Slideshow
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Mount Anne Circuit Walk
(Late November 2009) Day 3 |
| Contact Sheet for Day 1 2 am 2 pm 3 4 Slideshow for Day 1 2 am 2 pm 3 4 |
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Susan's Diary: Day Walk to Lot’s Wife Sunday 22 November 2009 9:00 – 13:00 We got up at 7:00 am ( 1 hour after the alarm) to be greeted with some blue skies and clear views of Mt Lot, Lots Wife and Mt Eliza, and snow on a distant mountain. Given the favourable weather, we decided to head off to Lots Wife on a side trip, then come back to pack our tent and gear and head down to Lake Judd for the next campsite. Despite not packing the tent it took us 2 hours to start the walk. There is a tiny scrubby descent down to Lake Picone, then some open walking, before following pink ribbons through a mossy forest up onto the ridge between Mt Lot and Lots Wife. The ridge is quite narrow and easy to navigate. At one point you jump over a 30cm wide fissure which appears to go down some way! The ridge is fairly easy walking and we found our way to the foot of Lots Wife fairly quickly. Chapman’s notes tell you that the summit is gained through the second major gully to the left, after sidling for a little while at the bottom of the cliffs. After climbing a few metres up a couple of incorrect gullies (which weren’t really gullies) and at the point of turning back, we found the obvious gully referred to by Chapman leading up, with a cairn to mark it. The first climb was a short very steep scramble with a small, tricky shuffle across from one chute to the next. I decided to go up to explore whilst Luca waited below. From the top of this first scramble a long ramp led up to another short scramble and what appeared to be another ramp. I coerced Luca up the first scramble and ramp but by this stage it was starting to rain and he was losing interest. At this point we found ourselves on the side of a sloping cliff with a series of ledges. I decided to go explore further whilst Luca remained there. After scrambling up these there is a narrow ledge to the left which goes around the corner leading to another ramp, which takes you to the top. I made my way up onto the mess of dolerite rock to very limited views, including the summit which was across some scrub and appeared to be some distance away. Given Luca wasn’t with me, I took a few photos and made my way down. From there we headed down, using rope on the very first scramble. We headed back quickly, being pestered on and off by rain with the forest at least providing some shelter. Back at the tent we had lunch and with continuous rain to that point and the time already being 2:00pm, we made the difficult decision to stay and hope the weather improved the next day for the walk out. The afternoon was spent sleeping and reading whilst the rain continued outside. Our change of plans meant that we would not be able to camp at Lake Judd, which from all descriptions sounded great. The other preoccupation that afternoon was that with the bad weather we had had, the valley below may have been flooded the next day, and the walk out would have been much harder. We cooked dinner under the fly and enjoyed Wild West Chilli and Beans with mashed potato. After I beat Luca at a couple of games of cards we enjoyed Mocha Mousse Pie. Hopefully all these calories will give us lots of energy for the next day. |
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Contact Sheet
Slideshow |
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| Contact Sheet for Day 1 2 am 2 pm 3 4 Slideshow for Day 1 2 am 2 pm 3 4 |