as far as my elbow and then preceded by kicking the snow out of the way in front of me until there was a nice stable ledge to walk on. I continued this way for ages, pretty much keeping above the track mans track the whole way. It was a glorious night, still not a cloud in the sky and stars filled the sky, the moon didn't make an appearance. I was surprised that I didn't once remember being cold when all I was wearing was quick-dry pants which were pretty wet from leaning on the snow, a thermal top and a quick-drying shirt. The only part of me that was cold was my hands, even though I was wearing some serious big gloves, from punching into the snow and getting snow all down the tops of them. (They were wetter on the inside than out!)
There was one point where the tracks dropped down on a sharp right angle downhill about 20-30 meters, I followed them down and found a marker, one of the first. Me and track mans tracks had been walking uphill from the real track for a pretty considerable distance, I'd say one factor at the sheer steepness of the hillside. I reckon down at the real track level it would have been a lot easier going (not as steep), though it was still covered in as much snow. This track man must have know where he was going at any case, he was proving to be more useful than a modern day navigational device. - Though I'm sure in daylight it would have been a much easier job seeing more than the few mere meters I could see.
I noticed cars coming in and out of the Dove Lake carpark a few times, I also noticed someone with there head-torch on walking down from Hansons Peak. I though I saw two lights up at Marions Lookout too, though it could have been stars. It felt good that I wasn't the only people out of my mind walking around the mountains at this hour, I remember thinking how lucky we were walking around on such a good night while everyone else would have been rugged up in bed.
The going didn't get much easier as I continued, however there were a lot more bushes poking up out of the snow which made me feel a lot more secure so as I could ease up on my highway making, at least if I slipped now I'd have something to hold on to! I got to a point where the tracks stopped and I noticed there was a big slide mark running at a right angle down the hill. It looked to me that the fabled track man may have slipped and had gone for a bit of a slide. I had a good old look for tracks but there was definitely no sign of them, so I followed the slide path down the hill. I came across a bush with a broken branch a short way down, this looked more and more to be like a disastrous slide to his fate. I must have been walking for a minute or two and thought this can't be right, there's nowhere on the track that goes straight down! If I went back up I knew I wouldn't be able to find my way in the dark with no tracks so I keep making my way down the hill. It was pretty steep going and I ended up sitting down and slowly making my way down (punching the snow either side in front of me and sliding down, digging my feet in and repeating the process). Track mans slide mark then became apparent, he must have done exactly the same thing! Still I though it was very odd indeed doing down in such a direction, I knew no track went like that. From what I figured we (me and the track man) must have cut off a small chunk of the Face Track and headed straight for the big rocky section above Lake Wilks (where the chains are). Soon the slide mark stopped and foot prints started again, which was to a big relief. On the way down I never noticed any tracks continuing on to the Rodway Track, not that I cared at the time, all I wanted to do was get out of the snow. Oh, and to my horror, I came across a number of big tarantulas on the snow. Not the usual brown variety, these ones were black (not a big spider fan). I thought it was really weird, as I would have thought the snow would be too cold for them. They sure didn't like being snowballed anyway.
Sure enough I finally made it to the top of the chains alive. 
I stopped for a quick rest at the top of the chains and switched my light off for a few minutes. It was an amazing view, all the mountains were silhouetted against the night sky except for Cradle who's snow was slightly lit up. The reflections of the night sky were perfect on a mirror-like Dove Lake. I noticed one or perhaps two people about this time (probably a little earlier) doing the Dove Lake circuit. I soon got back on my way; easy going compared to the 1 meter plus thick snow above. I made quick time down to Lake Wilks and then down to Dove Lake, getting lost once for a minute at that spot where the track turns sharply down hill near that big tree. (Lol, bad description I know, if I heard that though I'd know the place exactly. Its easy to miss if not paying attention even in the day.) I made it up to the top of the hill (west side of Dove Lake) and laid on the bench for 10 minutes or so looking up at the sky, pure brilliance.
I got back to almost the Boat Shed and witness the first shooting star I've seen in years, and by far the most spectacular one I've ever seen. It came over the top of Mt Campbell an extraordinarily fast bright line with what looked like sparks flicking off all behind it, and within a second it was gone. (The best way to describe it is like a sparkler, like the chickenfeed ones, lit up and sparkling away then thrown through the sky [lol at chickenfeed reference
]). That really made my trip and made up for the gut-wrenching slog along the Face Track. I made it back to the carpark at a bit past 9pm. Totally screwed I got in my sleeping bag and went to sleep in my car, good luck to any park rangers had they came tapping on my window . (Was already worn from a failed Mt Livingtone attempt earlier that day.) I started my walk at about 4ish so I'd say that I took 1 and a half to two hours on the Face Track. 
The most worst thing about the whole trip was not the snow, the dark, the tarantulas or anything else like that. It was that my camera battery was dead flat so I couldn't get one single shot!!!
There's always next time I suppose but its gonna take some luck for the conditions to be that perfect when I'm up there again. I suppose it was good to be there and spend more time looking at the scenery through my own eyes rather than a lens. Even if I missed out on the perfect sunset snow shot, the perfect cradle mountain sunset shot, the prefect long exposure night sky shot, and all the other shots in between, oh and the perfect mirror-like reflections of Cradle in the morning.Moral of the story is always make sure your camera battery is fully charged and make sure you always carry a spare! I've been putting it off buying a secondary battery for weeks and in the end it done me in.
I suppose I should also mention not to walk on the Face Track at night when its covered in meter deep snow and you can't see any of the markers... unless you have some tracks to follow! Mary regards track man, you served me well! Third epic unintentionally intentional night walk at Cradle down. Not sure whats next, already covered the unintentional long haul and a chilling blizzard-like walk in July.
