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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
All NSW	(General)	(General)	(General)

Topic Date User

Getting to Blue Lake 15-Feb-2008 At 12:12:37 PM Wollemi

Message

I am leaning away from tele towards AT these days, thinking here of the western faces and NZ's Craigieburns BUT tele is definately the way to go if you do a multi-day ski tour over undulating terrain in NSW, and probably Victoria's BC, too. It is a XC skiiers must-do to ski K2K, ie., Kiandra (ghost town ruins and cemetary on the Snowy Mountains Highway) to Kosciuszko via Mt Jagungal thence finish in Thredbo. You would not do this multi-day trip in AT gear.
With XC/Tele gear, one can 'kick-and-glide'/diagonal stride, with the thrust of the opposing foot giving you a little free-glide effect on the flats. On AT gear, you will need skins or waxes on the flats and you will be walking come polar-plodding on approach to Illawong suspension bridge..
Similarly, I have skated in metal edged skis and my T3 boots 2km+ from Tin hut towards Mawsons hut. Impossible in AT gear. And my grin was priceless.
I have previously mounted my Fritschi Freeride AT bindings on skis with patterned bases - OK for climbing on gentle uphills without losing ten minutes plus, when taking skis off, opening up your rucksack, and applying skins then stepping into your skis. again. It may be more time-effective to apply grip wax to the base of the AT ski here, or herringbone your way up if the hillslope is short.