Spring turns (a fitting end to season 2014)

The October long weekend is becoming a bit of an annual event in my calendar. The opening of the road out to Charlotte Pass makes for easy access to the main range, reducing the slog out from Guthega to a much shorter walk up from the Snowy River. It also usually offers nice snow conditions, with enough cover up high for great touring and corn snow that makes for fun turns.

James and I headed out at a moderate hour on Saturday morning, with a few uncovered patches shortly after the river requiring skis off, but then solid cover up to the top of Carruthers. We made camp slightly below the peak, assuming that a small fin of rock would provide enough shelter for a pleasant night. We were completely wrong, and by around 6pm the wind direction had shifted the speed accelerated. We put up a rather poor little snow wall (that blew on top of me during the night), then settled in for some sunset photos followed by dinner. It was possibly the worst nights sleep I have had in a tent, with the nylon constantly flapping across my face. 

We managed some great runs, swapping the splitboard and tele skis regularly. I snowboarded down into club lake via the middle chute, then skied down into Little Austria. We also did a few easy runs on the north east side of Carruthers. On the Sunday we toured out towards Watson's Crags, and although we weren't able to ski any of the great terrain on offer, it has provided plenty of inspiration for future trips.

We ended the weekend sitting in the grass by the snowy river, enjoying a cup of tea and some crisps and soaking up the warmth of the sun. 

God bless America

The twin joys of my working life are the opportunity to tack on weekend trips to national parks whilst in the US, and the ability to accumulate vast amounts of ridiculously cheap outdoor gear through hotel delivery while on the same trips. My most recent spell hit these two notes magnificently, with a sackful of climbing and skiing gear waiting for me at the SF Westin, and the ability to spend a weekend in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks via a 4 hour, rather tedious drive from the Bay Area. 

After a tiring but largely uneventful week split between Washington DC, New York, Chicago and unpleasant airports, it was an absolute relief to jump in a rental car on Saturday morning and hit the freeway. I'm always amazed at the sheer volume of traffic on US roads regardless of the time of day, and this was no exception. Wall to wall cars on a five lane road. California is in the midst of a drought, and the hot, dry, dusty drive East was relentless. The ascent up to the parks from Fresno did however bring some comfort, with cooler temperatures and pleasantly green trees replacing the baked, hazy fields. 

I spent the Saturday afternoon seeing some of the more obvious sites: the big trees, Moro Rock and a range of lookouts. I've previously spent time in Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain NP, Yosemite and the Tetons, and the Sierras are no less spectacular. I hoovered down a pepperoni pizza and local ale at the Grant camp area, before taking a sunset night walk around the magnificent trees in Grant Grove. It was a different experience walking among the giant trees in the absence of the heavy crowds present during the day. The night  was spent curled up in the back of my rental Hyundai, padded by an air mat I brought over from Australia and kept warm by a great quilt I had delivered to my hotel by Enlightened Equipment. Ironically it was the best nights sleep I got on the trip.

I was up early on Sunday morning for the drive down to Wolverton. I'd done some reading that suggested this was a good area to hit on limited time, and was planning to head out to the lakes and/or Alta Peak On the drive out I managed to startle a bear sitting on the side of the road, my first close encounter with one of these beautiful animals. I was too excited to snap off any photos, but was energised by the encounter. 

From the trail head I decided to head out to the lakes, and from there try and scramble up to Alta Peak. It was a relatively pleasant run out (albeit largely uphill), with beautiful views over rocky peaks and canyons, contrasting with a small chain of alpine lakes towards the end. I rewarded myself with a cold swim in Pear Lake, then decided to set off toward Alta Peak. Although the route up looks a little scrambly, its essentially an unmarked but fun walk up. The altitude made things interesting, but it was relatively easy route finding to the top. 

From Alta Peak it was a pleasant downhill run back to Wolverton, with regular stops to chat to others out on the trail and to snap off photos. The views out to the main ranges of the Sierra were inspirational for future trips, and there were some beautiful gnarled fox-tail pines along the route. I felt completely relaxed on the drive back to SF, a wonderful contrast to the drive out. 

White's River Powder Harvest

There were numerous occasions on this trip when I had to pinch myself and confirm that it was indeed good old Australia that was putting on beautiful windblown powder in nicely spaced trees. Throw in the kind assistance of a high pressure system offering up perfect blue skies and gentle winds and this was about as good as it gets.

