Hey guys,

 

Just wanted pick your brains about the Cradle Mountain Skyline Traverse in Winter. If anyone has done it before, would love to hear about their list of Do's and Don'ts. Let me know whether it is a walk in park or pretty serious in places. I will take crampons, though would brining ice axes be overkill?

 

Cheers

Sammi

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4 Comments

  1. Tony McKenny

    Hi Sammi, Info on the Traverse is on thesarvo site. Has been done in winter a number of times,as have many of the major gullies (some of which have also been skied and fallen  down). Can be a very serious undertaking in hard conditions or relatively benign in near summer weather. If you can see snow on the ridge as you go in, you will know what to expect! No idea if you know how to use ice gear but crampons are not much use on their own: there is likely to be soft snow and exposed rock - take an axe and use crampons only if you find it too hard to kick/cut steps. ...and a rope. As it says in the Guide, it can be a long day and quite technical, but a terrific outing. Have fun.

  2. Tony McKenny

    Hi Sammi,

    Had a look for your new line at Sand River yesterday but couldn’t locate it with any certainty. Is it to right of Nero, before the massive roof or near Rubicon somewhere? And have you cleaned it now, or added a rap station or is it a walk off somewhere?

    Thanks

    Tony

    1. Sammi Dos AUTHOR

      Hi Tony,

      Unfortunately, I did not get the position of the route relative to the others. It is the main crack that you see when you walk into the colosseum area. It all gear protected until you get to the top. A single hanger was left near the top by Garry, who had given the crack a clean. I unsuspectingly climbed it...though he did not seemed too bothered when I chatted with him. I topped out which was dirty and unprotected (Probably a grade 12 slab). Hope I have not faux pas, it was my first route put up.

      Cheers,
      Sam

  3. Tony McKenny

    H Sam,

    That would explain it. Was looking  at the area under the great roof!.!. Looked unlikely for a 20....

    To prevent others blasting up the wrong line, can you take the post down till you can identify exactly where it belongs?  If you have time, it would also be great if you could take out Garry’s bolt (he would have put it in when first cleaning the route but replaces them with safer U bolts when convinced the route will go etc), and either clean out the finish and/or add a rap station? There are very few trad routes to date (the rock can be deceptively sus, and trad gear may not always hold), and they all have lower offs – trying to describe how to get off from the top is a pain, a confusion of trees, gullies and mini crags. If you need access to a drill, let me know and we could arrange to meet up.

    Will see Garry later in the week and will get his info on the likely location of the route as well.

    Cheers

    Tony

    PS Did you do the Skyline Traverse?