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Winter Climbing in Victoria/NSW

gfdonc

9-Jul-2004
11:20:52 AM

I had the one short, one long (70cm) and took every chance to trade my Chouinard 70cm straight axe for one of Ant's cool Charlet-Moser (or Petzl now eh John?) with the dropped tip. Ooh, feels good.
Not much frozen dirt up there at the moment Neil! With the cold snap yesterday the gullies would be in good nick.
One catch was that the snow wasn't quite deep enough for snow stakes - dirt on the bottom as they were being extracted. Might be better now though.
Reminder to self: post a trip report (have now scanned the pics). Not this weekend, off to Hotham with the tele skis!
- Steve

James

9-Jul-2004
6:30:26 PM

the advantage of 1 long tool is you can reach past the rock to the ice bits!! I wouldn't spend the $$ on techo tools if Buller's the only winter climbing venue you plan on visiting...

bananachicken

12-Jul-2004
4:17:47 PM

Hi rhincle, at the moment that seems fine for me as well, i've got AT skis which i want to have a play with, although i think i still need a bit more practice on my skis before i take them up. 2 broken legs make me cautious :-). it can get icy up there so i'm not sure if cross country's are much good unless they have metal edges but it is a quick way down. I'll pop you an email in the next couple of days if you are still keen.
Ell:
I use a long and short tool, two short are probably better, depends what your'e happy with.

saminthesnow

15-Jul-2004
7:38:48 PM

Hello all,
I am looking for insider info about the Bogong/Feathertop area for a 4 day trip in August. I normally do late season trips to Kosciusko so this neck of the woods is new to me.
We are taking minimal climbing gear, just for safety and practice for some more serious stuff later (have to start somewhere).
At this stage we are tossing up between shoes and skis (I have not used skis before) and are hoping to avoid Resorts and Resort type people.
So, if you were in my shoes - what would you do?

Cheers - and its nice to know there is a place for people like us :-)

gfdonc

16-Jul-2004
9:21:59 AM

For Feathertop, in my view skis are about as useful as a mountain bike (and I mean in winter).
The two main routes are to come up either the Bungalow spur from Harrietville or the NW Spur from the trout farm before Harrietville. The Bungalow is well graded but therefore longer, whereas the NW is shorter and steeper. Both are recommended, but I don't know if Federation Hut (top of the Bungalow) got replaced after being wiped out by the fires in '03. MUMC hut stands near the top of the NW spur.
Assuming you're coming up one of the ridges, the hike up is too steep for skis to be useful. Above the treeline, unless you're an advanced skier looking for some steep stuff, they also won't be used for much more than a play around the hut.
Snowshoes are recommended instead if there's fresh snow.
A third option is to come over the Razorback from Hotham. Skis make more sense, but then, there's not much fun skiing with a pack on, and the terrain is not easy.

Bogong is a slightly different proposition as there's more flatter open terrain on the Big River side of the massif. The two main routes are the Eskdale spur or the Staircase spur, which is steeper. A 4WD and some local knowledge can get you higher up to a trailhead on the Eskdale (Trapper's track I think it's called) making a short(er) walk to the snowline.

Skis are not really useful for ascending either the Staircase or Eskdale as again you're on a fairly steep walking track. Once over the top they are worth putting on depending on where you're heading. The ski down to Cleve Cole hut is good fun if you're on the right gear. This is an excellent weekend trip but you need to be fit. Otherwise Michell hut is at the top of the Eskdale but was also destroyed by fire in '03.

All of the above advice is targetted to novice skiers. I'm an advanced backcountry skier, I would certainly take skis up Bogong but would only take them up Feathertop if I were specifically going on a ski trip.
Be advised that either mountain can be serious in icy conditions with crampons highly recommended.
- Steve

There are 25 messages in this topic.