Tuesday 8th August 2017
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| Unnamed Peak 1228 metres |
I had a plan A and a plan B for today, depending on the depth of the snow that I would encounter. Plan A was to start at Lake Fenton and walk to Mount Crooke and return via the track beside Lake Fenton. If the snow was too deep then I intended to just walk the Mount Field East Circuit. I had checked out the Mount Mawson Web Cams yesterday and there did appear to be a reasonable covering of snow so I thought I would just go out there and see what happens.
I set off from the car park at Lake Fenton in not so favourable weather...light cloud and wind. There was a new bridge across the outlet of Lake Fenton and some new boardwalk a little further on that crossed a wet area.
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| New Bridge |
Soon I started to encounter some snow and ice on the track but it was generally quite hard.
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| The Track |
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| The Track |
After about 55" I reached the top of saddle where I wanted to turn off to Mount Crooke. The weather was not too bright but there were short breaks of sunshine, so I figured that I would persevere and see how far I could get. Not too far as it turned out because the snow was rather deep and every second step I seemed to disappear up to my knees or further. I decided to head over to the unnamed peak of 1228 metres and then walk back and complete the Mount Field East Circuit instead. Mount Crooke will have to be another day when there is less snow. I had fun in the snow anyway.
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| Unnamed Peak |
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| Unnamed Peak |
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| Summit Unnamed Peak |
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| Unnamed Peak |
Once back on track I headed for Windy Moor which lived up to its name as it was quite windy and in its usual wet condition.
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| Mount Field East |
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| Track towards Windy Moor |
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| Windy Moor |
I opted not to climb Mount Field East as I had been up there a few times before and just kept heading around the circuit. There was some snow on the descent and care had to be taken although it was generally quite hard.
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| The Track |
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| The Track |
On the descent I spotted Lake Rayner which seemed to be frozen so of course I had to check it out. It was indeed frozen but only a thin layer on top.
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| Lake Rayner |
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| Lake Rayner |
I continued on to Lake Nicholls Hut for lunch.
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| Lake Nicholls |
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| Lake Nicholls Hut |
After lunch and further down the track I took the short detour to Beatties Tarn and then down to the Pack Track and finally uphill to the car.
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| Beatties Tarn |
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| Beatties Tarn |
This was a most enjoyable walk in cool conditions where the temperature hovered around 4 degrees C for most of the walk.
Distance: 10.4 kms.
Time 4'50"
Ascent: 500 metres
Looks great, Denis! I love all the snow!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was good Chris but heavy going in the snow. Some snow shoes would have been handy.
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