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Crag & Route Beta

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Blue lake - 2011

Bultitude

18-Jun-2011
12:22:20 PM

Anyone been out there yet this year? i'll be out there around the 2nd of july, well see if anything has formed up yet!

strerror

18-Jun-2011
2:25:42 PM

Yeah, myself a few friends were there for easter. Gorgeous spot, but a tad cold (got caught in a blizard the first night!).

Duncan

18-Jun-2011
2:48:25 PM

On 18/06/2011 strerror wrote:
>Yeah, myself a few friends were there for easter. Gorgeous spot, but a
>tad cold (got caught in a blizard the first night!).

The OP is asking whether the ice has formed this winter. For ice climbing. I think cold is expected.

Mike Bee

18-Jun-2011
5:12:34 PM

I'm hoping to go for a tour through the area late July with an eye to heading over with the pointy toys in the first half of August!

Mike Bee

18-Jun-2011
5:44:57 PM

I've never climbed ice in Australia. I did head to Bogong and have a play in some steep snow gullies last winter though.
I made it to NZ for 2 weeks of alpine climbing in November last year, and had 5 weeks of ice climbing in Canada around March this year, so the gear gets a reasonable amount of use.


nmonteith

18-Jun-2011
6:31:49 PM

Blue Lake has about a 3 month season of good conditions usually from late June to early September. Sometimes the season can be longer. Victoria has a little bit shorter season and conditions are a lot tricker to predict. Generally once blue lake forms it stays formed - whilst Vic ice will appear and disappear weekly.

strerror

18-Jun-2011
6:46:36 PM

On 18/06/2011 Duncan wrote:
>The OP is asking whether the ice has formed this winter. For ice climbing.
> I think cold is expected.

hehe I was wondering what he was actually ASKING :)


Sabu

19-Jun-2011
1:04:03 PM

On 18/06/2011 davidn wrote:
>Serious question - those of you who bother buying ice gear, where and how
>long do you get to climb in Australia per year?

Nothing last year but hoping for a bit of play at feathertop & west ridge of buller this year then hopefully a trip to NZ in the near future.

Mr Poo

6-Jul-2011
2:00:08 PM

My gear get used a bit. I have done 2 seasons in the European Alps in there summer and also have done 2 big winter climbing trips in Italy.
I got all my gear in the UK when I lived there, it would be to expensive to buy it all here!
I have never climbed here but I am looking forward to giving it a crack if I can find a partner and besides NZ is close and cheap for summer Alpinism and winter climbing!


Capt_mulch

6-Jul-2011
3:59:42 PM

Just watch out for heavy snow build up and cornices in the Grey Buttress area (as the Westerly wind blasts over the top it does a big dump of snow into that area - I suppose that's why there used to be a glacier there). That avalanche the other year was not a one-off. Zac Zaharius has a photo of an avalanche in the same place and of a similar size which occurred some years ago.

grangrump

7-Jul-2011
12:47:51 PM

On 6/07/2011 Capt_mulch wrote:
>Just watch out for heavy snow build up and cornices in the Grey Buttress
>area
If you're new to area: it was a fatal avalanche.

USGuy

20-Jul-2011
3:34:07 PM

Any updates on Blue Lake ice climbing conditions?


nmonteith

20-Jul-2011
4:00:22 PM

With all the snow about half the ice must be covered surely.

gm84

20-Jul-2011
4:41:49 PM

I know some people going to climb tomorrow, so should be able to get an update soon...


sbm

20-Jul-2011
7:39:14 PM

On 20/07/2011 nmonteith wrote:
>With all the snow about half the ice must be covered surely.

There's not *that* much snow...1.5m at Spencer's Creek is just a bit above average...Anyway last 24 hours have seen a fair amount of rain right up to high altitudes, warm moist temps. Not sure how that would affect the ice, but I imagine much the snow on steep rocky sections has been washed away, you can see a lot more exposed e.g. on the perisher cams.


nmonteith

21-Jul-2011
7:58:15 AM

On 20/07/2011 sbm wrote:
>seen a fair amount of rain right up
>to high altitudes, warm moist temps. Not sure how that would affect the
>ice

Hopefully with a good freeze the melted stuff with form MORE ice! Trying to second guess Aussie ice climbing conditions is incredibly hard.

citationx

21-Jul-2011
8:57:19 AM

On 20/07/2011 sbm wrote:
>There's not *that* much snow...1.5m at Spencer's Creek is just a bit above
>average...

If you've been out there, like i have the last two weekendss, you'll soon realise that there is a TRUCKLOAD of snow. The thing is that so much of it has been dumped in high winds that the lee slopes are bursting, and wind-facing and flat areas are quite bare. You can ski across all but the last 50m of the first creek down from guthega village. I've never done that before. You can also ski across the snowy river at the swing bridge - never done that before either. But as you're skiing down the W/SW facing hill between those two, there are shrubs sticking out everywhere! Spencers creek itself looks VERY bare, but the slopes to it's W/SW are thick with snow.
Trust me, there is A LOT of snow out there, you've just got to look for it in the right places.

Mike Bee

22-Jul-2011
5:44:16 PM

I'm heading over to Blue Lake and surrounds in a few weeks, and as part of the trip planning I'm curious about phone coverage.
I'm with Telstra, where about should I expect to get signal in the area?
Summits of peaks (eg Tynham, Carruthers etc)? How about at Blue Lake itself, or in the Snowy River Valley (from Guthega maybe)?


bw

22-Jul-2011
6:02:00 PM

With vodafone (so you should get better) I had no coverage at guthega but as soon as I gained any elevation on the other side of the valley I had pretty good coverage, didnt check as further than mt anderson or so. I've also had coverage on Etheridge. Blue lake may be a bit optimistic...

I didnt go as far as blue lake but I'd imagine there to be pretty good conditions there


nmonteith

23-Jul-2011
12:09:57 AM

I had good 3G reception with Optus on the peak above blue lake.

There are 67 messages in this topic.