Mountain Experiences

The Eye of the Stirlings - Andy Held
Alpine Walking in Western Australia - Ian McDonald

The Eye of The Stirlings by Andy Held. Deganwy. Conway UK.

They say a mountain cave is a bad place to be during an electrical storm. The lightning strikes the peak and flows down, not through the rock, but over its surface. When it reaches the cave's upper lip, it jumps the gap and continues its journey earthwards. For occupants of the cave, its like sitting in the gap of some enormous spark plug.

Textbooks show the preferred location to avoid a strike. The carefully drawn figure sits on his insulating rucksack, knees drawn up to his chest, on an open boulder slope. Some of the boulders are bigger than he is , to act as decoys. There didn't seem to be any where remotely like this near the summit of the third arrow, so we stayed and watched the show.

From the farm at Glenelg, at the edge of the great plain, the single ridge of black teeth is so reminiscent of that from another Glenelg on the Isle of Skye that it can be no coincidence, rather an early settler's homesickness made him clear this patch. Woodlands stands between there and the foot of the ridge. We dodged, panting shade to shade. Ground rose, woodland gave way to low scrub. Occasional fleshy grass trees towered giving a thin strip of shade as a street lamp would. Heavy rucksacks sloshed, five litres of water each. We melted. Path, a burnt brown thread with branches and thorns tearing clothes, packs, legs. Rest became more frequent than shade.

Lowest rocks of the First Arrow, unwieldy juggernaut balance. The steep rock was of ancient metamorphic contortions giving huge jutting handholds which we were afraid to pull on, for fear of pulling them off. On over the first pinnacle, First Arrow, Second Arrow. This one ridge an enormous ruck in the endless blanket of the plain. And so it was, a kick from Antarctica's clumsy feet when he and Australia both lay in one bed. Any Geologist worth his halite will tell you that those distant bumps to the south at the continent's edge should therefore be granite. We had tectonic plateful of geologists and indeed the Porongurup Range and the coastal hills beyond are lovely pink and grey crystalline domes.

On the north side of the Third Arrow near the foot of it's cliffs is a cave, large enough to hold a small orchestra. It seemed a good place for the night. A large plastic barrel placed to catch drips stands in a damp gully inconveniently situated on the other side of the mountain. It took me some time to register that such gloomy spots lay on the south sides of the mountains here. We didn't really need more water but I hadn't hunter-gathered all day, so I scrambled round, swarmed up a fixed rope and filled our empty bottles, while others cooked and made home.

Content, we stared into the twilight deeps. The stillness was shattered by a fork of lightning far out over the plain to the north. Another, rapidly followed. The air crackled with electricity but thunder was strangely absent, such was the distance of our vision. The display continued for several hours with flashes of all shapes, zigs, zags, straight bolts, two, three and four headed monsters sheets which lit up the landscape and our flickering laughing faces. At first we discussed moving our position but then accepted the futility of it in this huge game of chance. The storm appeared to be moving almost imperceptibly closer as the evening wore on and sleep crept cosy into our bags.

What a crashing banging exploding calamity of noise and light startled us in the deepest night. Sally claiming "not to have slept a wink" described its six heads striking all around us. The rest of us sound asleep as the bolt began were completely awake in the split second before it finished. Even as we recovered from the blitz it was clear that the heart of the storm was moving away, past the eastern end of the range to lose itself over the Southern Ocean. There were many more flashes and claps and now rain but we knew that the most dangerous time had passed.

We awoke again to a cave of mists which a yellow dawn struggled to disperse, finally breaking through only as we climbed to the top of Third Arrow. A narrowing ledge ran below and above the tiers of cliffs on Pyungoorup Peak and we battled across it through dense and sometimes hostile vegetation, slicing my hand on a broad green blade. Near the summit, Sally who seems to get all the best, saw a flash of orange in the undergrowth "Tiger snake" they said gravely and walked on more vigilantly. My low cut trainer and socks began to feel very flimsy. I should at least have remembered to bring gaiters.

