Mt Ida - March 24th 2020

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Mt Ida - March 24th, 2020.

Blog:
http://www.benderandxing.com/2020/03/24/mt-ida/

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQj21_Y ... =emb_title

My better half had been planning to surprise me for my 40th birthday with a weekend hike/camp trip with friends over to Mt Ida, but plans fell through with the news that the Ida Clair is no longer doing drop offs to Ida Bay because of the shallows. After the spilling the failed plans to me, I hit up the old man for use of his lake boat and we were back on. Three trips back and forth over Lake St. Clair got all 8 of us set up on a little beach just around from Ida Bay, by mid morning 7 of us were ready for the short but steep climb up to the imposingly pointy Mt Ida.

Initial progress is through the open myrtle rainforest immediately east of the lake, as we headed off track towards the SW ridgeline. The grade quickly steepened and maintaining a firm foothold on the wet and occasionally muddy ground was a challenge at times. A few rock outcrops had to be negotiated too.

Eventually rainforest gave way to sub alpine eucalypt and scrub, and towards the ridgeline we came across a reasonable pad marked with cairns that lead us right up the western foot of the mountain. It really is a wonderful looking peak.

The pad and cairns lead us around towards the north west somewhat before the climb up to the summit. Some of our group aren't the best with heights and had been dreading some of the stories of "fridge rock" and the general exposed steepness of the climb up. Personally I found the going OK, there's a few sections that require a modicum of care and you'll be making use of the nearby vegetation to help haul yourself up over the near-vertical areas. By this point the views opening up to the north and west give you a fair taste of what's to come.

As you'd expect from Mt Ida's pointed top, the summit area is compact and offers stellar 360-degree views of Lake St Clair, the Mt Orthrys/Olympus range, Rufus and Hugel, Byron and the Du Cane Range, the southern extent of the Mountains of Jupiter and the Travellers Rest Range. We had pretty well perfect weather and I'd rate it as one of my best summits to date.

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