Ducane traverse

[MJD]

9 pictures and some comments

Some days off and a good forecast! Time for that traverse of the Ducane Range? I caught the 12:30pm ferry up to Narcissus and headed for the Ducane Gap. I didn't see many people until I reached Windy Ridge. A quick look inside this appallingly designed hut revealed all six tables occupied and about fifteen people eating an early tea. There were also a few people on the camping platforms. Continuing on up to the Ducane Gap I passed the travelling hordes - at least another twenty five people of all ages and sizes in several different groups. The good news was that I had Campfire Creek to myself. After I had set the tent up it started raining and curtailed my attempt at an evening walk down to Hartnett's Falls.

There was a bit of ice on the tent in the morning and it was overcast. However, the odd patch of blue amidst the grey was promising and that forecast had been good. So back up and over the top of the gap and off towards Falling Mountain. Down across the clearing and into the scrub. The scrub wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I meandered my way up to the top of Falling Mountain and onto Castle Crag. What magnificent views of where I was going!

I like boulder fields and boulder hopping which is just as well given the terrain. Pedro’s comments on going right into the broad gully just before Mt Massif were followed and I was on it’s summit around 2pm.

[MJD]

Continuing on I climbed the first tower, mainly because it looked about the same height as the summit – in fact my GPS suggested it was higher – and continued to the next high point where I was forced to sidle around to the north and into the saddle. Chapman suggests that you go over the top of the next bit but that looked a bit steep so I just kept sidling around on the north side and came out about half way down into Big Gun Pass. What an awesome sight with the rift on the southside, the big gun and all the cliffs. I was starting to feel a little weary as I climbed to the top of the pass and, coming across some tarns, I started to look for a campsite. Just after topping the col below the summit of the Ducane range I set up camp.

[MJD]

An evening amble led me out over the Ducane range summit and onto towards Geryon and a look at it’s eastern cliffs. The next day I wandered around a bit, climbed Mt Eros and eventually arrived at the Pool of Memories. From here I headed down towards the Geryon Campsite. I lost the track after about three hundred metres but continued on through some annoyingly thick fagus until I hit a cliff line. I turned right for a bit and down to another cliff. Right again and then down until I hit the creek at the bottom. The only question was “Where am I?” The GPS and the map suggested I was about 150m upstream of the campsite… and so I was. The Geryon campsite is a lovely spot. Great comfortable tent sites set in the forest. After tea I found the track up to the boulder fields beneath Geryon and wandered up to the base of the South Spur.

The track from the Geryon campsite was a bit of a challenge to follow. In particular there were about four bits that need a few markers. Eventually I got to the turn off for the Acropolis and headed on up. This is a surprisingly big mountain and it’s a lovely track to the summit. Sitting on the top – ok I wasn’t on that first needle - I could see the northern end of Lake St Clair and where I needed to be in four hours time to catch the ferry. Oh well at least it was downhill…. and I made it with twenty minutes to spare.

[Son of a Beach]

That's a seriously inspiring set of photos... thanks for sharing them!

[Mickeymoo]

Yeah great set of photos of some magnificent scenery.

[woka]

Ditto on the photos - great shots.

[kanangra]

Those photos are excellent. It sounds like you had a great trip. Is that Ki-Ora Hut I can just make out in the 3rd shot looking down the Mersey Valley?

[Steve]

Truly awesome shots MJD!

[rucksack]

Nice snaps MJD. Very nice!

[flyfisher]

Fabulous photos!! I must get there for a look b4 too long but thanks for bringing it onto my screen.

FF

[cvn76hk]

Excellent pictures!
I love two most, the first one being the one with an orange tent. A very attractive foreground that led me all the way to an inspiring background
The second one is the reflection one, what a beautiful lake!

I you visited the second place (the lake) at sunset/sunrise I guess you might have even better lights, cheers!

[MJD]

Thanks everyone.
kanangra - It is Kia Ora hut that you can just make out.
cvn76hk - The Pool of Memories is very popular with photographers and you often see shots in calendars from there. The cliffs of Geryon often look really good at sunset.
The campsite was great. Of course the perfect weather helped.

