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Mountain Journal

Environment, news, culture from the Australian Alps

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Tasmania

The Ducane traverse

As summer kicks in, its tempting to get happily distracted by long gone snow and cold. I have been struggling to write content these last few weeks, so am ‘recycling’ a piece that hasn’t appeared on the front page yet: a summary of the Ducane traverse, in the southern end of the Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park.

climbing past Falling Mountain

Tasmania has notoriously un-predictable winter conditions, but the Ducane can provide  spectacular skiing when it’s in condition, on steep slopes and in gullies.

The ‘traverse’ is generally seen as being the walk/ snowshoe from Ducane Gap, on the Overland Track, over Castle Crag and Mt Massif, into Big Gun Pass, and then exiting onto the Ducane Range proper. From here you head out past the Pool of Memories and down to the head of Pine Valley via the Geryon climbers camp, or through the Labyrinth to the Parthenon track that takes you to Pine Valley hut.

Its awesome terrain at any time, especially winter, which is when these images and report are from. Enjoy.

the Gould circuit

Mt Gould saddle

Another great and mostly off-track trip in the Cradle Mountain National Park in  Central West Tassie is the ‘Gould circuit’. It’s a nice three day trip to and from Narcissus hut at the northern end of Lake St Clair. If you continue north into the Labyrinth or west onto the Guardians you can easily stretch it into a longer journey (one option is to keep going over the Ducane Range and Mt Massif, to exit onto the Overland track at Ducane Gap).

The following are some slightly vague reflections on the Circuit.

Canoeing Lake St Clair

Lake St Clair, or Leeawuleena, at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, is perhaps best known for being the end of the famous Overland Track. Nowdays, most Overland walkers catch the ferry out from Narcissus Hut, avoiding the last days wander along the estern shore of the lake.

While it is fairly popular with folks who have sea kayaks, it is one of the great secrets for those who want to tour in open canoes, with easy road access, lots of great campsites, and a big patch of open water.

There are some images from a recent trip here.


Jumping Bass Strait

Sunrise on The Acropolis & Mt Geryon, TAS

So far, this site has focussed solely on mainland Australia. But with winter over and everything warming up, we are coming into peak time for wanders and other outdoor adventures in Tasmania. And after all, Tassie has our rockiest and wildest mountains.

So it seemed like time to start to include some content from the Southern Island. I thought I would add a few random shots from some recent mid winter Tas trips to get things rolling.

Please feel free to send stories, updates, or images on anything mountain-related from Tasmania.

Posts on Tasmania will be added here.

Climbing Castle Crag, TAS
Camp near Castle Crag

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