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Mt Barney - Australia's hardest hike? · Everyday Hiker

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: Do you love hiking, getting out in nature, exploring new places and looking for some inspiration?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well you're in the right place.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the Everyday Hiking Podcast.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: My name is Beck and I'm your host.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: I live in the beautiful South East Queensland region of Australia, and so many of the hiking ideas are featuring this area, but I'm also looking for travel inspiration for other places plus special guests, practical tips and guides to hiking.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: And if you like what you hear, please follow me, share with your friends, rate my podcast, and of course send me your feedback.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, welcome everyone, and today I'm absolutely delighted to have a special guest with me, Wes, who is going to talk about Mount Barney, which is a topic that I've been waiting to tackle and just wanted to do it the right way.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: So before I um before we get into it, I just want to introduce Wes, is a co-administrator of the very popular Take a Hike Queensland Facebook page.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: I find the page fantastic.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: If you're not a member, join now.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: I love to see what other people are up to, get advice from other people, get some inspiration from that Facebook page on all sorts of things, not just hikes but gears.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you, Wes, for doing that because it's a great resource for us hikers, and I know you're answering a lot of questions while you're on there.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you also to Shauna, who is um Wes's helper as well on that.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um talking to Wes beforehand for a start, he's Irish, so you're gonna love his accent.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um Wes tells me that he has climbed Mount Barney up to maybe a hundred times, which is pretty phenomenal.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: So, firstly, welcome Wes.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for coming on.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much, Beck.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's good to be here and thanks for having me.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I really um was keen to talk to you and find out about your experience because I know you're really avid hiker, you were just mentioning as well Tasmania, a personal goal, 158 peaks, you've done 88 of them.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna have to do a Tasmania special based on that.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but today we're gonna talk about Mount Barney and the reason I've left Mount Barney until now, because obviously it's one of the feature hikes in South East Queensland, arguably the most challenging, one of the most challenging is for that simple reason that everyday hike I really want to inspire people to just get out and not be intimidated by hiking.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: So Mount Barney might be something that you build up to aspire to.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Some people might be ready for it now or are looking for a different way of doing it.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: And given that you've done it every which way, um, I'm sure you're going to provide that today.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: But I thought we'd kick off by just saying, tell me about please the very first time you climbed Mount Barney.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um okay.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh first time I climbed Barney, I actually went back through my notes and I think it was it was I had a quite a large break in my hiking career.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I hiked a lot when I was younger as a teen.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was lucky enough to have a geography teacher, geography and history who was big into the outdoors.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Had many uh trips to the Himalayas, and I just found this to be fascinating.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And his his local area, which would have been like Barney to me now, was in Kerry.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's a place um called the McGilllically Reeks, and it's a collection of uh mountains in Kerry, uh and the highest mountain in Ireland, Caron Tool.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he used to take us up there.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think I did it maybe three or four times with him, and then I started doing it on my own at weekends.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So after that moved to Australia in my twenties and um didn't hike, and then something like a big life change happened, I started hiking again.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And very quickly, when you're living in Southeast Queensland, Barney comes on your radar and um I always wanted to do it and there was just I I rem I climbed the maroon in March of 2019 and I looked across to Barney and I was like I I can do that next, I can do that next.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't know much about it.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I took off with um a friend of mine and we went up South East Southeast Ridge as a f as a first ascent.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um we were sort of scared doing it because it's it seemed like there was much more exposure than anything I'd done before.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah we we we we went down Soap Ridge, down to Rum Jungle and down Soap Ridge, and it was a massive day, it took maybe 10 hours, um, got lost loads of times.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um and from that moment on I went back and said I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna try and aim to do it again and not have it quite so dramatic.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it went from there and as as you progress you you learn bits and pieces more put the moment and absolutely so what kind of preparation?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean it doesn't sound like you'd done heaps maybe the first time.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh did you have a uh you know an app downloaded or a map downloaded, I should say, rather than an app or or both, um, to help you with it, or did you just kind of follow the signs?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: We did we did.