The original intention was to ski over the rolling grounds to Schlink or Whites River on Saturday, then ski back to the main range on Sunday for a nice night up high. Once we started skiing the trees around White’s River the plan quickly changed to getting in as many runs as possible (not to mention it was very cold and the lure of the hut was bordering on irresistible).

On Saturday night the hut was crowded, with around 20 people competing for two benches and a few measly logs generally regarded as dangerous for the purpose of seating. We made the most of it though, with more card game heroics and tales of adventure. It was to the tent (~tarp) for the night though, with the early morning cold quickly putting an end to any feeling I previously had in my toes. Sunday night I quickly secured some space on the hut floor, bush rats be damned.

The tour in across the rolling grounds was beautiful, as was the tour out on the Disappointment Spur trail. On the animal front the only sighting was a sneaky looking fox who has evidently set up home just west of Gungartin for the winter. He/she looked more surprised than I did. It will be interesting to come back to this area later in the season or in a year with less snow, but right now its firmly stored away as a beautiful destination for some nice tree skiing all in sight of a hut with a warm fire.

Broken Dam Hut Ski Tour

Excellent early snowfalls and the absence of a Japan ski trip over the Australian summer had me itching at the thought of a trip to the Snowy Mountains. The call was put out for partners with the usual mixed response, but welcomingly Joran was on the same page. Previously my focus has primarily been on snowboard touring out of Guthega, and this was the initial idea this time around as well. As fun as this is, on snowy and windy days it can make for testing conditions and less than relaxing days. 

With this in mind (and a mixed weather forecast), it was a welcome idea when Joran floated the plan of joining his parents for a ski tour out of Selwyn to a few of the huts in the north of the Kosciuszko NP. It would also give me a chance to test out some telemark skis I had picked up when in the US for work last year. I’d gone for the K2 Wayback, a light mid-width ski that mixes good touring ability with strong downhill performance.

The trip ended up being a three day one: heading out to Broken Dam Hut via Four Mile Hut on day one, day tripping to Table Top mountain on day two, then returning back to Selwyn on day three. I’d done some cross country skiing years ago, but this trip really opened up my eyes to the joys of getting out and about in the mountains without a goal of skiing more challenging lines. As it turned out the Wayback was a decent, but not perfect fit for the tour, with the pattern base skis everyone else was using clearly a superior option. Another purchase to plan out for the future.

Broken Dam Hut was a fantastic base for the weekend. The area surrounding the hut looked stunning with a layer of fresh snow, and the clean and spacious hut made meal and sleeping times far simpler than being tend bound otherwise would. It also meant we could spend afternoons practicing telemark turns on the gentle slopes in the surrounding area.

There appear to be a range of opinions on the huts (including some who see them as being against the values of a NP), but I have nothing but positive sentiments. They are basic facilities, but offer a wonderful mix of simple comfort (for those exploring the mountains for pleasure now),  historic interest (based on those who explored the mountains for commercial reasons in years gone by) and safety (for those who get in trouble exploring the mountains).

The ski tour back to the car was lit by the sun trying to poke out from beyond the clouds. The soft shadows on the snow were spectacular, and at higher elevations the skiing was smooth and (relatively) quick. It had been a welcome weekend of pleasant skiing, beautiful scenery and many laughs, a refreshing break from the Sydney working life.

Kaputar & The Warrumbungles

Pete and I had decided to tack an extra day onto the Queen’s Birthday long weekend and make the long drive north-west to Kaputar and the Warrumbungles, a few parks we had been talking about visiting for a while. Both feature amazing rock formations and because of their distances from the East Coast are relatively quiet. The plan was to pack the bikes to do some cycling, and tick off a few of the more interesting walks in the parks.

We camped overnight at Burning Mountain on Friday night (about a 3 hour drive from Sydney), and got up early the next day to head to Narrabri and on to Kaputar. We arrived to slightly misty and cool conditions, and decided to have an easy afternoon setting up camp and doing some cycling on the long and steep hill formed by the main sealed road in the park. This was testing for my lungs, but helped clear away some of the aftereffects of the cold I’d had the previous week. 

The plan on Sunday was to do the Yulludunida Crater Walk, and consider adding on the traverse out along the crater ridge subject to conditions. It was a nice clear day and so there were to be no excuses. The ridge traverse seems to be known as the ‘Skyline Traverse’ in the rock climbing community, but doesn’t appear to see too much traffic. This is somewhat surprising given how absolutely fantastic an experience it is. The route is about 1500m of scrambling across a very scenic and in places exposed knife edge ridge. Some spots require very basic climbing, with one or two in particular being exposed enough to get the heart racing. The views in all directions are amazing throughout, and this would have to rank among the top days out I have had.

