Halfway through and I'm still alive - update
Posted: Wed 22 Mar, 2017 5:05 amWell I've made it to Mt Hotham! (From Walhalla that is) I'll have a little rest and regroup here then carry on. I have taken just over 30 days to get this far and for the most part it's been good but still, very hard.
I've had incredible good luck with the weather - no rain except this last day and right at the beginning;, quite a number of small to significant equipment failures despite having pretty good gear. The route is often pretty *&%$#! and I've slept badly but adequately most of the way. I got lost on top of the Viking and slept the night on a rock top before refinding the mysterious track and getting out the next day by 2pm. I sure do dislike the Viking but now that I've been through that, the next time would just about be a doddle, should I be insane enough to want to have another go. The Razor is also hideous and I met several who lost the track there despite being experienced bushwalkers. There's no acceptable excuse for the poor track marking as I can see as in some spots in these two areas there are a lot of track markers. Chapman's book osometimes has poor descriptions though in the two difficult spots just mentioned, I concede the route is very difficult to describe accurately to someone who can't see the track. I got completely befuddled by the second cairn on the Viking summit. Apparently it leads to south Viking but how was I to know, nothing is said about it. Mycompass fidnt work in that spot and I was reluctant to go towards the top of the rocky ridge. I had misty conditions to deal with also. I found the whole Viking thing scary. And I don't like heights but anyway I made out alive, but only just short of having to be rescued as I had run out of water.
Bushwalkers and others are leaving rubbish along the track and this is very upsetting. The roadworkers are buggering up the track in spots by pushing huge logs in front of the track exit points at times. The worst spot is when coming into Low Saddle but also on Murray hut site there's no way to find the track to water now, should thee a tuallybe any when it's not raining.
I don't know how people can do this route in anything less than six weeks and I myself will need more than the eight weeks I have planned for. Afterall it has taken me 31 or 32 days to get to mt Hotham . I got lucky by finding extra food at Rumpffs Saddle and was able to carry food for 18 days through section three. I could phone up the food drop owner and ask so don't jump to any negative conclusions. I could not have done section three in 10 days or less but then I'm 53 and don't have a fast stride. And female of course. I think my age is a key factor in my slow pace. So I took a day off after every long day as I also have had to build fitness and worried a bit about damaging my knees and having to abort the trip as a result.
The chapman book is highly inadequate on the subject of food drops. Of course I couldn't do any of this without that book but a major update is well overdue and improvements in track descriptions and fooddrop info would be essential in my opinion. Problem areas I found being Black River, and the leg going past high cone and square top. Discussion about how to manage the water issue from mt spec to Barry Saddle is needed and also there are water issues after South Selwyn in my experience. Yes there's water at the selwyn creek road but why would I go almost two kms out of my way for it in the middle of a leg. I wiuldnt be able to carry it over for overnighting. How anyone can do this track wearing shorts is beyond me. It seems the height of stupidity to wear them in the Victoria section at least where there is quite a bit of prickly and thorny vegetation.
Incidentally I made a water drop for Viking Saddle and that's the only way I could get through that whole section. I could not have walked from Catherine Saddle to Barry Saddle in a day as others seem to do. It took me until 3pm just to get to the razor with a half empty pack to drop the water so anyone who can do the other, particularly women, you are heroic in my eyes. And I know two of these.
Before I left I wrote a post about getting lonely on the track. Well it hasn't been an issue. I've generally been too busy to get lonely and secondly at times, I've met a lot of people, ie specifically at Mt Speculation which is a gorgeous place. I spent four days there in total.
Anyway that's it for now. My next challenge is make mt Hotham work for me without bankrupting me. The food situation here seems pretty dire if you are on a budget.
I've had incredible good luck with the weather - no rain except this last day and right at the beginning;, quite a number of small to significant equipment failures despite having pretty good gear. The route is often pretty *&%$#! and I've slept badly but adequately most of the way. I got lost on top of the Viking and slept the night on a rock top before refinding the mysterious track and getting out the next day by 2pm. I sure do dislike the Viking but now that I've been through that, the next time would just about be a doddle, should I be insane enough to want to have another go. The Razor is also hideous and I met several who lost the track there despite being experienced bushwalkers. There's no acceptable excuse for the poor track marking as I can see as in some spots in these two areas there are a lot of track markers. Chapman's book osometimes has poor descriptions though in the two difficult spots just mentioned, I concede the route is very difficult to describe accurately to someone who can't see the track. I got completely befuddled by the second cairn on the Viking summit. Apparently it leads to south Viking but how was I to know, nothing is said about it. Mycompass fidnt work in that spot and I was reluctant to go towards the top of the rocky ridge. I had misty conditions to deal with also. I found the whole Viking thing scary. And I don't like heights but anyway I made out alive, but only just short of having to be rescued as I had run out of water.
Bushwalkers and others are leaving rubbish along the track and this is very upsetting. The roadworkers are buggering up the track in spots by pushing huge logs in front of the track exit points at times. The worst spot is when coming into Low Saddle but also on Murray hut site there's no way to find the track to water now, should thee a tuallybe any when it's not raining.
I don't know how people can do this route in anything less than six weeks and I myself will need more than the eight weeks I have planned for. Afterall it has taken me 31 or 32 days to get to mt Hotham . I got lucky by finding extra food at Rumpffs Saddle and was able to carry food for 18 days through section three. I could phone up the food drop owner and ask so don't jump to any negative conclusions. I could not have done section three in 10 days or less but then I'm 53 and don't have a fast stride. And female of course. I think my age is a key factor in my slow pace. So I took a day off after every long day as I also have had to build fitness and worried a bit about damaging my knees and having to abort the trip as a result.
The chapman book is highly inadequate on the subject of food drops. Of course I couldn't do any of this without that book but a major update is well overdue and improvements in track descriptions and fooddrop info would be essential in my opinion. Problem areas I found being Black River, and the leg going past high cone and square top. Discussion about how to manage the water issue from mt spec to Barry Saddle is needed and also there are water issues after South Selwyn in my experience. Yes there's water at the selwyn creek road but why would I go almost two kms out of my way for it in the middle of a leg. I wiuldnt be able to carry it over for overnighting. How anyone can do this track wearing shorts is beyond me. It seems the height of stupidity to wear them in the Victoria section at least where there is quite a bit of prickly and thorny vegetation.
Incidentally I made a water drop for Viking Saddle and that's the only way I could get through that whole section. I could not have walked from Catherine Saddle to Barry Saddle in a day as others seem to do. It took me until 3pm just to get to the razor with a half empty pack to drop the water so anyone who can do the other, particularly women, you are heroic in my eyes. And I know two of these.
Before I left I wrote a post about getting lonely on the track. Well it hasn't been an issue. I've generally been too busy to get lonely and secondly at times, I've met a lot of people, ie specifically at Mt Speculation which is a gorgeous place. I spent four days there in total.
Anyway that's it for now. My next challenge is make mt Hotham work for me without bankrupting me. The food situation here seems pretty dire if you are on a budget.