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um I the first trail app I heard heard about was uh Wikilock and I downloaded that and um there was some there's some amazing um I suppose trail guy guys that had recorded lots of trails in that area already that I really came to rely on.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I think when you're new to trail apps you have a tendency to kind of look at them at every meter and not focus on picking up what what's around you.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it was just Barney's a great teacher, that's what I would say to anyone about Barney.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: The the whole national park is an amazing teacher.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I've hiked in places across the world and I still go back to Mount Barney and the park in general because it can there's something for every difficulty.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, it was WikiLock for me, was the was the was the app of uh trail app of choice.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's a great that's a great observation because I agree with you.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: All trails, and it's it's annoying because it tells you you're going off route, so then you spend all your time trying to get back on route where you might have needed to follow your nose a little bit more.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um so 10 hours, that's actually a pretty decent time for a first attempt.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh do you think you were lucky with that?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or because you said you got lost a bit.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um lost, lost, yeah.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was more questioning whether was this really the route.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of time we spent looking left and right, and then when you when you get to the top of East Peak, which is the the most popular peak by far in the park, it's not it's not the highest, but it's the most popular.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: You look down, and uh the the trail notes I'd been given was there's a there's a forest where rum jungle campsite is, and if you look, if you look down on the forest, there's two distinct colour greens where there's two different types of trees, and you just head for the middle.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we did, and it took us quite a while to get there, but once we got there we knew we were okay then coming out on so so peasants peasants ridges it's known.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um kind of time of day were you starting then?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm lucky I work in construction, so to me once the sun's up I'm ready to like.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um and always have been.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I always I always am a believer that you le you you leave the sunlight towards the end of the day where starting at nine or ten o'clock is just it's it's no go for Barney.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's the first thing you do, you start early.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that's what I was getting to.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: You really need to get up there early, and so if you're travelling, you you've got to account for that extra hour and a half as well to get down there.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um did you contemplate camping?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: I like I'm I'm assuming you've camped since at Mount Barney rather than just a day trip.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um sometimes when we're doing it we'll we'll camp in one of the either one of the um one of the local establishments, like private campsites.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um otherwise I'll just do uh a two o'clock in the morning drive down, which for some I wouldn't recommend because it can be quite committing.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's kangaroos in my life at night, but that's that's something we've done as well.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um especially when we started doing it for sunrises and things, and wanting to be at the summit by sub by sunrise is it's basically a midnight start.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna say so even 2am might be a bit late for that, so yeah, midnight, and then you really need to know where you're going, don't you?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: Because so you mentioned that you went up the South East Ridge and came down peasant ridge, I think.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: On your first attempt.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: I would say for most people, Southeast Ridge is is if you've done if you've done other hikes leading up to it, Southeast Ridge is something that you could do, because it's definitely the quickest way up.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um it wasn't always it wasn't the first route that was that was explored in in Mount Barney.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: There was there's another ridge out the back um called Midget's Ridge.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that was the original.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you look at some of the bush bushwalking clubs, older literature and books, that was the way that they uh they carried materials up to build huts and such, and it just seems so crazy now because to do it now it's quite a difficult ridge.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: But um some people elect to go South Ridge up and down for their first time, um, also known as Peasant's Ridge, and it is it is uh a scramble-free route largely, except for one or two little sections, but it's much longer because you're doing a big you're doing a big arc to get to the East Peak Summit.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: So if if it was your first attempt though, and uh this is probably the safer if not longer route to go.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: Is that is that a fair summary?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it is, yeah, yeah.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: So um, and let's talk about then the you you mentioned was it is it midgets route?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Midgets Midgets Ridge, yeah.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, so you've mentioned that because there's two peaks on Mount Barney, isn't there?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: There is.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, so uh the other peak, the best way to get there?
