Mount Tyndall
Wednesday 23 April 08 to Friday 25 April 08
This part of the West Coast Range is of conglomerate and is around 1000m. It is steeply sloped on the west and large cliffs on the east. Along the southern portion are many lakes and tarns and low alpine meadows. At the northern end is Mt Tyndall at 1179 metres and on the southern end Mt Geike at 1193 metres
We had commitments for Tuesday, so could not take advantage of the best weather window and had to include the last day with a forecast of showers. Although it was a nice morning in Hobart this only really lasted until Derwent Bridge and a grey sky greeted us from then on, including a very light drizzle at times. However by the time the cars were parked below the Tyndall Range things had lightened up somewhat and we headed off towards a cloud topped mountain at 12:30. The walking track was reached 15 minutes later and after a short muddy bit of button grass the climb through scrub began then the moderately steep ascent up the side of the range until a levelling off and with the cloud now higher gave us views of surrounding plateau and lakes, although the peaks were still under cover. The Fagus started to become quite a feature and more and more came into view as we went down into a valley to set up camp.
Morning cloud persisted around the peaks but it was fairly good light at the camp level and it was pleasant walking through the delightful valley with pines, Fagus and streams cutting through the flat valley floor. Sunshine was on the land not far from where we were, so the day was looking promising as we ascended the slopes to view the very spectacular Lake Huntley lying well over 300 metres below and surrounded on two sides by huge grey cliffs. The Fagus really stood out here.
As luck would have it the mist cleared completely away for the final climb to Mt Tyndall, although the wind was brisk on top. The descent back to camp included some pleasant little valleys and in warming conditions tops had to be shed. Following lunch back at camp we strolled in an arc through delightful country to Lake Tyndall, with the only thing marring the day being prominent smoke from forestry operations.
The original forecast was for rain or showers to develop overnight but at one stage it looked like we would miss out, however at about 4am the first shower fell but by morning there was none. That is until we started to pack and from then on showers came frequently and for the first time in many years we had to walk in the rain.
Interestingly enough the times both in and out were not that much different from my last visit 15 years ago.
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| Tyndall Range |
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