- Grade : II rock grade 10-12
- Season : Jan 2022
- Length – 13.57km, 1,938m elevation. 9hr 9 min solo (longer if using a rope!)
- Gear : I had a 30m rope and some tat in case of needing a rap but didnt end up using it. Shoes with some ability to edge – glad I wasnt in trail runners. I’d just bought some Mammut 3 season mountain boots that were perfect. TX5 style approach shoes would also be ideal if you want to move faster. Late in the season the snow travel was very mellow – I had some lightweight crampons and ice axe but only used them coming down from Barrier Knob
I was meeting Maria and some other friends at Homer Hut for a trip to climb at copper point, but had an extra day of good weather and time off work so came down a day early for a solo wander. I couldn’t find a heap of beta online about this loop, which is easily accessable as a day trip from Homer Hut, so thought I would have an explore. The route starts pretty much at Homer hut, climbing up to the West Peak and then traversing to the Middle Peak of Crosscut, before descending a rib to the Crosscut-Barrier col and then ascending again to take in Barrier Peak and Barrier Knob before descending back to the hut via Gertrude Saddle. The Darrans guidebook describes it as ‘loose scrambling at grade 8-9 to West peak, and grade 10 downclimb from middle peak on solid rock’ and estimates 12-14 hours. Apart form the West Peak bit (which is horrendusly chossy and I would avoid at all costs), this is a mega fun day trip with some excellent exposed ridge travel and unbeatable views of the Darrans.
Its hard to get a sense of relative difficulty of these traverses form the guidebook – this is a lot more serious, involved and exposed than the Talbot McPherson traverse or Phillestine-Rollerston traverse and was right on the edge of my comfort zone to be soloing. Sustained mega exposure and a few sections of some actual climbing moves (although easy) means you’ve got to be mentally switched on the whole time – or bring a rope!
The first section is from Homer Hut up to the snowfield below West Peak. Head up Gertrude Valley track for about 5 minutes until you get to a clearing and then turn right up towards West peak.
Next up to West Peak. The ‘loose scrambling’ description in the guidebook is somewhat of an understatement – while getting to the summit of West peak is a walk, I wasnt prepared for the heinous levels of choss from here towards Middle peak : this is not what you come to the Darrans for! It was scary and dangerous and I wouldnt recommend it – teetering towers of weetbix which topple with the slightest tickle, above around 1000m or so of exposure to the south and east. Its also very easy to just miss this section out by sidling around the snow below West peak to take the small rib up to the sub peak between West and Middle peaks, which is where the bomber granite starts. I was very happy when this section was over, and the more heroic ridge travel started on excellent rock.
The section from Middle Peak down the rib to the col is the crux and is especially good – winding around the ridge on excellent rock over some good exposure down to the glacier below. A couple of sections had a few delicate moves – definitely is more like climbing than I was expecting. Easy but sustained and exposed. Plenty of oppurtnities to sling a spike and rap down to the glacier if the constant head game gets too much, as it is full focus for this whole section. Would have been easy to protect with a running belay if your not by yourself. Grade 10-12 seems about right to me.
Being late season I could follow the ridge all the way down to the col without hitting any snow, and there were some good tarns at the col for refilling the water bottle (and a good spot to admire the imposing south face of Marian) before heading up to Barrier Peak.
I cut around to the west of the ridge / just west of point 1734 where easy low angle slabs cut back up to join the main ridge which is then very straightforward up to Barrier peak. You could also go head on from the col to the ridge but looked a bit trickier to me.
The section to the west of Barrier Peak is really epic – easier ground than Crosscut and very good rock, but with huge exposure and amazing views up towards Lake Adelaide. Some of the best Cheval shuffling around. Soon your onto Barrier Knob and its plain sailing down the Gertrude Saddle track.
All up a great route and well worth doing if you avoid the choss. If you are protecting the ridge then could get a bit time consuming so leave early!
Peak Exposure 