We spent the next two days (Monday and Tuesday) in the Warrumbungles. We ticked off the climb up Split Rock on Monday, before hitting a 15k trail run up onto the High Tops on Tuesday morning. The area has been heavily impacted by the fires of early 2013, but remains absolutely stunning and well worth a visit.

Taffy's Rock Microadventure

I had been put onto the good work of Alistair Humphreys by Hornsby Heights Athlete/Adventurer of the Year and all round good guy A Bowesman (aka the Bowesmanator). Humphreys has made a deserved living out of espousing the microadventure, essentially any short trip out of the city requiring minimal time commitment, but still providing that feeling of really getting away from it. We had discussed doing a microadventure ourselves for some time, and a date finally came up when we could turn plans into action.

The itinerary was to jump on a train out of the city on a Friday night (post work), and start walking from the train station. We would then set up camp, enjoy dinner and a game of cards or two, before returning to civilisation via the walk out the next day. We picked Cowan, having previously done the route out to Taffy’s rock in daylight and thinking the turnaround point would make for a good camping spot. 

The track out to Taffy’s from the GNW is a little scrubby in places, but surprisingly felt easier in the dark than it had during the day. There were some light spells of rain on the way out, but overall nothing of any great consequence. After setting up the tents we sat down for a dinner of braised beef cheek and mixed vegies pasta as well as numerous games of cheat and crazy 8’s. I recall numerous noble victories for myself, but this may be my memory playing tricks. 

Overall the experience was a fantastic one. I was back home in Lane Cove by midday Saturday feeling refreshed, healthy and ready for a game of football. Humphreys is right, time is really no restriction on getting outdoors and capturing the refreshing and recharging feeling of adventure. 

Major Clewes…. The Original Hard Man of the Mountains (a Snowy Mountains Easter)

I find it useful sometimes to reflect on the exploits of other (much tougher) folks who enjoy spending time in the mountains. Enjoyed your 10 hour jaunt among the peaks and feeling like a true hard man? How about doing the same thing, every day, for 3 days in the winter? Along those lines comes perhaps the hardest of mountain hard men, Major Hugh Powell Gough Clewes (hereafter “The Major”). After a career that included extensive time spent surveying areas including the Wollemi and Blue Mountains, The Major took on a job in the 1960s as Senior Surveyor for the Snowy Scheme.

The crux of this role was to figure out where to put the tunnels, roads, dams and power stations that make up the engineering marvel that is the Snowy Scheme. Legend has it that the Major would set off for days with nothing but a wide brimmed hat, a few snacks (energy gels perhaps?) and a small flask of rum. Having spent a little bit of time off track in the Snowy Mountains, this most certainly would have been a very daunting task. Not so for The Major, who lapped up the job at hand. Did I mention he was in his 60’s at this point in time?

Whilst in the Snowy Mountains over Easter, we found a day to take a good friend’s new 4WD on a fire trail from Geehi Flats out to Major Clewes Hut, a small building he built to enjoy his retirement post Snowy Scheme. The hut is in a beautiful location not far from a river, and the remnants of what was apparently once a very beautiful garden are still present. It certainly would have been a very peaceful, if not lonely, spot to reflect on a lifetime spent exploring. There has evidently been quite a bit of effort put in to maintaining and restoring the hut in recent years, and we should be thankful that there are people out there willing to give up large amounts of their own time to ensure that we can all enjoy a little bit of the history of these mountains.

We spent another day walking from Charlottes Pass, up to the Blue Lake and then onwards and outwards to the Sentinel. The Sentinel stands out as a spectacular narrow ridge jutting out to the west of the main range, and is a little startling after the more mellow slopes on the eastern side. I’d been planning to make the trip out for some time, but a day had finally come around with that rare combination of time and good weather.

The ridge starts fairly gently, but soon narrows off to a pad with steep slopes dropping away either side. Shortly before the final push to the Sentinel trig, there are two bands of rock that take this a little beyond an exposed walk.  Technically easy, but enough to get the heart rate up a little bit. The views from the summit are magnificent, sweeping across the back of Carruthers peak, out to Geehi and Victoria, then through to Watsons Crags. Anyone who cracks cheap jokes about Australian mountains has clearly never been to this spot.

Earlier in the day my brother and I had run from Guthega up towards Little Twynam (not making it all the way), so the legs were feeling rather tender when we finally made it back to the cars. Still, the thought of the major traipsing all over the mountains for days on end was enough to put our little adventure in perspective.