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um arguably the the quickest way to to get there and probably the safest way to get there now is again head up South Ridge until you get to the campsite, and then it's an semi-off track at uh adventure for about an hour to get there.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Mostly because West Peak, which is I think it's eight metres higher than than East Peak, is um it's just less less hiked.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's um it it has it does suffer at the top or just at the summit.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's quite a lot of uh regrowth there, and it doesn't have the best, it has staggered views.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas East Peak has just open expansive view that everyone loves to sit and chat, and that's that's probably why East Peak is more popular.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: But so South Ridge would be the best way to get to East.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and some people camp along the way, so some people will camp at Rum Jungle for that early start as well.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: Is that something you've you've tried or camping on the mountain itself?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, I've camped in Rum Jungle many a time.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's quite a popular campsite, um, and its counterpart uh Old Hut, which is just a couple of hundred metres away, which basically sits on the creek.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um that was the where we're I mean, as the name would suggest, that's where the bushwalking hut, the the different iterations of it were.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's gone now, but the pad is still an official campsite.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, rum jungle does suffer uh bush rats, and I've seen them unscrew milk cap bottles that they're quite good at finding your food.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So um you do need to take measures either like hang your food off a tree, or I wouldn't recommend bringing anything bringing any food into your tent because they'll they'll get in there and they'll put holes in your tent.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, but it it definitely is an option for people that just want to slow down.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, you I mean if you want to take two days climbing Mount Barney to get and be sure to get to the summit, you can bring your gear up, set up in Rum Jungle, and then with a smaller day back, head up to the peak, which might take an anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half each way.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's a guaranteed way of getting to the summit, pretty much.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, and that's what I've heard.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, and but that's a national parks campsite, so you've got to book ahead.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because I've heard of people who sort of rocked up there and and thought, well, just set up camp.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: But like I said, it's it's popular, so you're not guaranteed a spot unless you're booking one.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably the most popular um high camp or bush camp, um, with the exception of the the Lower Portals campsite, which is notorious for always being booked up.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, um Rum Jungle is is probably the best campsite to attain a peak, I guess.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: There are other high peaks, but they're they're way more off track.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah to be honest, when you're standing in them, you don't know you're in a campsite, it's one of those.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a little flat spot.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's a true bush camp.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a space, a clearing, if you like.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: But there's no real facilities at Rum Jungle, though.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, you you've got to be pretty self-sufficient.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, self-sufficiency, definitely.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: There is there is um water nearby in all but the driest conditions.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: No water you've got to filter.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a lot of speculative.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I always filter water on in the park anyway, generally, because I mean there's this farmland around in the in the lower camps, especially, um, animals.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the problem with rum jungle is toileting.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: So um a lot of people don't use best practice regarding toileting, and when you're so close to a water source, I'll always collect my water upstream of the campsite just to be safe.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: But that's just something to remember.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good point.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about gear then.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: Let's start with safety gear because Mount Barney is not for the faint-hearted, it really isn't.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: So anybody who thinks, I'll just, as you said, rock up the car park at 9 a.m., climb up this peak and and off I go.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: Apart from the planning to make sure you've got the time to do it, what do you think are essentials for climbing Mount Barney?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Essentials, but essentials, first and foremost, for me are don't carry your fears, so don't care, don't carry too much.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um leave early, have a light, have a snake bandage.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Snake bandage is I love carrying tools that are have multi-uses, and a snake bandage to me is so much more than a snake bandage.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's the splinter leg, it's the it's I'll use it as a bandage.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, you can you can in an in an emergency you can use it to repair gear.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: If if one of your pack straps goes, you can it'll get you down off the mountain.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I love carrying stuff like that.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's something that always goes in the bag.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um something that's um has a lot of salt in it.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: I often quite I I I'm known for carrying um a full stick of salami.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um because calories don't have to be clean, they just have to be calorific.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um other than that, I mean a lot of people say I always carry a rain jacket.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: If it's if it's 35 degrees and I'm cleaning brownie, uh I I won't bring a rain jacket.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's it's it's situational.