Mt Field West
90 minutes
afternoon
Alpine, weathered dolerite
Acknowledgement
By Hamish Jackson
Introduction
West facing cliffs accessed from the Florentine valley.
History
The Jacksons did a few routes there 1996-1997. Further exploration ceased after they inadvertently got locked in by closure of the main Forestry gate. The main gate into the valley no longer gets locked so access has improved again.
Access
The main Florentine valley gate is now kept open (access in 75mins drive from Hobart to the main valley road. Forestry activities sometimes dictate closure of side roads. Road '9E' was originally used for access for the first routes; this road is still visible on satellite images but is actually rather grown over and probably not the best access. For historic reference it is the road that ascended gradually, diagonally up the slopes from south to north under the cliff-line.
In 2024 Chirstoph Speer and Hamish Jackson re-visited the cliff with the intention of re-establishing access via a road to the NW of the cliff (that passes an old gravel Quarry). This proved to reasonably straight forward as apiarists and possibly bushwalking teams are still accessing roads high on the western slopes.
Road access to parking shown as continuous line on access topo below. The blue starts on the main Florentine road and the first turn off is around 20km from the start of the Florentine road. 2wd access is possible, assuming the roads are not too wet.
Drive through the Quarry (seen blue line on access topo) to find the rough continuation of the road around the northern edge of the quarry. Follow this narrow road east (4WD with some clearance recommended) for approximately 200m past the Quarry until a good turn around point is reached (this is not the end of road, but obstacles block path). From here it is easy to appreciate where the summit and cliff line is. Navigate off track (dashed line on access topo) through reasonably open bush until about halfway up, where it starts to fairly thick. You're aiming for the northern edge of the cliff line (2 hrs) and we used a GPS to aim for the lowest point of scree lines. Continue up scree line until you are above the major scrub lines and then traverse under the cliff line to find Scud as the first major climbing landmark.
I recommend the minimum trip plan to be to drive and walk up during a cool or cloudy afternoon (4 hours access total from Hobart), camp and then climb the next day and return home that evening. 2 nights camping and 2 days climbing is even better. Fit parties could theoretically do a day trip with an early start, but this would be tough on the first trip.
Conditions: the cliff come into sun after midday and can get hot during the afternoon in sunny conditions eg when Maydena max temp is >24 degrees. Ideal conditions are windless, cloudy summer days.
Camping
Cliff base camping was used - sloping rocky sites - with water from large gullies.
The best site is probably at the base of the low volume water fall between Scud and Tyler's line - a somewhat rough camp site suitable for 1 tent and fully exposed to westerly weather. Camp at the base of cliff on fine scree adjacent the base of the water-fall. So far this waterfall has always had water available.
Access Topo
Crag Steward
Rock climbers please contact the Cliff Steward (southwest@climbersclubtas.org.au) if you have any queries or concerns regarding social or environmental impacts of rock climbing at this crag. Do not email regarding general travel, seasonal advice, or lost property - this is not the Steward’s role. If you have important safety information to communicate (e.g. risks due to recent and large rock falls) please also consider updates on thesarvo forum, facebook group and/or online guidebooks as appropriate. Please copy in cct@climbersclubtas.org.au if you feel you have a high level concern which may imminently impact the crag or climbing community.
Non-climbers, other users, land managers: please also contact cct@climbersclubtas.org.au if you have important climbing related queries at this location.
H Jackson, M Jackson, A Vincent 1996
H Jackson and M Jackson 1997.
H Jackson, M Jackson (alt) and A Vincent 1996
H and M Jackson 1997
