Manfred, Cuvier & Byron

[MJD]

9 pictures to post.

Byron, Cuvier and Manfred are often climbed as a threesome; but how often is Manfred climbed first? Catching the morning ferry up Lake St Clair had this threesome hidden in some decidedly dark grey mist but this slowly lifted as I headed up the Lake Marion track. I spied Byron clear from the forest and then Cuvier. Manfred took longer but it was clear by the time I decided to leave the track. But which way to go? There seemed to be two basic choices: A - get up onto the ridge, followed by two potentially steep steps; or B - keep in the forest for as long as possible and bypass the two steps. The first choice looked better as I expected to be able to see where I was going once up on the ridge. The good news was that the summit looked attainable from this side.

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Manfred

A closer look...

Hmm. This second step looked a bit more challenging from close up and so it was.

[MJD]

Great views from the summit.

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The next challenge: getting across to Cuvier.

Looking south to Olympus and Byron.

North to the Guardians and Gould towering over Lake Marion with the Ducane range behind.

[MJD]

The scoparia was in flower - the only problem being that there was a lot of it and it was between me and where I was going. It certainly was a bit of a scrub bash down to the saddle.


The following morning dawned wet and misty but once again this slowly lifted. By the time I had to pick my way up towards Byron it was clear and sunny and navigation was nice and easy.

I had originally planned to walk out via the Cuvier Valley but given the amount of water around I piked and opted for the longer but drier walk around Lake St Clair.

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The scoparia was in flower

Looking back to Manfred from Cuvier.

Byron hiding in the morning mist

[Nick S]

Interesting set of photos there MJD. The slopes of Mt Manfred looked pretty scrubby in that 3rd pic! Did you find any pads to follow or was it all pretty hard going?

[MJD]

The initial climb up Manfred was very nice through open forest. The third picture shows the tough part. The forest and scrub by itself wouldn't have been too bad but a couple of little vertical wet bits made it a bit more challenging. The scrub coming off Manfred down to the saddle with Cuvier was pretty bad and I didn't pick up any pads until I reached the lower band of cliffs. At least I was going downhill and had gravity on my side - somewhere in that lot I lost a water bottle and my reading glasses! Going up the other side towards Cuvier was quite easy.

Between Cuvier and Byron it was sort of similar. A lot of scrub, often waist high, usually scoparia, until the low point. But this time there were quite a few pads. The climb up to Byron was through nice open forest but you eventually come up against some small vertical bits. However, as often happens once you find a "weak spot" in such a cliff line I picked up a nice little pad that ran all the way up and across Byron. There is also a nice pad coming off Byron that makes progress much easier but I keep losing it once in the open forest.

All in all a great walk.

lovely photos- how long was the walk all up?

[stu]

Great photos MJD, brings back happy memories. As mentioned in a previous forum, me & a couple of others did this as an overnight walk in late 2007, very enjoyable, I really love the southern reserve peaks. Day 1: first ferry to Narcissus, Byron, Cuvier, camp in Cuvier / Manfred saddle. Day 2: Manfred, Manfred plateau, Marion track, last ferry from Narcissus. Yes, we went the opposite way, but by pretty much the same route, with the occasional pad up until, but not past Manfred. Didn't find the scrub too bad, a little bit of a battle through the high scoparia on the way to Manfred, but otherwise just openish forest. We also found the descent (your ascent) from Manfred to the Manfred plateau steep & wet, but not too bad with a little searching. We summited Manfred via some steep gullies on the western side, where there is also a tiny hanging tarn for water (see photo). A great dicovery on the summit of Manfred for us was a Wedge Tailed Eagles nest, complete with a regurgitated wombat foetus The things you see on remote summits Thanks again Martin, glad you had a great trip

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Mt. Cuvier seen from the small tarn on the western slope of Mt. Manfred.

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[MJD]

the_camera_poser: The walk was two (long) days starting with the 9am ferry up the lake. As it turned out I could have made the last ferry back from Narcissus on the second day thereby shortening the walk quite a bit - unfortunately I didn't have a booking so I just walked out around the lake. The original plan was to walk down the Cuvier Valley but I piked because it was surprisingly wet and there's a lot of mud heading out that way. An alternative route involving a second night out would be to head up Olympus from the Byron Gap.

Stu: didn't see an eagle's nest although there was one soaring around slightly to the NW.

[kanangra]

Those photos are excellent. Some of the country on the top looked fairly open or is the appearance deceptive?

[MJD]

It's a good mixture of open through to scrubby. The worst bit was from Manfred down to the saddle with Cuvier. Most of the forests are nice open going.

[Lostsoul]

So what was the best way up/down Manfred from the Lake Marion side?A or B ?