Walls of Jerusalem NP, Tasmania. 6 day exped.

An epic 6 days up at a 1200m base camp, with day walks.  Lots of snowy days...  for the second week of November. 

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In the Jetstar magazine... a young woman does the 3000km North to South NZ hike and it changes her perspective on life and herself. 

The small town of Launceston where I started after the flight 

After the Bus ride to Deloraine , Sunday Hitch-Hiking towards the trail start.

Tiny campground I stayed in Sunday eve, the next day I was at the trail start at 9am

 Typical Breakfast... Coffee,  Porridge in an insulated bowl.

 At the trailhead, 9am Monday

 Trappers Hut after a steep climb. 

Wild dog Creek campsite and my base camp at 1200m 

 My home for 5 nights at base camp

 Lunch prep the day before a day trip 

 The High plateau "walls of Jerusalem"  just above base camp

 Button Grass

 After a big dump of snow... spent Wednesday in the tent. 

Hiking in the cold, with wet feet due to river crossings and snow. 

Top of Mt Temple , 1500 m approx. 

 Dixon's kingdom Hut.  Very picturesque and neat entries in the log book

 Following the pink tape from Dixon's Kingdom to Ball lake (no proper track)

 Lake Adelaide . Did a 21 km cct that Thursday, cutting across to wild dog creek at the end of the day

 Pencil Pines, unique to Tasmania

 Snow on Cradle Mountain area 

 Woke up to lots of snow on Saturday. Hike out with a young couple. GPS used sometimes , as track covered in snow...  

Overall, a great intense experience, only a week off work building trails in the Grampians.  
Saturday Bus from Halls gap , shuttle, flight to Launceston (1 hr). Stay at Launceston Backpackers (very calm and good) , buy food at the local Coles.  Catch bus to Deloraine Sunday at 1pm.   Then Hitchhike to a few km of trail head, stay in small campgound. 
Monday get up early, Hitch and get to trail head at 9am.
carrying 27 kg (alpine tent, cold weather jacket and pants, 6 days food, GPS with topo maps, PLB,  Cooking gear , sleep bag, 2 mats. )

up to wild dog creek camp in 4 hrs. Set up camp and chill.
tuesday day hike.
wednesday in tent all day (heavy snow , then rain).

Thursday big day hike: 21 km cct : up to gates of Damascus, up mt Temple, down to Dixon's kingdom. Across to Ball lake then follow hard-to-follow track to lake Adelaide and beyond (overgrown , poorly marked, multiple river crossings up to knees/ groin).  Snow flurries all day. 
cut across last 1.5 km to get back to base camp - No track, some bog and thick forest.
Glad to be back in tent... getting mildly hypothermic. I get dry thermals on, make hot water bottle, eat and recover in sleeping bag. 

Friday another day hike , looking for baglet that ripped off my pack on Thursday....  not a big deal in the end, but I dont find it.... Tassie bush is unforgiving. 

Saturday pack up tent in freezing snow, my hands loose feeling. I sit down on mat, make hot chocolate and warm my hands back by pouring hot water on them.....
A lesson in how quickly things can deteriorate with very cold weather.  
Luckily I had my GPS turned on ,on the way in. So it had a coloured trace of the track, which we sometimes followed on the way out, as much of the track was covered in snow. 

I am lucky to meet this couple, and we drive back to Launceston, where I dry my gear, take a hot shower and eat stacks of food in the hostel. 
Fly out the next morning , and back to work Monday....

Kosciusko Winter 2019 X-Country , Downhill skiing.

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Guthega area

Looking towards Blue Lake

Snow Gum

Island Bend camp area after big snowfall

Next to blue lake, up from Illawong hut. 

 Island Bend camp area 

 Old settlers hut near Jindabyne picnic area

 To give instant heat, Mr Buddy heater. 

 Walking from skitube towards Thredbo diggings camp area. 

 Lake Jindabyne

 Alpine Touring skis I borrowed.  Very good on downhill

 Dead Horse gap 

 View of kosi range from victorian side

 Little house in the prairie (Keeble's hut).  Free entry. 

Had  all of August to enjoy Kosiusko NP.  A luxury... this time no shuttle bus driving which could get quite tiring, especially weekends.  
A good break from my job building trails in the Grampians, which can be a bit bleak in the winter.  

Tried a bit of snowboarding (limited success),  did some X country on icy terrain mostly.  Realised September is a better season for x country - less windy, less cold, snow is less icy on the high plateau.

Linked up with Pierre who I had met on queen's birthday,  and did a backcountry tour to Ramshead with his Alpine Touring (AT) skis.  Heavier skis and boots than my Nordic skis.  Basically regular wide skis with a binding that converts to freeheel for flat and uphill.  Need to put skins on for the latter. 

They turned out great on the downhill... great sense of mastery with the rigid boots etc. 

Another day,  we did 5000m total in Thredbo ski resort, using the lifts, and I got pretty much private tuition for my downhill parallel skiing, and improved a lot.  

This also meant I shared some evenings and dinner , which broke my isolation to some degree. 

It occurred to me during the trip that It might have been less spartan to go to Bali... also that for Mountaineering,  I'd be better off flying to Europe and using a place like "La Berarde" or Chamonix as a base camp... easy to find climbing partners,  gentle weather,  a network of mountain huts etc.  

There was a degree of loneliness with living out of the van in spartan cold, which I had not expected. 

The photos were taken with a new camera, good for nightshots,  which I can use for timelapses later: 

Sony RX100 MK3.  A very powerful and compact camera. 

At the end, I drove the windy road into victoria and walked the easy walk to Keeble's hut... some very nice old huts, would be good to do a thru-hike in the lower alpine areas.