Ellen peak, the last great rocky knobble at the eastern end of the Stirling Range. We sat on it's rocky top. A Wedge Tail Eagle whose perch we'd taken, popped up on an updraught and with a whooshing noise glided malevolently past. Close enough for us to see ourselves sitting deep black within the cave of it's evil eagle eye.

They say that a mountain cave is a bad place to be during an electrical storm. What do they know? I wouldn't have missed it!

Alpine Walking in Western Australia by Ian McDonald, President Perth Bushwalkers Club Inc

The Ridge Walk is something different! It is widely acknowledged as one of the great walks of the world, and people travel from all over the world to do it.

Whilst I sit by the beach in the driest and flattest state, in the World's driest and flattest continent, it is difficult to believe it is possible to go alpine bushwalking in Western Australia. There is a narrow ridge that stretches about 15 kilometres " as the crow flies," from Ellen Peak, at the extreme eastern end of the Stirling Range to Bluff Knoll, a popular tourist "walk up" mountain, eight kilometres by road from Chester Pass Road. This narrow ridge gets snow, hail, sleet, blizzards and bright sunshine, all within a very short time - the whole gamut of mountain weather.

The walk along the ridge crosses the 1012 metre high Ellen Peak, passes below the southern cliff on Pyungoorup Peak, over Baker's Knob, over Third Arrow, over Second Arrow, over First Arrow, across Isongerup, and on to Moongoongoonderup, then down and up again on to St James Peak and over the top of the 1073 metre high Bluff Knoll. It starts (or finishes, depending on which way you go) at the northern boundary of the Stirling Range National Park at about the 250 metre mark, or the Bluff Knoll car park at about 550 metres.. The passes between some of these mountains drop to somewhere about 600 to 800 metres. And the route does not run straight up or straight down or straight anywhere - it varies significantly from the straight line in all dimensions - up and down left and right .It is not quite a corkscrew, but sometimes feels like it as you scramble up one steep slope to be confronted by a 90 degree course change and step descent.

There is no defined track for most of the way. It is certainly possible to follow where animals have gone before, or even where other people have gone before. However tracks which have been made in error attract others, who upon finding themselves in error after some considerable effort retrace their steps and the erroneous track becomes more worn than the correct track, and traps yet more of the unwary.

The super fit and agile, and savvy navigators can do the walk in one day with a four am start and a nine pm finish, but for most of us it is a two or three day affair. Campsites on the ridge are rudimentary and well spaced and would not even be recognised as campsites by people conditioned to routes like the Bibbulmun Track. However if you are exhausted, not sure exactly where you are, and locked in by a white out or appalling weather, you camp where you can.

Whiteout! In Western Australia? You bet! I have been "whited out" on the transverse over Isongerup on three occasions. Visibility drops to about five metres, and while this is sufficient to follow the faint trail, when heading west, just before the top of Isongerup, the route drops off sharply to the right and down towards Moongoongoonderup. Isongerup has several "tops" in succession and, in fine weather it is impossible to distinguish from the real top.(Luckily on my second traverse the weather was clear and I have marked the way points on my GPS. Now I know when I must drop down to the right rather than blunder along, following any number of faint tracks made by walkers who are lost.)

This alpine strip is quite narrow. On my first crossing I was disoriented on the high country, between Isongerup and Moongoongoonderup, in a blizzard. Couldn't see more than ten metres in any direction. Couldn't open my pack, to get at a map, for fear of drenching the contents. Couldn't refer to a map in any case, because it would get blown away. Out of the pocket of my Gortex jacket came the trusty compass and moving about 100 metres north, and below the brow of the hill, it was calm and almost bright, with white cloud above. Out came the maps and a hurried consultation with other group members and we knew exactly where we were. We buttoned up and walked back up the hill into the fury, and on to a relatively sheltered campsite where we stayed for the night. Luckily we were on one of the places where it is possible to drop of the ridge with ease. In many places the drop off is very steep and not pleasant at all.

Despite all this alpine weather, water is an issue that must be taken very seriously. There is no guaranteed water source on the ridge.

