Snowy South 13th June 2020

[headwerkn]

Snowy South - 13th June 2020

Blog and more photos...
http://www.benderandxing.com/2020/06/23/snowy-south/

Video - will be up on the channel in a few week's time.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtlrD1 ... iIb85jq9HQ

Now that we've ticked off all the daywalk-accessible Abels in the north/centre of the state, our attention has turned firmly onto the southern peaks. This generally means loading up the car and heading off Friday evening after work, hoping to find the trailhead in unfamiliar darkness at a semi-reasonable hour before catching some Zzzzs for an early start the following morning. Snowy South was no exception. With all faith in Google Maps we followed the yellow line through the dark, fog-filled backwoods of the Huon Valley for what seemed like an eternity until a sign confirmed we were on McDougalls Road, and indeed this was the way to the Lake Skinner Track.

Quietly we were hoping to reach both Snowy South and Nevada Peak, which lies a 'mere' 3km north, but a week away from the winter solstice we knew we'd need an early start, speedy progress AND perfect weather to even consider the latter.

That plan quickly went to the wayside as we spent most of the night listening to solid rain, which killed any motivation for a 6am start under torchlight. In actual fact our ~7am start was still surprisingly dark once underway on the trail, and it wasn't until past 8am that I packed my head lamp away.

The Lake Skinner Track is a formalised route albeit one that doesn't appear to have received much love or maintenance in years. Initial progress was easy on the clear track though wet rock and the occasional fallen tree made for careful footwork in dawn darkness. Soon enough the track begins to climb steadily with several short, pinchy climbs over rock that remind you there's actually a decent elevation gain of a few hundred metres on this section of track.

The dense vegetation opens up to myrtle and pandani before cresting over the first ridge, before the track drops lightly across a somewhat flooded drain and then continues the climb up to the Lake Skinner.

Lake Skinner itself is beautiful as are the surrounding views from this initial elevated position. With the clouds now lifting up, smoke haze from (presumably) forestry burns was setting the morning sun a decidedly yellow tone to the north over the Huon and Styx Valleys... turning 180 degrees the forthcoming climb up to the main range was steep and immediate.

Crossing Lake Skinner's outflow across a mess of timber, the route up remains well marked with cairns and a bit of tape. The climb was definitely steep, with a few larger sections of wet rock providing enough of a challenge. With each step up the views behind us opened up wonderfully as the sun did its best to make its presence felt. After three post-COVID summits in whiteouts, we were cautiously hopeful of a view at the top.

Up on the Snowy Range the climb shallows out and the Snowy South summit appears as a huge pile of rock with a seemingly gentle climb. A reasonable pad and regular cairns leads the way a bit north of the 'unnamed tarn' which we followed into the boulder fields. The cairns were easy enough to find but the rock was wet and cold in most places, which was slowing our usual rate of progress. Old snow was still filling the gaps in places. As the lee of the mountain disappeared a very brisk 40-50kt wind made its presence felt.

Eventually we skirted around to some of the more vegetated sections of pineapple grass and came around the northern side of the summit, which was decidedly frozen with substantial piles of broken ice everywhere. Actually getting on the top rock proved tricky due to the slip-factor and the wind knocking us around, but we got up there long enough to fire off a few photos and take in the incredible views of the Arthurs, Mt Anne/Eliza, Mts. Weld and Picton and so on. This was actually one of our first good views of the south-west and quite a thing to experience.

We were a good hour and a half longer to the summit than our initial +Nevada Peak plan, and while the weather was as clear as you could expect in June, the wind was freezing and the thought of clambering over similarly slippery rock for hours upon hours didn't fill us with much confidence. As such, Nevada was saved for another day and we made our way down off Snowy, taking a more eastern approach closer to the tarn to make use of the pineapple grass and other vegetation that provided a more secure footing than the scree.

On the return trip we were surprised to come across nearly a dozen walkers, though all were (thankfully) only aiming for the Lake, they'd have left their run a bit late for the summit by early afternoon.

All in all Snowy South is a good winter day walk, just so long as you start early!

[headwerkn]

More pics...

[north-north-west]

North towards Nevada Peak and Snowy North. A full traverse thru-hike of all three mountains would be awesome... maybe in summer

As a daywalk? I'd be interested to see if you could. Snowy South - Nevada ridge is easy (and beautiful) but the navigation between Nevada and Snowy North is more complex. There are more or less open leads up and down all the intervening lumps and bumps, but they don't connect, so you have to zig zag a lot to keep out of the scrub. Time wise you should be OK with an early start - I had a leisurely afternoon up to Snowdrift, pitched, quick climb up Nevada. Next day was via Wetpants and Scrivens to Snowy North and back up Nevada upon returning to the camp because Snowy North didn't take as long as expected. Next day was Nevada - Snowy South, dropping down to the southern side of Snowdrift on the return, then packing up and walking back out. Two and a half longish summer days for that, so just up, over and down should be doable to a young fit pair in summer.

[headwerkn]

As a daywalk? I'd be interested to see if you could.

Heheh, maybe :-p ... was actually thinking more as an overnight fastpack type trip, camp under a tarp somewhere up on the plateau... I think trail running you could maybe manage it over a long summer day though not much of the Snowy South/Lake Skinner track is run-able. From what I've heard, Snowy North isn't either - doing it tomorrow, so we'll see.

We've decided we're going to save Nevada Peak for summer and organise an overnight thru trip from Snowy North. Lots of options up that way. If you got enough snow over the rock, a winter traverse on skis would be awesome.

Cheers for the info on the Nevada-Snowy North route, yeah definitely looked a bit more complex than Snowy South to Nevada. We were so keen on the latter, but between the freezing wind and the thought of finishing off the walk in the dark then driving 3hrs+ back to Launceston really didn't appeal.

[north-north-west]

It's a good plan. Nevada is my favourite of the three, and the camping up the top is superb.

[RicktheHuman]

As a daywalk? I'd be interested to see if you could.

I've never completed the traverse in one day, but I'm planning on doing exactly that this summer. I have been all along the Snowy Range numerous times.
A daywalk traverse would be possible, but it would need summer daylight hours and a quick pace
2.5 Hours to Snowy S, then 1.5 hours to Nevada. then probably around 3 hours to Snowy North from there. (I went from the saddle at the top of the Woolleys Tarn track to Snowy N in 2 hours at a fast pace) I've never done the Snowy N track but I'm imagining about 3.5 hours going down.
I found the scrub along the Snowy N section to be mostly knee height with a section on one of the bumps requiring crawling and bashing, The high point is generally the clearest along here.
I'l post a report afterwards.

[north-north-west]

I will then rename you RicktheSuperhuman.

[headwerkn]

I've never done the Snowy N track but I'm imagining about 3.5 hours going down.

That's about what we managed on Saturday, albeit with snow over the plateau which was a little onerous. It's rather steep and slippery in several sections, you can descend as fast as your bravery/lack of self preservation allows!

[headwerkn]

Bit late now, but the video for Snowy South is now available.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRooLJ4r82M