We had been unsure what the weather would do from here, but we broke out of cloud just after we had passed the profuse display of alpine flowers on Magdala's flanks.
From here on the day continued to improve until we were once again in hot clear conditions.
This was another day with relaxed walking, and we took some time to soak up the open saddle and then the clear edge of Picture Point before heading out to Helicopter Spur.
- Emerging onto the ridge south of Magdala. King Billy 1 and Picture Point ahead
- Heading out to Picture Point. A group of school girls was ahead of us.
I had things a little mixed up in my mind, so when we found the first cliff line to be a quite straightforward affair, I thought the worst was over.
We relaxed and had some lunch before arriving at the second cliff line. On reflection, it was not that hard if you knew what you were doing - and I think it would be easier to navigate going up.
However, when going down we ended up at the nose looking down a very vertical drop.
As is often the case when looking down, the areas of scree can resemble a path, so I dropped my pack and went exploring down the nose.
I was pretty sure it was not the correct route, but was hoping I could see to the bottom to get some clues.
I ended the descent above a sheer drop of at least 10m, and I edged out onto an overhanging ledge. This again affirmed it could not possibly be the route.
Climbing back up again - I realised that I had been rather foolish coming down here, as getting back up again meant sometimes pulling myself using clumps of grass.
At this stage we were wondering if we had to go all the way back to the Howitt Spur exit and I was preparing to explore around the southern side of the ridge.
But I happened to catch sight of an obvious cairn about half way down the northern side and perhaps 30 metres back from the nose.
Pity there was no equally clear cairn at the ridgetop at this point, as it had not been easy to spot it way down there.
It meant a very steep climb down the rocks and screes before eventually arriving at the crux of Helicopter Spur.
This is a very vertical gully. I climbed down it without pack and realised it was quite adequate for foot and hand holds. But we packhauled none-the-less.
I certainly would have climbed up it without pack hauling, but there is so much more uncertainty when coming down something that steep.
- Looking back at the crux of Helicopter Spur - the vertical slot on the north side of the second cliff face
- The second cliff line from further down Helicopter Spur
The path through the final cliff line was much more obvious but was hard on the feet as much of it was very steep slippery gravel.
It drops into a gully on the northern side again, next to some large columns of rock jutting out away from the main ridgeline.
The track can get a little undefined as the spur enters larger trees and undergrowth and broadens out.
We met a couple young guys just heading in which gave us more confidence, and it was not long before we came to an old road.
- Coming out of the gully on the north side of the 3rd cliffline