Responsible walkers plan their route to use water from a barrel that has been placed high in a crevice on Third Arrow, where it catches water from several drips, and have well thought out plans to abort the expedition if the barrel has insufficient water for the party's needs. There is usually water in a creek that is crossed by an escape track that runs off First Arrow to the northern boundary of the National Park. This water is gathered wild and needs to be treated, to make fit for drinking. I said "usually," but wouldn't bet on it for summer. For a summer transverse I would carry in water and drop it on the National Park Boundary below First Arrow to give coverage in the event that the creek was dry as well.

Navigation is another issue. The escape routes are not easy to find!

It is possible to buy a map of the eastern Stirlings from any good map shop or bushwalking shop. However, the first one I bought showed some interesting plateaus around the tops of the ridge? "That's funny," I said to myself, " there are no flat areas around the side of the hills, but if there are, it should make navigation pretty easy." Not so! Where the terrain is so steep that contour lines become too close together to discern, the map maker has simply deleted them!

The best description of the Ridge Walk can be found in the book, Mountain Walks in the Stirling Range - Peaks to the east of Chester Pass Road, by AT Morphet, and published by Torridon Publications. It is part of a two volume series, the other covering the mountains to the west of Chester Pass Road. Both volumes are available from good bushwalking outfitters in Perth, and from the office at Stirling Range Retreat. It is essential reading for Ridge Walkers.

My favourite route has been across private land on Glenelg farm, and a direct approach to Ellen Peak, then over the top of Ellen Peak, around the south of Pyungoorup and onto Third Arrow and the water barrel. With an early start the barrel is reached a little after lunch. If there is water in the barrel, I pick up sufficient water to last to mid-day the next day, then clamber on to the sheok Col between First Arrow and Isongerup, arriving in late afternoon and camping overnight. An early start sees me on top of Bluff Knoll for lunch and off the mountain early in the afternoon. If the barrel is empty, I would continue along First Arrow, down the escape track to water in the creek and camping somewhere on the plain to the north of the Ranges, then an easy walk along the Park Boundary to Stirling Range Retreat. For me, the walk is aborted, but the younger and fitter could re climb the Ridge and continue on.

Unfortunately this route relied upon using a gazetted road past the homestead at Glenelg farm, which ran to a gazetted "stopping and camping" area, thence due south to the National Park boundary, and an informal track to Ellen Peak. This route also put Ellen Peak and Pyungoorup in range for day walkers. Unknown to most walkers, they were actually trespassing on private property between the "stopping and camping," area and the boundary. To properly drain his property, the farmer has built a drain across the access track and been advised by his insurer to close the access. The Gnowangerup Shire Council who built the excellent access to Bluff Knoll, have at the request of the bushwalking community, taken the responsibility of providing safe access to Ellen Peak. They need to do a land swap with the farmer and re locate a few roads, and all this takes time. In the meantime CALM have provided an interim car park at the far eastern end of the park that involves a six kilometre walk to the start of the Ellen Peak access. Few in the bushwalking community can understand why CALM doesn't simply make a road out of their existing firebreak and build a car park at the base of Glenelg farm. It seems too simple for words so their must be some reason why they don't In the meantime, the extra six kilometres adds just too much to the already strenuous walk , and there has been a noticeable reduction in the number of people dong this walk. This reduction is noticeable to people doing the walk, and to people who provide a service dropping people at the start and picking them up at the end. Local traders selling fuel and provisions may have also noted a drop in business.

My preferred routes now, is to leave Stirling Range Retreat after lunch and walk east along the northern side of the Park to an area near Ellen Peak access. If creeks are running this can be done carrying minimum water. After camping overnight water can be taken from a creek, and an early start made on the ascent of Ellen Peak, and thence the same route as before. This route is probably only half an hour longer than going by car to the eastern end of the park and walking west to the foot of Glenelg farm and then camping, but it involves much less shuttling cars and leaving cars exposed in the park at the eastern end of the National Park.

