Mount Difficult, Grampians, Victoria. Winter 2012

I haven't written many posts lately have I? There's a reason though and it's due to the ultimate, outdoor blogging dilemma. Do you know what that is? Well, I've been doing too much walking lately which frankly is getting in the way of the blog. How can I write inspiring posts if I keep walking every weekend? I might have to get out some gear and talk about the co-efficiency rating of titanium molecules in my cuben fiber jock-strap. Damn... I'll work out this blogging caper one day...

Anyway, let's look at Mount Difficult in the Grampians. The observant punter would realise this walk has featured before in one of the more notable failures from the 'fiasco vault'. Briefly, on a hot summers day, occasional hiking sidekick 'the Smuffin' hit the wall physically during a steamy day of climbing and as a result we only completed half of the intended walk. The incident on the Mount Difficult Range became known globally due to William Shakespeare, who whilst inspired by the story penned what was quite frankly an abysmal play called, 'The Taming of the Smuffin'.

In order to put this walk to bed, I've been wanting to get back to the Grampians for a while. A winter visit seemed to make sense, as at least I wouldn't have to worry about lugging six litres of water due to the dry conditions like last time. Yeah okay, it'd be freezing, but I thought I'd have that in hand. Do you notice how I used the word 'thought'? I wonder where this post is going?

On this occasion I'd be doing the hike on my own and I picked out the weekend to do it rather haphazardly. Calendar. Darts. That's as technical a selection as I could come up with. The upcoming weather was of interest though and I noted the Saturday forecast of 'showers' and a maximum of 10 °C at the nearby town of Halls Gap. Mm... I'd be sleeping out at a higher altitude than the town...

This has been a lot of writing hasn't it? Should I break it up with a photo to stop you slipping into a coma? How about something totally unrelated to this post? Okay, here's an outtake from the official 'Hiking Fiasco stunt double' who's trying to put on some pants that were last worn in 1983. It didn't go to plan which is why it's in the outtakes section and consequently I hope it remains out of the public eye and doesn't end up online somewhere.

Now, back to the future. If camping overnight, this particular walk has to be booked at the Brambuk National Park and Cultural Centre. When I phoned a few days before the weekend, there was no one else planning on being up there. Upon hearing that, I celebrated by tearing my trousers off, twirling them above my head and screaming, "I'd have the entire range to myself!!" whilst in the local library.

Well, that's a great theory until I drove into the starting point at Troopers Creek Campground and observed multiple cars, plus the nemesis of the solo walker. Yes, the school group. Actually, has there ever been a group of about ten teenagers on a bush walk who don't scream, yell and talk so loudly that you'd think they're trying to communicate to our neighbours on Abell 1835 IR1916?

This lot were no different and upon finding out they were intending to stay at my planned destination of the Briggs Bluff camp site, I contemplated an alternative overnight location. Anyway, I thought I'd give them a monster head start, so I didn't set off for at least 40 minutes after they left.

There were another two blokes who were ahead of me and had set off before I'd arrived and some elderly bloke called 'Klaus' who was cruising around in a camper van. He'd really perfected the ability to talk and I noticed he barely breathed as he did so. He informed me he was going to knock off Mount Difficult as a day walk in the gear he was wearing. Fair enough, but I noted he was wearing a woollen jumper from the 'Ötzi the Iceman Signature Series' and a pair of slippers. I guess he had some more gear tucked away in his van, but one never knows?

So, that's it. I was off and racing. My first observation was that in winter the entire area had taken on a different look and feel. The range ahead was cloaked in low cloud and within minutes I was walking in a mist that remained with me for the entire day.

Well, you can sit back now and relax, as the writing is going to dry up and I'll head into 'photo abuse' time. There's plenty of clambering on a rocky, tree strewn path to negotiate and I was moving gingerly to avoid falling over...

...and the whole area was soaking wet with the path like a small stream at times.

Remember that group who I'd given a massive head start to? Believe it or not, but I caught them within 30 minutes of walking. I'm not sure how that's possible considering my normal sloth-like speed, but whilst passing I did chat with one of the older blokes and asked him what the weather forecast was. His reply of 'shower's meant there hadn't been any changes that I feared I might have missed out on. Onwards...

...and I reached a fairly level section which passes a towering wall of rock covered in cloud...

The vistas were limited, but I was enjoying this misty walk in comparative silence as I'd successfully left the screaming hordes behind. I then began a theme of this hike and that's sections of weaving between huge slabs of rock...

...and it continues...

On the last visit, reaching Tilwinda Falls seemed like a logical spot for a break. There are flat rocks to lounge on whilst taking in the vast views below, but in summer the falls were just a trickle. Again, it was a totally different scene with the water running...

