Biggest day hike climb in Australia ??

[Turfa]

Last week I was in Queenstown NZ for a conference. One afternoon I snuck away early & walked up Ben Lomond. It is a fantastic walk. It starts from the main street of town & is a spectacular climb up quite a dramatic peak, with an amazing view from the summit.

It is a solid 1400m climb & it got me wondering what is the greatest elevation change you can do on a day walk in Australia ??? I'm thinking of a single climb, not adding up multiple ups & downs..........

Any ideas ?

Chris

[doogs]

Could be mt wellington if you start from hobart waterfront! Which would be odd as it could also be classed as the shortest

[Son of a Beach]

There was somebody here who posted about their walk up Federation Peak in a day. But that's certainly well beyond what most people could do in a single day. Mt Ossa is also achievable in a day for some people (not for me), but I guess that would probably not really count either.

I'm afraid I don't know the bigger mainland mountains.

[tastrax]

Mount Bartle Frere would have to be up there as one of the "most vertical gain" walks I reckon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Bartle_Frere

[eggs]

There are some descriptions on this site of Hannels Spur.
The photo of the sign post at the bottom says Kosciosko is 15.5 km and 1800m up the track.
Not sure if anyone goes up and back in the same day - but one report was all the way up and out to the Thredbo chair lifts in a day.

[gbedford]

You could try Hannel's Spur. This goes up from Geehi on the Swampy Plains River up to Mt Kosisusko. In fact there are a number of spurs or Lady Charlotte's Canyon. It's a long way up I can assure you. I have taken a day for Hannels and 11/2 days for the spurs/Canyon.

Cheers,
Gordon

[Nick S]

Hey Chris I walked up the NZ ben lomond just a few months ago! but having just finished 2 other walks I decided to start from the top of the gondola at 450m.

Yeah if you mean just vertical elevation I was thinking of Bartle Frere as well, 1622m high.

[ollster]

Does the Australian Antarctic Territory count? Mt Mawson on Heard Island is 2,745 m, straight up from the ocean. Might be tad cold and breezy, and somewhat challenging as a day walk.

[Phil Box]

Mt. Barney near Rathdowney south of Beaudesert, SE Queensland should rate up there too. From the car it is pretty much 1100 metres straight up, Quite doable in a day.

I'll also put Yulladinida Crater Skyline Traverse at Mt. Kaputar as a candidate as well. Admittedly it is a traverse though. 1800 metres of grade 4 to 6 rock climbing after a reasonably short walk to the start. Absolutely spectacular and is one of those experiences that should be done at least once in ones lifetime.

[Liamy77]

Cascade brewery to Mt Wellington summit.... here's the walk info
might be more fun to walk downhill and finish at the brewery tho!

[kano]

We bashed our way up Townsend spur from the Geehi to the summit.I think that was about 2000m,I think that would rate as the toughest on the mainland.Kalliana ridge in the budawangs is no place for slackards either.I have also been down Hannels and also off the end of the sentinel(bad move)

[Liamy77]

if ya want a REAL challenge.... try the cascade to wellington summit..... but stop at the brewery for an hour or 2 before you start the walk and see how fdar ya get?!

[normclimb]

Does the Australian Antarctic Territory count? Mt Mawson on Heard Island is 2,745 m, straight up from the ocean. Might be tad cold and breezy, and somewhat challenging as a day walk.

Anything from 2 days to two weeks, weather permitting, getting up, but only a day getting down, and a tad cold and breezy is somewhat of an understatement........!

[ollster]

Anything from 2 days to two weeks, weather permitting, getting up, but only a day getting down, and a tad cold and breezy is somewhat of an understatement........!

Now that would be an awesome boat mission...

[normclimb]

And an extremely expensive one too........!

[jose]

Drys Bluff is not a long day walk but it has an elevation change of over 1000m

[ILUVSWTAS]

Drys Bluff is not a long day walk but it has an elevation change of over 1000m

So does PB from Cavern camp.

[frenchy_84]

something fishy is going on here!

[Son of a Beach]

Several posts have been removed from this topic, and warnings sent to some of the offenders.

[ollster]

something fishy is going on here!

There was a spontaneous and random *&%$#! fight, SoaB has deftly crushed it.

[frenchy_84]

something fishy is going on here!

There was a spontaneous and random *&%$#! fight, SoaB has deftly crushed it.

it was rather amusing though and now there is no record of it

[Son of a Beach]

something fishy is going on here!

There was a spontaneous and random *&%$#! fight, SoaB has deftly crushed it.

If only I could crush the problems at work today! First week of semester, and all.

[Nuts]

Well, I'm Crushed

[ollster]

If only I could crush the problems at work today! First week of semester, and all.

I can sympathise... Messy, messy gremlins.

[ollster]

Well, I'm Crushed

Bah ha ha! Well played sir.

[doogs]

Nothing like a good philosophical discussion, and it's not even a full moon. Back to the topic, or kind of, you could cycle and walk from launceston at sea level to the top of legges tor and back in a day. Just under 1600m height gain. (I know alking and cycling are different things, I just would like it to be in Tas (which it clearly isn't). Unless all the water in QLD has done a huge amount of erosion.

[robtrotter]

Mt Feathertop from Harrietville via the Bungalow Spur is one of the higher Victorian ones I can think of. From memory it was about 1200m over 10km or so.

[Snowzone]

According to Mr Thomas;

Bartle Frere has a height gain of 1,542 metres (80m to 1622m) starting from Josephine Creek.
Bogong has a gain of 1,401 metres (585m TO 1986m) Staircase spur.
Feathertop is third on the list with 1372 metres (550m to 1922m) Bungalow spur.

[gbedford]

Climbing from the Geehi Flats up Hannel's Spur or any of the western spurs to Mt Kosiusko summit has a height gain of 1783m ( from437 to 2220m). So that is the walk with the most height gain on mainland Australia.

[vagrom]

Noone's mentioned Mt Anne (?) so I guess it doesn't rate highly overall. I have a Tassie newspaper item that describes it as the state's greatest 'daywalk' elevation gain and recognised as such. That would be a gain of between 1 and 1.2k.