Western Arthur's in winter

[Giddy_up]

Just found this trip report from the guys at Bogong and thought it worthy.

http://www.bogong.com.au/blog/western-arthurs-winter/

[icefest]

This article is great, shame they didn't finish.

[Strider]

Also a shame it was overwhelmed by product placements.

[icefest]

They took a huge amount of gear..

[stepbystep]

Epic! A couple of us were toying with the idea this winter and wussed out. Maybe next year.....

[icefest]

Hey, if I could find someone crazy enough to join me, I'd do it.

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Shows you how quickly it can turn to €%#^.

A fairly benign trip with all the right gear and necessary experience could have turned bad pretty quickly if they hadn't been able to get out.

Had the creeks been impassable (only a little higher) and given their gear was completely soaked, hypothermia could have could have killed very quickly.

I guess it reinforces that if you are sleeping in a tent, you really need to choose camp sites wisely.

[icefest]

Great point there SAH, why did they camp on the side of a creek?

[ILUVSWTAS]

Epic! A couple of us were toying with the idea this winter and wussed out. Maybe next year.....

Yes, our decision to try for Frenchmans instead was so much more successful....

[Nuts]

Nice report. That rock slab I recall is the first real obstacle. It must be ominous for all the reading.. 'it gets harder after Oberon' and then that slab straight up.
Ahh, it was no match for those of skill with rope and biner!

[DarrenM]

Also a shame it was overwhelmed by product placements.

Really?

It's a blog attached to Bogong Equipment...A good business strategy IMO especially considering the fact they are using and testing the gear they sell to people like you and I. The product placements were after the article under the title "Gear advice" which after reading it, gives you an insight into what worked for them and what didn't. It's nice to see people getting out there and having a crack instead of dropping one liners on a forum.

Good trip report.

[Mark_O]

+1

[icefest]

I agree with DarrenM, I've paid for more obvious product placements before.
aside from one silly mistake (which I'm sure will never be done again by any of the group) it great trip, in any case, it was a good trip report.

On that note, here is an old adage:
Only fool does not learn from his mistakes, a smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether.

[Strider]

Also a shame it was overwhelmed by product placements.

Really?

It's a blog attached to Bogong Equipment...A good business strategy IMO especially considering the fact they are using and testing the gear they sell to people like you and I. The product placements were after the article under the title "Gear advice" which after reading it, gives you an insight into what worked for them and what didn't. It's nice to see people getting out there and having a crack instead of dropping one liners on a forum.

Good trip report.

This is not a trip report - its an advertisement. The product placement were all the way through it, with links scattered amongst the text. For obvious reasons, this constituted the bulk of the article. The talk of the trip itself was a thinly veiled opportunity to showcase the products.

Bit of an extreme marketing strategy, but I agree that it is important that the customer can be confident they know what they're talking about when recommending gear.

Well done to the trip participants though, of course. Not an easy feat by any means!

[icefest]

This is not a trip report - its an advertisement. The product placement were all the way through it, with links scattered amongst the text. For obvious reasons, this constituted the bulk of the article. The talk of the trip itself was a thinly veiled opportunity to showcase the products.

I disagree. Could you please show me what you mean.
I saw one possible product placement and that was this:



The last gear advice section was, by all means, advertisement. (Which was said DarrenM)

If you want I'll shoot them an email and ask how much of the trip cost and equipment was supplied by Bogong...

[doogs]

I find it much more beneficial to learn from the experiences of other with various bit of gear in similar conditions to the ones which I walk in (and would like to walk in) through reading their trip reports or blogs. This forum is full of recommendations of what worked and what didn't on many many trip reports. I would much rather base my gear purchases on these so called 'product placement trip reports' than advice given by an inexperienced bushwalker on an internet forum!!

[tibboh]

I find it much more beneficial to learn from the experiences of other with various bit of gear in similar conditions to the ones which I walk in (and would like to walk in) through reading their trip reports or blogs. This forum is full of recommendations of what worked and what didn't on many many trip reports. I would much rather base my gear purchases on these so called 'product placement trip reports' than advice given by an inexperienced bushwalker on an internet forum!!

+1.....an enjoyable read. While doing the traverse in the middle of last summer I wondered what a winter experience might be like. This pretty much answers it
I have become accustomed to wearing internet blinkers.........ignore the ads which are everywhere these days and concentrate on the story and great photos.

[Son of a Beach]

Winter bushwalking in Tasmania is tough but feasible as long as everyone is experienced, has good quality kit and doesn’t mind being uncomfortable at times.

They should have included, "or is just lucky".

[DaveNoble]

With regard to their campsite getting flooded at 7 Mile Creek - the usual campsite there is quite close to the creek bed - and it it the place that most people would camp. I have camped on that site sitting out a few days of bad weather - without the creek rising too much. I have also camped at 2 Mile Creek - on a winter trip - where the creek did rise a long way overnight - and we had to abandon our camp in the middle of the night and leave the creek area and camp on the button grass plain - which was not the best campsite to say the least.

I thought there report was quite reasonable on the whole. It looks like no one in the party had traversed the range before. So perhaps they didn't know what they were getting into? But they seemed well equipped and capable.

Also - it you look at the header of the website - you can see that it is on a website for an outdoor store - so comments about how their gear went is quite appropriate - and it would be good if more outdoor store staff field tested equipment in difficult conditions.

Dave