...but this exposed area was where the first drama of the day began to occur. The conditions had been icy, but there was no wind or rain. That changed though as the wind suddenly picked up and rain began to fall. Under completely grey skies I couldn't work out what was in store, but I made sure to put on my 'full wets' of rain coat and overpants just in case.

Now it's time for a video. Yes, you read that correctly. A video. The ever energetic Lou Pardi offered me a suggestion that I should put some videos on my blog for something a little different. I did wonder about this, as I do take the odd one which are always rough and ready, with a result they don't interest me much. Also, I think I only take them when the weather is rubbish! They seem to make sense on those occasions rather than footage of a nice, sunny day.

Before showing it, I suggest you turn down the volume or take off your headphones, otherwise the sound of the deafening wind may fry your eardrums. You don't want to end up like me, who's abused headphones for a lifetime listening to stuff like Young Man Blues by The Who at full throttle. My ears are officially cooked, but the music was great which is the main thing, right?

Young Man Blues - The Who, Isle of Wight Festival 1970.

Okay, I just crash-read the notes about uploading a video to Blogger and I may have missed some details in the 17 seconds I took to read it, but here's an experiment. It's Tilwinda Falls just as the weather turned and I shot it in cinéma vérité style which means any jerking of the camera was fully intentional and not due to me having no idea what I was doing.



That file was not exactly HD, but there you go. Now, the rain began to set in which meant that the DSLR went away and I relied on a dodgy compact for the rest of the day. This wasn't ideal either as the forecast 'showers' appeared more like constant rain and only got heavier.

I continued to chip away at the climb until I reached the clearing of the Mount Difficult bush camp site which is as far as we got on the last visit, On this occasion though, it was only midday, so there was no point in stopping so soon. I figured I'd go back to my original planning and continue on to the Briggs Bluff camp and duke it out with the herd of kids who were intending to spend the night there.

I did want to look at the 'view' from the Mount Difficult summit though, so I dropped my backpack and headed up amongst the breezy weather. The summit trig point at 806 metres was looming in the clouds...

...and upon making it I made one fairly logical observation, which was it was BLOODY FREEZING. There was no view and I wasn't sure why I was standing at the top, but it gave me a chance for another video didn't it? Here you go, take in the sights...




I quickly hurried down and the plan now was to 'get to the camp pronto'. The only bonus is the wind and rain was coming from behind me, so I didn't have my crossover Joseph Merrick/Val Kilmer good looks being shredded. I was also becoming aware this was one hell of a long 'shower' and in fact it had now lasted quite a few hours making it possibly the longest in the history of the world. Photos were now reaching farcical stage and I had given up trying to keep water off the camera lens...

Do you think the lens is getting wet? Well, how about this then...

Just for a surprise though I made another video. Are you sick of them yet? There's no half measures in the 'fiasco world', as I've adopted the all or nothing approach. This time the wind was getting stronger, but the walking was still doable. The only problem I had was the wet, tilted rock slabs were quite slippery to walk on. I was taking my time as I didn't want to come a cropper in this exposed section...




I moved on dragging my soaking body along until I reached the Briggs Bluff camp site which was in quite a protected area than I'd been walking in. I found the two blokes who'd set off earlier in the day and asked them what the forecast was. They replied, "Showers". So there you go, I wasn't alone in thinking I might get the odd drenching, rather than the at least four hour constant rain that was showing no signs of letting up.

Now, you know what I did for this walk? I decided to take my Outdoor Research Alpine Bivy instead of a tent. My current tent is out of action and is in for repair and I discovered that 'the Smuffin' has all of my others. Yes, for some reason he has three and all I had left was the bivy bag option.

Let's say this here and now. Without some sort of tarp combo, the bivy bag sucks in wet weather. The rain was pelting down and I ended up cooking and eating outside, plus set up stuff which was creating some dampness in my gear. In fact, this is the first walk I've been on where all of my defences were breached. My feet were waterlogged and frozen, water had penetrated the backpack and the dry bags, which meant I was about to be acquainted with the ultimate hiking trauma. Yes, the sleeping bag was wet.

Not having a shelter meant there was nothing to do other than get into the bivy and sit it out, yet it was only 4 pm. This is what I did and I noted the sleeping bag was freezing cold and wet on the inside. Oh oh, where's the story going to from here?

I'll visit that in my next post and I suppose I should mention the herd of kids arrived yelling and screaming (why would it be any different?) and proceeded to set-up about six inches from me. Do people get lonely out bush? I ended up picking up all my crap and moving a further away, so the yelling was only mildly excruciating rather than suicide inducing.

Now, here's the GPS reading from the days walk...

  

...and finally, how about some photos from earlier in the day when the walking was so much easier. Oh yeah, have another video whilst you're at it...