Precipitous Bluff - a solo traverse of the Southern Ranges, Tasmania
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- Опубліковано 10 січ 2023
- A solo traverse of the Southern Ranges in South West Tasmania to Precipitous Bluff. This mighty mountain rises out of the sea to tower over New River Lagoon.
The Southern Ranges are a series of high ridges close to the coast that link three major peaks - Mount La Perouse, Pindars Peak and Precipitous Bluff, also known by generations of bush walkers simply as PB.
Ever since I walked the South Coast Track back in November 2021 and gazed upon PB, I knew that one day soon I would climb it. I took a total of 7 days to complete the hike, walking 96km with over 5000m of ascent battling through thick scoparia and tea tree thickets. I walked out to Cockle Creek via the South Coast Track. This traverse is one of the most challenging hikes I've ever attempted, and I'm grateful to have completed it!
If you're interested in hiking the Southern Ranges, I'll be sharing my experiences, and the challenges I faced along the way throughout the video. This hike is not for the inexperienced, but if you're up for a challenge, it's definitely worth checking out!
Locations Visited - Bullfrog Tarns, Hobbits Garden, Moonlight Ridge, Pigsty Ponds, King Billy Saddle, Ooze Lake, Pandani Knob, Wylly Plateau, PB Low Camp, PB Plateau Camp (High Camp), Cavern Camp, New River Lagoon.
Mountains Climbed - Mount La Perouse, Pindars Peak, Mount Wylly, Mount Victoria Cross and Precipitous Bluff.
Campsites - Pigsty Ponds, Pandani Knob, Wylly Plateau, PB Plateau Camp.
Shot entirely with the Sony A7C (20mm F1.8 GM).
Some of the gear I used for this video (not sponsored) is as follows:
Tent - Slingfin Portal 2P
Backpack - Wilderness Threadworks 63L Ossa (Custom)
Quilt - Tier Gear Tasmania Quenda Quilt (-4C Wide/Wide/Wide)
Sleeping Pad - Sea To Summit Ether Light XT (Insulated)
Gear Storage - Orange Brown Packing Cubes
Shoes - Xero Daylite Hiker Fusion
Get inspired -
/ aaronbgray
aarongray.com.au/
If you enjoyed this video, please make sure to LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and COMMENT!
#precipitousbluff #southernranges #tasmania #hiking
Got a bit emotional watching this. Because there is no better way to welcome a new year as a person who stripped themselves from everything to be in that environment. Well done, thank you for your edit and video
Wow, thank you! There’s no place I’d rather be for new years. Really appreciate that, cheers!
I was gunna remark on exactly that , just you your soul and the amazing tassie wilderness.
Ah man, talk about tugging at the heartstrings! Makes me want to walk the Southern Ranges all over again.
Thanks man! It was such an incredible hike and I was so lucky with the weather!
Like you I did the south coast track and spyed the Bluff. Thanks for sharing your amazing journey. Hope to follow in your footsteps one day.
Thanks Tim. It was an amazing trip - probably one of my favourite hikes to date. Cheers!
Great video, thank you!
Thanks Daron. Glad you enjoyed it 😄
Wonderful share and channel my friend
See you soon stay safe always cheers 👍🏼👍🏼
Thanks, appreciate that. Cheers 👍
Awesome vid - should have borrowed my hat with the fly net lol
I know right, flies and bugs were full on! Thanks!
Breathtaking shots my friend, thsi is something special! What a views! 🔥🔥
Thank you! Really appreciate that, as always. It really was a special hike 🙏
Nice one mate
Thanks!
What a magic presentation of your solo trip in rare weather conditions.
Its postings like yours which are really appreciated and rekindle memories of my trip back in 1986 in a party of 4 with variable weather. 😁
Thanks Peter. Glad I could bring back some memories! Cheers 👍
This is inspirational, Aaron! Excellent video for the incredibly beautiful and highly challenging hike. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Ling! Really appreciate your comments. Not a problem, thanks for watching.
Awesome introduction to start the video. looking forward to the next one. Tim.
Thanks Tim, appreciate it!
Great video mate!
Looks like a lot of extra distance covered going back and forth to pick up the camera!
Thanks man! Yeah, it adds a bit for sure. It’s a lot of work but all part of the process - I try to film as much as my body will let me, battling fatigue and all 🤣
@@AaronGrayOutdoors you do well mate I can appreciate it's definitely a struggle sometimes especially on longer trips
Congratulations Aaron, another great hiking video. You definitely had a great backdrop to film your latest Abels. Perfect weather! Lucky you 🤗
Thanks Karen, it was truely a magnificent place!