[stu]

Ditto on everyone elses comments Martin, fantastic photos of a fantastic area.
I love this walk & we also had ideal conditions when we did it a few months ago.
Castle Crag (Falling Mountain) is a great day walk from Windy Ridge in it's own right which we did again (in snow) a few weeks after doing the traverse.
The Southern Reserve has so much to offer, all it takes is a little extra effort & stepping off the 'highway'.
Cheers again on such superb pics to inspire all.

Stu.

[Pedro]

Martin

That was a serious effort, getting to the top of Big Gun from Falling Mountain in one day. When we did it last year, we were more than happy to put the packs down when we got to Massif, after the joys of the boulder fields. I love the spot where you camped - I've been wanting to put a tent there for years, but it has never quite worked out. It would be an awesome sunrise on a good day.

Following Chapman's directions to get off Massif towards Big Gun Pass works out ok. The final tower looks a bit intimidating, but turns out to be trivial once you get there and there is no real exposure while you are doing it. Quite a steep descent from there to the Pass - I suspect that it is a lot easier going down with gravity assisting than going up with a pack pulling you back. This pic shows the rock bridge that Chapman mentions:

.

Excellent pics Martin - keep it up.

Pedro

[vagrom]

Two of us went up Falling mountain in Feb '09, leaving Windy Ridge about 9.30am and pitching on Massif at 8pm. All comments seem to indicate that getting up Falling Mountain is pretty routine, so we were expecting to follow a pad of sorts. But instead, we had a hell of a scrub bash and only found a cairn or two when we were close to the ridge top.
Can anyone say, is there a known pad to watch out for? There seemed to be one on the saddle we crossed before beginning the climb. If there is one, we lost it. Must look at Chapman again.

And getting up Massif: Chapman describes a left hand, southern option but we took the trad. right hand way and then turned up the massive first gully, choosing the last of three tried routes therein, before getting to the top on dusk . I wondered next morning if we should've stayed low longer before beginning the final climb, going further west to a next gully?
(Apol's if this is vague enough to be meaningless, two years down the track)

[tasadam]

Page 179 of this book contains the notes.
Getting up Masif, you need to check the "Updates" page -

Castle Crag to Mt Massif, the route on the northern side of the ridge leading to Mt Massif is much easier than the southern side of the ridge

But, I haven't done it. I looked at doing it last year but the snow was too deep so we ended up camping near the Parthenon for a couple of days instead.

[whynotwalk]

Great pix Martin - and a good account of the walk.

We did the traverse the other way, from the Labyrinth, in 2004. Had to wait out some torrential rain in Pine Valley, but it cleared as we clambered between the Labyrinth and Big Gun Pass. The weather across the tops was similar to yours, so we spent two nights up top. It was brilliant, but some of the dolerite scrambling was quite intimidating.

I wrote it up like this for my blog:

The navigational difficulties presented by its enormous boulders forced us to clamber up, over, around and down countless dolerite faces. As I slid face, feet and fingers down my umpteenth rock wall, pressed hard against it by my heavy pack, I gained the kind of intimate acquaintance with this rock that had me feeling like a failed rock-whisperer. If only I could have commanded the rocks to throw themselves into the sea, I might not have ended the walk with raw and bleeding fingertips. Or perhaps I could have worn gloves!

But time heals, and now my memories of it are coloured by photos like those below. Thanks for stirring them MJD! And next time, I'll take scrub gloves!!

cheers

Peter

Camping on the eastern side of Mt Massif

Looking towards Big Gun Pass

Looking towards Ossa

Panorama of the Range from Falling Mt

[MJD]

Still one of my favourite walks. As I said, I like boulder hopping, especially when it's dry. That campsite of whynotwalk's on the eastern side of Massif looks really nice - might have to look for that if I'm up there again. Like the photo.

Not sure what happened to Vagrom. There is a bit of scrub as you drop off from Ducane Gap. You need to head for the clearing that you can see from the track. The scrub on the Falling Mountain side was quite light and although there wasn't a pad it wasn't very hard meandering up to the east of the cliffs. Much easier than I thought it would be given Chapman's description.

[vagrom]

Yes, thanks Tasadam and MJD. In short, look for the clearing from the OLT. Chapman says while not impenetrable, the scrub/dolerite mix makes it a chore. But we probably took the worst way possible. So there's no pad either and doesn't need to be so long as you're in the right region.