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, although having said that though, it it is exposed.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: It is exposed.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: Climbing in the summer is going to require a bit of a different approach to maybe climbing in the winter because we have such mild winter days.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what about water?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: How much would you carry as opposed to collecting along the way?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so depending on what type of day that's planned, that's that's the first thing.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's the plan of the day?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: If it's going to be a big long mission, I'll I'll carry some extra water, maybe three to four litres.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Generally, I'm 1.5 litres for the day.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I've done the mountain so many times, and we'll do we'll do quick sprints to try and get there as efficiently as possible carrying light packs.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I would say for most people's needs, three to four litres.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Have some have some electrolytes with you and have plenty of calories with you.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, and salty food, like you said.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And there there is, if you're doing that loop that we spoke about, so these there is the ability to collect water.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: You might need to have a filter with you of some kind.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um they're widely available, there's multiple filters.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Any gear shop will will try and sell you something that's extremely light and small.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, these days they're so great, aren't they?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: The screw-on cap ones.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: So um, so okay, let's talk shoes because we did mention this beforehand, and you said, oh, that's a controversial topic, and it is because everybody has their favourites.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: So Barney's not as scrambly as some other mountains, but you're still going to need fairly good souls that are going to be able to handle rock climbing, if you like, um, to get up to the top.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, do it what do you wear most of the time?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe three years ago I switched from I was always a fan of wearing Lasportiva brand shoes, trail trail runners and and approach shoes.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I did find uh as the as the brand came into new iterations of the same shoes that the the shoe got a bit too narrow for me.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I bought one pair of shoes and it lasted me 11 days in Tasmania and I was kind of I'm gonna look for something else.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're not cheap.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, they're not, and um I switched to Ultras because that was all that was available in the store.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I rushed into Hobart went into find your feet, and that's what fit me best.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I liked how wide they were at the front.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and ever since I've just stayed with Altras.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now they are a trail shoe rather than a broad shoe, so they will wear out a little bit quicker, but that that's what I do.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: I I treat shoes like it's just something that needs to be resupplied.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're doing the kind of um climbing and walking that you're doing, you've got to expect, like a runner, you know, a runner can go through three or four pairs of shoes a year when they're doing marathons, so that's not to mention the three or four pairs they've got current at any one time.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: So it's an expensive habit.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's probably the one thing you need to spend money on if you're gonna regularly hike, isn't it?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it is, it is, it's it's definitely high on the list.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um obviously the gear that you purchase ex it expands exponentially if you get into overneating and stuff like that, but generally your shoes are your biggest cost, yeah, for sure.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a it's a cheap hobby we all do by standards of some other hobbies, so I don't mind spending the money on them.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's a it's a good thought though to keep regularly, you know, making sure that they're in good good condition and they're fit for purpose.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because have you ever done Barney in the rain or after rain and noticed the different conditions?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about rain versus a sunny day versus a cold day, what what you might be up against?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: So many many a time we'll maybe only once or twice have I ever set out on a rainy day intentionally to just test gear and do it do it in bad weather.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um but many a time because it's it's that elevation, you'll you'll get lovely sunny weather all the way up, and the last 200 metres you'll be you'll be white oated, and that white out can drop the temperature by 10-15 degrees.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the opposite happens where you get a cloud inversion where you're in cloud all the way up, and then you you get to the 1100 meter mark and suddenly the clouds part, and so that's happened to me a good few times.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's where the benefit of maybe reading the weather apps multiple.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll always read multiple weather apps for the days coming up to when I think I'm gonna be going down there.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you just get a you get a feel for what even when I'm driving in, I'll get a feel for what the lay of the national park looks like and what the what the weather's gonna be for the day.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: But generally you're you're you're gonna get some moisture on the on some of the routes, um, particularly soapridge.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Soap ridges in the shade most of the time, so it's very slow to to dry out.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk hiking poles, hindrance or help on Mount Barney?