Gorgeous scenery, thanks for the story & the hike along
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it 👍
What a great video! This brought back all the feels of my solo trip to the Southern Ranges in December 2018. I was lucky to spend 7 days in the range in stunning weather. Thanks for the extra effort to video your trip. Incredible!
Thanks Rick, I really appreciate that. It really was an amazing range and a fantastic place to walk through solo. Glad you also got amazing weather 👍
Thoroughly enjoyed that Wade Thanks for the effort put in to put it together. Now seventy three, I can be reminded of my own trips in that way. I do remember the horrors of scrub bashing across Leaning Tea Saddle. Yes, people ask why we go alone. This West Coast of Tassie born boy came home after a military career and a soon after, broken marriage. I found peace back in the bush. Not meeting the expectations or deadlines of others. I did the Southern Ranges solo as well and nearly came to a sticky end crossing the outflow at Surprise Rivulet. Survived a misjudged crossing. Went back in through the ranges a couple of years later with a long time Navy buddy and carried big packs in. We dropped down the Eastern side of PB into the Salisbury River catchment and fought our way down to Vanishing Falls. From there we went downstream (dry river bed as it usually is) and then up onto Bobs Knobs and Mt. Bobs and out the Farmhouse Creek track. That was "fun". Twelve days and the best but hardest walk I have ever done. These days I do an annual Winter trip down the OT and this Winter past myself and a buddy did the Port Davey Track. I wont stop going until I cant. Thanks again and happy trails.
Thanks Ian, really appreciate this. Glad to hear you found peace in the bush, it’s such a beautiful place to often find purpose and meaning! Vanishing Falls would have been incredible; knowing you have been somewhere that so few have ever seen. I would love to get out there one day; although the thick horizontal around the Salisbury sounds pretty nasty. Glad to hear you are still walking and doing yearly OT trips and the such. Definitely keep going until you no longer can; I plan too! Thanks so much 🙏
@@AaronGrayOutdoors Sent you a message in Messenger Aaron.
Wonderful video, Aaron - beautifully shot and the music is, as always, spot on. Congratulations on conquering the Southern Ranges, man. Hell of a hike, and you certainly earned those Abels!
Thanks! I feel privileged to have competed the range and such an achievement to start the new year. Definitely one to remember! Cheers 🍻
Amazing scenery, great presentation ❤
Thank you 🙏
Incredible video mate. Captures the essence of solo wilderness walking to a tee 👌👌
Thanks Dale, appreciate that!
Nicely shot. I’ve only been as far as La Perouse. Now I want to do it all.
Thanks. It’s definitely a beautiful area. Hopefully you can get out to PB one day soon.
awesome! 🦉
Thanks Mark!!!
Beautifully filmed. Well done.
Many thanks Mick! Appreciate that.
Great Video..Your best ...stunning..
Cheers Geoff, it will definitely be hard to beat. The backdrop makes such a difference; what an amazing place. Cheers 👍
Hi Aaron - great to meet you finally ‘out on the trail’! Beautifully captured. Glad to hear you had a great trip, you ace’d the weather like a champion. Such a frustrating place for weather usually, even as a local. Planning on going back next month to do the full traverse, fingers crossed (6th time’s the charm!) - Bender
Thanks Ben! It was fantastic to meet you too. Cheers, the weather was definitely beautiful! Hopefully you guys have the luck on your side to get to PB on your next attempt. It was an amazing mountain to reach. Fingers crossed.
Beautifully filmed and edited. Love your gentle style of narration, and I find the info and insights re local vegetation particularly interesting. Thanks for making this and happy new year.
Thanks Gus. Really appreciate this feedback. Happy new year to you too!
Thanks for reviving some memories, did it as far as Pindars back in the 80’s. Not sure if the body would handle PB now.
No worries Phillip. Glad I could bring back some memories for you. How was the track back in the 80s? I assume moonlight flats would have so different, pre fires. Thanks! Pindars Peak is an amazing peak.
Bit more scrub back then. Big wind while camped below Pindars and quite a bit of snow while summiting. Wind chill factor on La Perouse was 0 or lower. Awesome.
Epic! Well done once again Aaron!
Cheers Michael. Glad you enjoyed it!
