Winter Track conditions for overland 2013.

[Rickr]

Hi everyone. I plan to walk the OT starting on the 11/7/13. Hoping I might get some info here from people who have just seen the track conditions.

[sthughes]

Well that's 18 days away so who knows really....
But at the moment (I was on Crdle yesterday and finished the OT 2 weeks ago):
Cradle to Waterfall - Track in good condition, few puddles tiny bit of mud between Kitchen Hut and the Cirque, no snow but plenty of ice.
Waterfall to Windemere - Track fantastic; pretty much all boardwalk or hard gravel.
Windemere to Pelion - Great boardwalked track along Pine Forest Moore (except the rocky/rooty bits in the trees). Once into the area adjacent West Pelion the track is still quite okay but can be a bit of a creek in the rain - waterproof boots or wet feet. Short section near Frog Flats is quite muddy, and in places it is rather deep (over gaiters+). Then to finish off the day you get some old board walks that are a bit wonky and without chicken wire, hence they are about the slipperiest surface known to man.
Pelion to Kia Ora - Mostly decent natural surface with a few bits of boardwalk up to Pelion Gap. Then mostly rotton old cordwood with nice boggy holes, rusty wire sticking out, bits of wood etc thrown in to increase the "wilderness experience". Then onto some good natural surface for a while before a nice big boggy section through button grass that's braided about 10-15m wide in places. Just before the hut things improve to hard gravel and boardwalks once again.
Kia Ora to Bert Nicholls - Good natural surface most of the way with just a few minor bits of mud and millions of slippery tree roots. Pretty decent all in all.
Bert Nicholls to Narcissus - Mostly hard gravel etc and board walks.

[Rickr]

Thanks for that. Hopefully there will be some more updates before i fly out. I've read that conditions can get so bad it blocks the track for a few days? Is that being a bit extream saying that could happen?

[sthughes]

Thanks for that. Hopefully there will be some more updates before i fly out. I've read that conditions can get so bad it blocks the track for a few days? Is that being a bit extream saying that could happen?

Very unlikely to get that sort of snowfall in the next couple of weeks, but yes it is possible.

[Ent]

Hi

Generally issues of snow blocked tracks happens at Kitchen Hut but also a Pelion Gap. As for predicting them. Well it is Tassie.

Winter can be rather random so prepare for anything. On the weekend you could not have asked for better weather. Shorts and t-shirts until the sun went down then minus six.

Cheers

[sthughes]

Very unlikely to get that sort of snowfall in the next couple of weeks, but yes it is possible.

I did say it was possible! Looks like it's very snowy up there at the moment, I imagine the OT would be hard work at the moment?? But it has been very cold, so perhaps hard snow for a change??

[norts]

Just finished walking the OLT today. 6 days of walking through snow, we walked Sth to Nth, left on Friday. We used snow shoes from near Kia Ora through to the northern side of Pelion Gap and from Forth Lookout through to Windermere Hut.
Only needed the snow shoes where it was fresh snow and it hadnt been flattened by other walkers. It wasn't feasible to use the shoes coming over Ducane Gap as the ti tree was falling across the track and at times you had to crawl to get through. The trees across the track were the most annoying part. The weight of the snow bends the smaller trees across the track.
Snow was anywhere from ankle deep to waist deep, if you took a wrong step.
Where the snow was well trodden down(near Cradle) it was very icy. Some sort of ice chains would be recommended, especially if we dont get any more snow. The snow that is about is going to be compacted into solid blocks of ice.
My best walk through the Park yet

Roger

[Rickr]

Thanks guys. I'm leaving launceston in the morning and will go north to south. I have micro spikes but no snow shoes. Weather forecast is for nothing under zero degrees but I'm already packed for blizzard conditions (less the snow shoes)
first big multi day hike for me so ill be happy to make it through by Friday week....

[sthughes]

Good luck, have fun.

From what Roger said I imagine by tomorrow Micro spikes will be more advantageous than snow shoes anyway once a few more have trampled the snow down a bit more. I'll be up on Western Bluff on Saturday night, hopefully in the snow too. Would be great to have a week to spare now to spend some more time in it!