Cathedral Mountain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cathedral Mountain

The Grandeur of Cathedral Mountain
Elevation 1,387 metres
Location Tasmania, Australia
Range Cathedral
Topo map Cathedral TasMap #4236

Cathedral Mountain is a mountain in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in the central highlands in the state of Tasmania, Australia.

Contents

[edit] Mountain Facts

Cathedral Mountain has an altitude of 1387 metres. The western side of this mountain has an extensive cliff face which plunges to the Mersey Valley floor.

The mountain is at grid reference 261622 UTM Zone 55S (Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system) and high resolution topographical information is available on Tasmap Cathedral (4236) 1:25000.

Due west from Cathedral lies Mount Ossa, Tasmania's highest mountain, due north is Mt Pillinger, due east is Mount Ragoona and due south is Castle Crag in the Du Cane Range. Directly beneath the cliff faces of Cathedral Mountain runs the upper reaches of the Mersey River (Tasmania). The Overland Track passes within two kilometres on this mountain. Most features in the general area of Cathedral mountain have church-based names. These include; Chalice Lake, Chapter Lake, Cloister Lagoon, Convent Hill, Bishop Peak, Curate Bluff, Vicar Bluff and Dean Bluff.

Within the last one hundred years, a huge portion of the upper part of the mountain has broken away and catastrophically crashed through the rainforest hundreds of metres below completely obliterating it, creating a huge rock skree which almost reaches the banks of the Mersey River. The resulting scar is visible from many kilometres distant.

[edit] Access

Access to Cathedral mountain is mainly via the Overland Track from Cradle Mountain during the main walking season (November to April) when a booking and fee system applies and walking the track is restricted to limited numbers and also to north-south traffic only. In the off-season walking is also allowed from the Lake St Clair (southern) end. Other access tracks include the combined Arm River and Innes Tracks as well as the Lees Paddocks track. There is also a track that links from the Lees Paddocks area adjacent Vicar Bluff to Kia Ora. These alternative access routes ultimately link to the Overland Track which only gives access to viewing the sheer and rugged face of the mountain from the western side of the Mersey River. To ascend the mountain requires an alternative route on the eastern side of the Mersey River to the rear of the mountain via the Moses Creek track, Chapter Lake and Chalice Lake, where the terrain is trackless. A wider overview of the area and access points is available on the Tasmap Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair Map & Notes publication.

[edit] Gallery

[edit] Other nearby mountains

[edit] References

  • Tasmap Cathedral (4236) 1:25000

[edit] See also

Coordinates: 41°55′S 146°09′E / -41.917, 146.15