I really have to get down to tassie, it looks amazing. Hey you're nearly at 1000 subs, you deserve it and more.......Stay safe mate and keep inspiring others on the awesome adventures👍
Thanks mate! Yep, almost there - slowly growing bit by bit. 100% recommend Tasmania, such an incredible state! Appreciate it, as always 👍
Well done, brother. I've only been as far as Pigsty Ponds. Top effort, I know it's a hard hike. Solo hiking is great and congratulations in having the confidence to do this long trek by yourself.
Thanks David, appreciate that. It’s a magnificent spot of Tasmania. I feel privileged to have completed it. Cheers!
@@AaronGrayOutdoors My 3 nights at Pigsty was epic.
Bloody brilliant !
Thanks Sean!!
Hi Aaron,
Great video.
Just wondering if there’s any mobile reception from limestone quarry up to pindars peak. Thanks
Thanks. I can’t really recall but I do remember having phone service on all of the peaks, with Vodafone. I think phone service would be sporadic anywhere between. I hope that helps.
You left two days after us on the same walk on the first day it was something like 35° and I got sun stroke but the next day I was fine BOM forecast a front to come through around 2 pm with a 25% chance of 20mm at 10am I have never been so wet with winds of exercise of 160km we made it past Ouse but turned the walk around as one of our party had hypothermia and was going downhill fast. Luckily the wind started really blowing gusts of 200km at our backs, sort of helped us walk out. It was the hardest thing I've done.
2 days just 2 days!
I wonder if I passed you up on Moonlight Flats on my way in? I was very flexible with my dates so was able to start with the best forecast ahead. Windy was showing extreme winds for the Wednesday.
Hopefully the member of your party is okay, after suffering from Hypothermia. I can imagine how difficult the 2 days would have been in those conditions. Thanks!
Fantastic video, the alpine scenery looks so spectacular. My friends and I were a couple of days behind you on the South Coast Track. Your SCT video was a big inspiration leading up to the trip so it would have been great to have met you!
Thanks so much - it was a spectacular hike! I am so glad to hear that my video inspired you to do the SCT. It's a pity that I was a few days ahead of you, I hope you enjoyed it!
@@AaronGrayOutdoors yes we really did. Other than the hot day on New Years Day, the weather was basically perfect (only had any considerable drizzle on one night). Tough walk but very rewarding. One of my hiking buddies who did SCT with me said she now really wants to do PB after watching your video, and of course being tempted by seeing it towering over head at the Prion Boat Crossing
Awesome, great to hear. I was also baking on top of PB on New Years Day - there was no shade up at camp. Its a tough walk, but very rewarding!
Great footage, and stunning weather. I finally reached PB on my fourth attempt in the early 1980s, and the landscape has changed a lot. There seems to be far less scrub, and more open plain. I wonder if the recent fires contributed to that.
Thanks Tom! Congrats on reaching PB back in the 80s. I imagine it was a lot harder back then. I know the fires took out much of the scrub around moonlight flats, although I don’t believe they spread past hill one. The scrub after Pandani Knob was still pretty thick, but with the track being walked way more often lately, I imagine the pad is more noticeable. I hope you enjoyed the video and that it brought back some memories 👍
Fuck man done well I'm proud as punch for ya...weather was mint as too lucky as cherish that shit brother lol ...I was in the the sw about a week ago but a different peak lol 😂 good onya dude welcome to my country south lutrawita nipaluna.....keep safe mate 🍻🍻🍻 on me next time ya down ? 👍😎
Cheers! Love the SW, for sure my favourite place. Will let you know, next time I’m heading TAS 👍
Hi Aaron, Did you wade through the shallow water all the way from the base of PB to the South Coast Track?
I sure did. The wade was actually really enjoyable. It took about 3.5 hours to reach the boats from Cavern Camp.
@@AaronGrayOutdoors Unreal, thank you sir.
if you're young, fit and healthy like aaron here - please think twice about using trekking poles in the fragile alpine environment of tassie - they greatly increase the area of erosion.
Thanks Hayden, that is some good advice. I had not thought of how poles may damage the environment, and create erosion.
Thank you Aaron. Great video. Hope to get there one day. I am interested in the electrolyte powder which you used….would you tell me the brand please? Thank you again.😊
@@elizabethbicevskis6075 Thanks Elizabeth. For this trip I was using Tailwind Nutrition Endurance Fuel (Caffeinated Raspberry). Lately, I've been using electrolytes from Atlas Wild because I like to support AU companies wherever possible.