“Yopyop” was the name that, according to a story, either Olegas Truchanus or Reg Williams gave to the Southern Spur of the Prince Of Wales Range in Tasmania. Chris Cosgrove of SUBW tells this story –
At the southern extremity of the ridge ahead of us rose the evil dark green shape of Mt Yopyop. It was named by Olegas Truchanas after a Lithuanian swear word which was reputedly quite obscene but whose meaning was carefully kept secret by Olegas’ friends. Tragically, Olegas was drowned in the Gordon River while we were doing this trip, and the mountain has since been officially renamed Mt Olegas.
I have been along the Southern Spur on two trips, one in 1977 and one in 1981. Both were tough walks. The first one was the last part of a long trip from the Lyell Highway to Strathgordon via the King William Range and then the Spires and then finally down the Prince of Wales Range. I was joined on that trip by Ian Hickson and Peter Woof from SUBW.
Yopyop from the Hamilton Range
That time – we didn’t quite reach the summit of Yopyop – we bailed out to the Denison River a short way before it. Our clothing had been tattered and torn. We had had to endure a lack of water and very terrible and unrelenting scrub. Two of us returned and completed a full traverse of the Prince of Wales Range on the 1981 trip. Ian Hickson and myself were joined by Bob Sault from SUBW and Tom Williams from Springwood Bushwalking Club. Our route that time was much more direct – in via the Jane River Track and Mt Algonkian. So when we reached the Yopyop section we were still relatively fresh. And an extra person to share the leads was good.
Tom Williams in the scrub
In the Peak Baggers Scale published in the Tasmanian Tramp, Yopyop was given 8 points in recognition of its difficulty and remoteness. After the death of Olegas Truchanus, the peak – Mt Yopyop was given an official name – Mt Olegas. I can remember, various people trying to work out what “yopyop” would be translated as. I can recall a friend asking someone of Lithuanian background – and all they would say was “a very bad word…”. Now with Google and the power of the Internet – I can still find little to help. It does not appear in the lists of Lithuanian swear words that are online. So it is certainly obscure. Perhaps it was a made up word that only had significance to Olegas?
Ian, Tom and Bob on the summit of Mt Olegas (Yopyop) in 1981
Those old tube steel H-frame Paddymades and Mountain Mules etc, as good as they were they always caught the scrub at the shoulders. Someone should nominate Tom for OAM for developing his frameless range.
Hi David,
Just a note to thank you for all those chronologised photos of your hiking exploits. I frequenlty visit your sites to ‘escape’ to somewhere better. The trip down memory lane with tent and pack evolution caused significant naustalgic sentiment, particulatly as I’m not carrying them now.
The photos of the Higgs track expeditions have inspired me to revisit the area (although more in a fly fishing capacity) as well as keeping me concious during night shift on a number of occassions. You obviously love the area, going by the amount of revisits you have made.
I cringe a bit as I look at you guys scrub bashing through areas of the Tasmanian Sout West that I know don’t have formed tracks.
Some great macro work with some of those later fungii shots and the evloution in camera quality is also very evident.
My offspring have begun to mountain climb and I have found a renewed interest in hiking after some years of being tied up parenting and with other persuits.
Keep inspiring us and thanks again!
Cheers,
Brian Cameron
Hi David,
I’m no expert but regarding the meaning of “yop”: the Urban Dictionary says (see http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yop&defid=2727924)
1) written, job, pronounced yop in Russian, means fuck.
2) “yob”, the root of several hundred curse words in multiple slavic languages, all meaning fuck in different situational and grammatical contexts.
This is confirmed in http://www.youswear.com/index.asp?language=Russian#.UG-2KK4yCSo