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: For Barney I would say almost in all cases a hindrance, unless they're foldable.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um it it it is a rough trail, rough trail um in most areas, except in the lower areas, and that's of all the trails.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: The only exception to that would be Lower Portals and Cronin Creek Falls um tracks.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's a that's a track where you could utilise poles, but in both those instances there's not much continuous elevation, so how how much a pole is going to aid you is questionable.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I am a pro pole person, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes when you're going downhill quite steeply, they can be that hindrance because a lot of people naturally will want to put a hand out, and if both hands were on a pole, it could it could actually be worse because if you get the placement wrong, I mean they could be slippery on the bottom of the poles as well.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why I was interested to hear whether you'd take poles.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I would say if you're if you're planning on doing a trip to Bernie and you are a pole user in in all of your hikes, I would consider having poles that you can split in half at least when you don't need them, or foldable poles.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've got a set of foldable poles and I find them so convenient.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, same here.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or one pole so that you can keep a hand free and yet another one for steadying yourself when you're coming down.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's more about the de descent than the the ascent, isn't it?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um when you're heading up Mount Barney, you get these signs saying don't go past unless you're an experienced hiker, you know, this is the last point, you know, turn back.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: You said right at the start, don't carry your fears with you.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that puts some people off?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I would hope it would, but I don't think it does.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think if someone if someone if someone has has the got to the car park and put their shoes on and laced up their boots, they're they're committed.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it can be sometimes it can be a wise thing to have someone in the group that'll say it's not on today, we're just gonna turn around and go home.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, I've only I think I've only there's one memorable occasion when it when I did do that where I was meant to meet someone else in the car park and they cancelled on me and I just turned around and went home.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I didn't I didn't elect to do a solo that there.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um but generally the little core group I've built up where everyone will be in the car park, we're solid.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: And you mentioned right at the start that in terms of safety, the number one safety rule would be, particularly if it's your first time, to go with somebody who knows what they're doing.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: Don't do Mount Barney solo.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Don't don't do what I did, exactly.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's it's it's true for most things.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you get shown.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: something it's it's we do it at work we apprentice we apprentice young young minds it's exactly the same in the mountains it just eases your fears so much if someone's telling you this hole's a bit tricky up here so if you put your hand here I've done that many the time on on Barney since with other people and it generally just relaxes them so much to know that someone that knows the way is taking them to the top.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: So that's probably going to be your number one tip for leave you know don't take all your fears with you is just take somebody who can help a lay those fears a bit.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we had a we had another rescue recently what what do you think the main thing people can get into trouble with with Barney Accidents can happen they can always happen it's as I said it's a rough track so a lot of people I've I've met guys up there with broken limbs um who manage to get themselves done I've met guys up there with sprained fingers who manage to call a helicopter I would me personally I think the biggest cause of accidents is people take prisoners.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: If someone really wants to do a hike and they're fully prepared to do it but then they take someone else with them that isn't prepared at all and that's the person that usually gets injured.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: That and just leaving too late and not being prepared.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah getting lost getting lost is a big one.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and in in that instance when you are lost it it can sometimes be better to sit still because you can quite often get yourself into an even more terrible situation.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: And do you take a PLB?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of the buzz at the moment isn't it how well and obviously the prices come down on them so it's made it a bit more affordable but is that something personally you use or do you take any other measures because you are hiking by yourself now.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about Barney today but you were talking about Tasmania before and that's a lot more remote me personally I've never used a PLB and there's there's many reasons for that I I wouldn't recommend it to anyone for starters I I have one friend in particular we always joke that you know to push that button is a major thing that it for me just mentally I really want to succumb to it.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: But um with with telephone technology now at the moment I mean Telstra have a new service out where I was I was in Tasmania over Christmas and I was in a hut in in the middle of nowhere and I was able to text my my partner because they have that satellite messaging service for free as part of the service and also because they know Barney well I know where the reception is this this reception in 90% of the roof with Telstra don't quote me on that because there are places where you won't get any reception but even with that the modern phones still have the ability to to use a satellite and people would say phones aren't as reliable and they have that's fine but if you're in a group and everyone has a phone not every phone is going to break at the same time so for me that's good enough.