On one transverse, a friend and I were camped in the Col between First Arrow and Isongerup, on a sunny October evening, and as we settled in for the night we could see a number of thunder-storms. There were at least three. One off to the north east, one off to the north, and another to the north west. At the Col the wind was roaring over our heads and funnelling towards the north. We sat and marvelled at the majesty of the lightning. Slowly it dawned on us that despite the howling gale above, these storms were converging on the Col and on us. As the storms hit we were treated to an hour of thunder and lightning at very close proximity - we were in the middle of a thunder storm, not below it - what an adrenaline surge. We sheltered in our bivvy bags and managed to get a good nights sleep, covered at one point in some 100 mm of hail stones. We thanked Paddy Pallin for the excellent design and workmanship in our bivvy bags.

On another transverse this time in July, we followed the same route with a Scottish friend who was an experienced hill walker there. He was heading back to Scotland and had the Stirling Range Ridge Walk on his list of "must do" walks. We left the Stirling Range Retreat after lunch and walked east along the boundary intending our usual route. We planned an early start next morning - say about seven. Next day after an eight o'clock start, because in July it is still dark at seven, we headed along the boundary to the track up Ellen Peak. Experienced walkers that we are, we missed the Ellen Peak route and found ourselves at the access track to Moir Hill. (We had been so sure of ourselves that we had failed to make even the most elementary navigation checks.) A quick push through the bush and across at least three more little steep sided gullies covered with thick scrub than we had planned, and we found ourselves on the correct line but about an hour behind. As we reached the bare exposed rock top of Ellen Peak it started to rain, making the rock very slippery and much slower to cross. By the time we got to the top of Ellen Peak we were some three hours behind schedule. There was sufficient water in the barrel for us to continue, but as we scrambled down from the barrel, I slipped and punctured the bladder in which I was carrying water for the rest of the trip. Luckily I had the inner skin from an old wine cask in my pack and was able to transfer water from one to the other before it was all lost. At this point too much of the day was gone to make the Col, so we decided to camp under the overhang on Third Arrow. The following day, we lost another hour due to the later sunrise, and in any case had camped a couple of hours further east than we intended. Luckily the weather cleared, the clouds stayed high and we came off Bluff Knoll only about two hours later than expected. We were able to call the Stirling Range Retreat on the mobile phone from the top of Bluff Knoll and were picked up by their bus when we got to the bottom.

The Stirling Range lies about 400 kilometres south east of Perth and 80 kilometres north east of Albany, and runs for some 60 kilometres east west. My favourite route to get there from Perth is via Albany Highway to Kojonup, turn left to go to Broomehill, then five kilometres south of Broomehill along the Great Southern Highway turn left to Gnowangerup. Go through Gnowangerup and Borden and follow the Chester Pass Road to the Stirlings. At the turn off to Bluff Knoll lies the Stirling Range Retreat and Bluff Knoll Cafe. The Retreat offers excellent accommodation before and after the Ridge Walk and the Cafe offers food fit for the appetite of hikers. A few kilometres north of the National Park Boundary there is an excellent Dutch Windmill and Railway Restaurant "The Lily." The route is slightly longer than some but offers excellent views of Toolbrunup, Ellen Peak and Bluff Knoll, and an excellent view of the country covered by the Ridge Walk.

The Stirlings also offer a range of excellent day walks using marked trails up mountains like Bluff Knoll, Toolbrunup, Trio, Hassel, Magog and Talyuberlup. Details of these can be got from the CALM website, and from Stirling Range Retreat , or from Morphett's books, but doing them involves little more than taking a day pack with some water and being properly clothed and shod, allowing sufficient time to get back before dark, and following the marked trail. Beware though that these are mountains, and rapid weather change is to be expected. (I have personally experienced the weather on Toolbrunup changing from fine and sunny to hail stones in less than two minutes.)

The Ridge Walk is something different! Do not attempt it unless you are an experienced wilderness walker, with very well found equipment, and geared up to spend a good deal of time in very wild weather in very wild country. Every year the WA media carry stories of people who have been caught out by being on the walk ill prepared, and who need to be rescued.

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