Murchison 2013 Jun

The weather forecast had a huge and wonderful high, all weekend. What should we do with this treasure? We had touched the summit of Mt Murchison, but not seen the view. Mt Farrell, when we climbed it, had also been clothed in a thick grey mantel. This would be the weekend to see the view. Off we set.

The trip there was so beautiful, we almost didn’t care if we never got to see a view. Every shrub – every blade of grass – was coated in a sparkling white rime. It was glorious.  We drove through fairyland to get to our mountain.

For the early part of the climb, one is in protective rainforest, but from the moment we emerged from the rainforest’s aegis, the rocks were covered in ice crystals, as below.

My husband had planned on drinking from creeks, and hadn’t brought any water. He was disappointed (in the liquid refreshments available, if not in the scenery). Every single water source, running or not so, was frozen solid.

The going was pretty tricky, and became more so the higher we got. Below us, cotton-ball cloud filled the valley, shining glary white. As we neared the rather exposed shelf that my husband had crossed happily in the mist, I decided in slippery ice it would be too tricky, so I left him in a spot with a magical view, and dealt with the final section of ice solo.

Here is a photo of him waiting patiently taken with a zoom from the summit. It seemed from the top as if I could see forever. I photographed in all directions, but didn’t linger: i could see my husband, safe in the distance, but he might be getting cold. Time to go back and join him.

 Even halfway down, the views were inspiring.

And below are two pictures of Murchison taken the next morning. This is one glorious hulk of a mountain!!

We then went to Mt Reed that afternoon, and Mt Farrell the next morning, so they were all part of this trip, but I like to allocate each mountain its own space,  so I will give the other pets their own separate post.