Cradle snow depth

[Lophophaps]

Has anyone walked in the past few weeks? Any indication of snow depth? Trying to decide whether to carry the snowshoes or not when I go at the start of August.

Edit: Not specifically Cradle mountain, Overland Track in general.

[finn]

No one else planning to walk starting this weekend? Might have the track to myself and given the latest forecast I might add flotation tails to my snowshoes haha.

[CasualNerd]

Just came back from Walls of Jerusalem, looked like there was plenty of snow over the back of cradle, as there was at Walls.

I'd definitely suggest carrying the shoes, more snow forecast.

[Mutley]

Doing the OLT from Cradle mid August. Definitely taking snow shoes. It's my first major winter trip and I'm excited but a tad anxious about the snow depth and weather. Any tips would be appreciated.

[finn]

Thanks for the update! Definitely think I'll be taking the shoes at this point, certainly not shaping up to be a dry hike.

I'll post how I find the track once I'm done in a week.

[finn]

Just returned from a successful walk South to North finishing on the Thursday just gone. We had nothing more than a dusting over the Ducane Gap, 3cm over the Pelion Gap and pretty nice weather for the most part.

From roughly the Barn Bluff turnoff to Marions lookout there was the remainder of what would have been waist deep high snow over the track. However rain and nice days had left it melted and patchy to the point where donning the snowshoes wasn't worth it with so much exposed rock and water on the track for this section.

Having said that I don't regret carrying the snowshoes as we were carrying very light packs and the weather could easily have gone the other way. After the Friday/Saturday weather I observed at the bottom of the hill I'd expect a fair bit more snow up around Cradle than we had.

My only tip is that make sure you can get warm under your own power as there is no gas / broken stoves in Pelion, Kia Ora and Windy/Burt. Which makes for fairly cold evenings!

[Peaksnik]

Thanks for reporting back Finn. It's always good to hear how things turned out.
I've done it (S to N) with and without snowshoes at the same time of year and, unless the weather window is excellent, would carry snowshoes in future.
Out of interest, how much weight did you carry and over how many nights?

[finn]

Hey,

By no means an ultralight hike, but light for a winter week classical style pack I figure. So 3kg canvas rucksacks, e-readers and a bit of Port. I think my wife had 12~13kg and I had 18kg setting off including the snowshoes and what little water we needed to carry. That was food for an expected 6 nights and one extra for contingency.

Ended up skipping Burt Nichols as it was about 3 degrees inside at lunchtime so walked out after 5 nights.

Enjoyed walking South to North Loved and passing by more Cradle daywalkers heading up with my favourite being a woman in miniskirt, sheer tights, HIGH HEELS and a Louis Vouton handbag, just about to tackle the wind and snow after Marion's.

[Peaksnik]

a woman in miniskirt, sheer tights, HIGH HEELS and a Louis Vouton handbag, just about to tackle the wind and snow after Marion's.

If anyone needed proof that women are NOT weaker than men then this is it!
Miniskirt and tights - a modern take on the great tradition of 19th century women walkers and climbers who had to put up with long woollen dresses. Although I do suspect that hobnail boots were more comfortable than high heels.