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and also I think a good message to take out of that is to learn how to use the emergency call facility on your phone because and including myself you know not everybody's familiar but that they know that it's there but not how to use it.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: So that that could be something that's helpful to know as well if you're going out on these you know more challenging hikes.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Def definitely and and I would add to that it it is it's a much safer thing to be to be fully prepared to climb a mountain like that by by building up to it and not being in a rush to get to the summit of of you know the the biggest hardest mountain straight away but just just they're not going anywhere the mountains aren't going anywhere.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's plenty of other peaks in Southeast Queensland that you can kind of work up to it and and that will you'll have a much better time doing it that way.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah exactly because I mean we we're all going out to enjoy nature you know have a challenge but but but one that's not scary or dangerous or ends in disaster so you're better off doing something beforehand to get you to that point.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: Have you ever gone up without something you mentioned the snake bandage which is great they're like 11 bucks at chemist warehouse everybody should have one but is there anything else that you've uh that you've changed that you always have in your package I I used to I used to be one for carrying a lot of layers and probably to do with reading the the the the current weather I've I've definitely held back on um I I keep forcing myself by buying smaller packs.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yes there's only so much I can get in yeah yeah exactly actually uh Tom Bohr who was a guest on this podcast he he got me to get something that I think was the best three or four dollars that I've ever spent and that's one of the silver blankets because at a at a bit of a poke you know that there's your jumper there's your rain jacket you know if if things get really dire um and it weighs nothing and it packs down really small.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: But um nothing else you've you've regretted not having that yours make sure you've got with you?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: The the biggest regret I I I always find isn't um food envy at the summit when someone else takes out something that you really want.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: The crack of a can of um Coca-Cola or something is always something yeah that you wish you'd packed.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I have cooked cooked uh steak and a full full like English fry up on on uh the summit a few times yep and that was that was hard earned because you have to drag up all that extra weight yeah but incredibly satisfying no doubt when you were at the top yeah there's there's no better meal than a than a a camp meal that's for sure.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely so you're standing on Mount Barney where's the absolute best view that's another contentious um point okay the the best view for me is standing I love standing on North Peak and looking around or standing on West Peak looking back to East Peak but the absolute best view in the park is way out the back there's a little less known peak called double peak and I've only been there twice I've only had a view once and that for me that's the best view in the park.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: Right double peaks so that's one if you've done Mount Barney before it's not an easy peak to get there.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: You you need to be experienced to get there.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah but one to maybe aspire to actually one other peak that's that's nearly as good is Montserrat.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's a campsite at Montserrat I think it's a one or it's it's a six person campsite but quite often it's like it's booked by one group so that so if it's booked out don't go there because you're gonna be not there's nowhere for you to put your tent.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah yeah that that's an awesome view as well.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the one where you go up the four wheel drive track to the upper portals track.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's Montserrat there yeah so that's only six person.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah okay yeah because that's a beautiful view up the top there as you're heading down to upper portals.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: So when you get to the top of that four wheel drive track that's cleared ridge which is another bookable campsite and that's that's pretty much the only drive in campsite that's available in the in the park.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yep and then when you leave there it's all downhill to get to the upper portals which has two more campsites Hooped Pines which is a lovely campsite and then Yamara which is another campsite by the upper portals and from there you'll head up to Mansrat.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes so okay there's many there's many many parks and peaks out at that end that are very much less explored.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yes yeah and beautiful and beautiful yeah Wes thank you so much for your time today I really enjoyed hearing about your experiences with Mount Barney like I said I'm so keen to get you back and talk to um Tasmania.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think we might have to wait until it gets a bit warmer because there's no way we're picking in Tasmania in winter something that we plan for for spring and summer for sure.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: But I appreciate your time.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: I also appreciate like I said the work you do answering people's questions and administering Take a hike with Shahna because it's such a great um resource to please jump on and um that's it for today.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you again for being my guest.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much Beck it was good to be on and um yeah I'm avid listener of the podcast the Know All Things Podcast so it's a great place to get information.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah thanks for having me.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it and on that note I will say thank you today for everyone listening the sh the notes from the roots that Wes has suggested I'll put on the notes for this um podcast episode but once again if you've got feedback if you've got suggestions for future topics let me know and please you know uh shout me out with your friends um with a like every bit helps to keep it going so thank you and until next time have you hiking