WESTERN ARTHURS

[stepbystep]

A few pics from a recent trip to this magnificent range

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more....

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....and a few more

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...ok couple more

[stu]

Very nice set of photos Dan, thanks very much for sharing
This range is the epitome of 'adventure walking' IMHO, such a fantastic journey & a great effort going solo.
You could never tire of returning to this range again & again, the moods change so much from day to day.
I think we all hope it won't become overun tho & retain a bit of its wildness for years to come.

[eggs]

Yes - very nice photos.
Interesting with the snow at the start.
Your first photo "Day 1 - Mordor" has me intrigued. It looks like a view from the top of Hayes? Was that a quick side trip from Cygnus?

[frenchy_84]

was all this completed in march? I just need to know what month to not bother entering the photo comp

[stepbystep]

@ stu - mate so long as they don't make the track an easy one I feel the crowds will stay low, it is definitely an 'adventure walk' with over 6km ascend descend on my walk which included most of the A-K sidetrips.
Going solo was pretty hardcore headspace wise, as I commented elsewhere, the amount of times you ask yourself "....is that really the track?" is many and it would be very irresponsible for any who go past Oberon to downplay the difficulty of sections otherwie too many will get up there and spoil it..........btw - I had the range to myself except 1 night at Cygnus

@ eggs - the pic you speak of was either taken above Cygnus or from the summit of Capella Crags, Mt Hayes is obscured by cloud. I went up Hayes on day 2, with the ice and snow it was far from quick

@ frenchie - not telling

[juju]

wow, have been looking forward to your pics and Melinda's also. everytime I see a photo of Square Lake I get all emotional...(it's as far as I got).

[stepbystep]

@ eggs - the pic you speak of was either taken above Cygnus or from the summit of Capella Crags, Mt Hayes is obscured by cloud. I went up Hayes on day 2, with the ice and snow it was far from quick

er, um, sorry eggs, just realised that pic is from Hayes got it mixed up with this one - too many pics and too little time to play.
This photo is from the summit of Capella Crags

[north-north-west]

Looks like you got in and out while the weather was at its best. Still, I had a great time. And one of these days I'll get some photos sorted and posted. I'm still unpacking the car and sorting out gear (and looking for clean undies for work tomorrow . . . )

[stepbystep]

Looks like you got in and out while the weather was at its best. Still, I had a great time. And one of these days I'll get some photos sorted and posted. I'm still unpacking the car and sorting out gear (and looking for clean undies for work tomorrow . . . )

Yep had the best of it, looking forward to some of your pics - inside out and back to front

[Mickeymoo]

Great photos of an awesome place, the snow on day 1 would have been fantastic!

[melinda]

The weather.......
Beautiful photos.
Looks like you had an awesome trip.

[stepbystep]

Thanks guys, here's a few panos I've stitched up

[doogs]

Fantastic pics StepbyStep. Just moved this trip up a few places in my plans.

[Nick S]

awesome panos

[north-north-west]

There's something wrong with that Tilted Chasm shot. It makes the place look . . . well, easy. Almost flat.

[stepbystep]

There's something wrong with that Tilted Chasm shot. It makes the place look . . . well, easy. Almost flat.

Hey I went to great effort to try and get a straight horizon on that panorama to get some persective, didn't work huh? I found the tilted chasm very easy, and very cool, some harder sections coming off Capricorn and maybe the odd spot in the beggaries, but then as the pain eases the mind is mellowing the experience

[north-north-west]

Tilted Chasm was OK once you got down into it. There was just one spot - I'm sure you remember it - when I hung onto a couple of tree roots for at least five minutes, peering down this way and that, wondering if I should take the pack off first.
I thought the hardest part of the Beggary Bumps was after that, what Chapman refers to as the new route around Lovers Leap.
Although that cleft rock coming down Taurus was 'interesting'.
Capricorn was a doddle, never as hard as it looked like it would be.

Of course I don't have any photos of the really hard bits, was too busy just climbing . . .

[stepbystep]

5 minutes?? That's hilarious, no wonder it took you so long to get through the range
Capricorn was a doddle, that is after I found the correct route
Love the pics btw - more please.

[MJD]

I first did the WAs in 1979 and the mud steps coming off Capricorn are stuck in my mind as the most difficult/dangerous section. And that included the high level traverse between Procyon and Orion.

Also, back then, Lovers Leap was part of the route and being lazy university students we just jumped across packs and all - good idea until we learnt a bit about momentum as our packs slammed into our backs on landing. Of course back then our packs weren't very light either.

Here are a couple of pictures scanned from prints.

[ollster]

Ah that old descent off Capricorn brings back memories... it was the first time I've ever felt true fear when walking. My legs were shaking uncontrollably by the time I got to the bottom.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Have to agree with Dan, Capricorn was a doodle, Lots of hand holds and good steps.

I found the area around Pegasus the most challenging. It was kind of surprising to me that we didnt need to take our packs off (packhaul) anywhere except for the hole at the top of Peg.

[frank_in_oz]

Fantastic images and place stepbystep - thanks for sharing, inspiring!

[ollster]

Have to agree with Dan, Capricorn was a doodle, Lots of hand holds and good steps.

I believe the route was changed (so I have been told?). I did it in... something like 1995/96 and it was pretty dodgy then.

[ILUVSWTAS]

The route over Lovers leap has changed, but I think the mud wall down Capricorn has always been the same.

[MJD]

In 1979 there certainly weren't any nicely cut steps or anything. It was just a deeply eroded mudslide. And handholds? From memory it was just what grass was still there. I know I came down very slowly and gingerly. I don't actually remember any other difficult bits, although I've got a shot, which I'll post tonight, of some pretty steep scrub near the start of Beggary Bumps.

[ILUVSWTAS]

In 2009 there were no cut steps or anything. Just a deeply eroded mudslide..... Handholds?? Yes, just grass or whatever low scrub you could reach.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Just going thru my photos from the trip, here's a more recent pic of the capricorn descent. You can see half way up the knobby bit featured in your pic MJD, still looks the same, only now you can see a well formed pad working it's way up...