3 days around Kosciuszko

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3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 28 Dec, 2011 2:31 pm

Decided to put up a new thread - but it follows on from http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3467&hilit=Kosciuszko
Some pictures are similar.
It was my first trip with a new Tarptent Moment - see http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3205&start=90#p111547
I was also using a new light weight Inertia X Frame air mattress. Both lived up to expectations - though I have since added some extra silicon smears to the tent floor to make it less slippery for the mat.

I arrived late afternoon at Thredbo with the sound of thunder reverberating around the cloud encrusted mountain tops, but the weather report looked fair.
So next morning with broken cloud on the tops it was up the chairlift to start the walk.
I had been in 2 minds about which way to run it - wanting to get to Kosciuszko with a view.
Seeing Kosci in cloud at the first viewpoint, I decided on going cross country over the Snowy River to Charlottes Pass and up to Blue Lake leaving Kosci till later.
The first day seemed long - around 18.3km with 800m climbing. But the scenery was fantastic with the Snowy valley in bright sunshine and cloud nestled on the western peaks and ridgelines. After exploring a little around Blue Lake, I went directly up to Little Twynam and camped on its NE edge. It was a good thing I did a short trip up Twynam that evening to get the view. There was thick cloud a short way above the peaks.

It rained a bit overnight and in the morning and being enclosed in mist I was slow getting started.
Mt Twynam (3rd highest) was in cloud so no morning views. It is curious to see human influence up there - what looks like built up furrows to trap water or snow, possibly old fencing and the track which is an old road.
Next was a cold, wind blasted, misty section across to Mt Carruthers [equal 9th], but the cloud was finally lifting to give views over Club Lake.
Had lunch above Lake Albina and the weather was really fining.
Then traversed over Mt Mueller to near Mt Townsend.
I climbed this [2nd highest] - hoping to scope out a camping spot. [There are some restrictions on where you can camp.]
Then went out to Alice Rawson [7th highest] for a look into the huge drop to the west [roughly 1800 m]
Decided to camp high up along this ridgeline. Day total was roughly 13km & 726m climb.
Evening saw the mist come in again and there was light rain early in the night.

I was expecting it to be clagged in come morning so was thinking to sleep in again. But rolling over a bit, I could see out the ventilation mesh and no clouds at all. With no excuse I had to get up at 5:30 am to catch sunrise - the tent was a cocoon of ice - the rain droplets had all frozen.
From the rocks above the tent, I discovered another tent on the other side - but they did not emerge till much later.
There was a bank of cloud extending east from the ranges - making for a magnificent sunrise vista.

Took my time waiting for the sun to melt and dry the tent.
Went back to the main track via the Wilkinson Valley - very pretty and reminded me of the underground channels of water around the Walls of Jerusalem.
My stomach was quite unsettled, adding to my resolve not to stay out the night. There is a warning to treat all water up there - so it may have been some water I had not boiled enough, but it turned out to be a minor issue.
I took the pack all the way to the top of Kosciuszko - to be greeted by views of white mist. Oh well - had lunch and coming down it was clearing up enough for some views in all directions. Good enough.
The weather was really fining up on the walk back to Thredbo past Lake Cootapatamba.
Last day was a short one - coming down the chairlift after 12 km & 420m climbing.

Some photos - click to enlarge any of them - particularly the panoramas:
7260SnowyRiver.jpg
Snowy River when traversing from Thredbo chairlift


7333ClarkeAboveClubLakeCreek.jpg
Mt Clarke above Club Lake creek


7397IceDroop.jpg
Remnant Ice feature above Blue Lake
Last edited by eggs on Wed 28 Dec, 2011 8:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 28 Dec, 2011 2:35 pm

I think the cool conditions helped bring the colour out in the landscape

7407BlueLakeSm.jpg
The amazing Blue Lake


7437Blue&HedleyPan.jpg
View from high up on Little Twynam over Blue Lake and Hedley Tarn. Main Range sweeping across the back.


7541PinkEmerging.jpg
Emerging flowers
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 28 Dec, 2011 2:37 pm

7580ClubLakePan.jpg
Panorama over Club Lake


7614PurplesB.jpg
The wind blasted zones often had a delicate purple on display


7637SnowBanksonLee.jpg
Snow bank on Mt Lee
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 28 Dec, 2011 2:41 pm

Saw lots of Lake Albina as I traversed around it.
7653AlbinaBelowTownsend.jpg
Lake Albina below Townsend


7664AlbinaEdge.jpg
Lake Albina and the drop into Lady Northcote Canyon


7743WatsonsFromAR.jpg
Watsons Crags and Jagungal from Alice Rawson
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 28 Dec, 2011 2:43 pm

Great evening moods
7761ViewWideTownsendToAlbina.jpg
Panorama over Albina, Muellers, Kosciuszko to Mt Townsend


7768CloudApproaches.jpg
Cloud descending as the sun sets


7784LastLightInMist.jpg
Faint after glow as the cloud engulfs
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 28 Dec, 2011 2:46 pm

The morning was very special - but you have to be up early
7797Dawn.jpg
Dawn


7802TownsendDawn.jpg
Townsend and Kosciuszko with cloud further east


7812CloudPanorama.jpg
Panorama of cloud over Etheridge Ridge and Muellers Peak
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 28 Dec, 2011 2:50 pm

7840JagungalAlt.jpg
Zoom on Jagungal over Alice Rawson


7852AbbotsRidgeSunrise.jpg
Wider view over Abbott Ridge - my tent in the hollow at left


7860AbbottsInLight.jpg
Looking over Watsons Crags to cloud behind
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 28 Dec, 2011 2:53 pm

7871MistonCarruthers.jpg
Mist rolling over Mt Carruthers - Little Twynam appears behind


7876MistyMountains.jpg
Close up of mountains in mist


7918DescendingWilkinson.jpg
Descending into the Wilkinsons Creek valley from Townsend.
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 28 Dec, 2011 3:08 pm

7991CootaAndSwampyPlain.jpg
Lake Cootapatamba and the Swampy Plain River - see if you can spot the red hut


8008NorthRamsheadAlt.jpg
Last view of North Ramshead from the track back to Thredbo
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby Jellybean » Fri 30 Dec, 2011 9:31 am

Gorgeous pics, thanks for posting Eggs, 'love the Snowies!

Cheers,

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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby stepbystep » Fri 30 Dec, 2011 10:02 am

Jellybean wrote:Gorgeous pics, thanks for posting Eggs, 'love the Snowies!

Cheers,

JB


+1, thanks for sharing, magic pics.
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders ~ Edward Abbey
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby Lizzy » Sat 31 Dec, 2011 4:10 pm

Stunning- what a magic place!
ps I can feel some photo competition winning coming on for you!!
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Sat 31 Dec, 2011 5:14 pm

Nice thought Liz, but that requires an alignment of the couple I might end up submitting and the mood of the voters. :cry:
I did enjoy taking the pictures though.
But I often feel they do not do justice to what it was like to be there watching it unfold.
Last edited by eggs on Wed 25 Jan, 2012 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby photohiker » Sat 31 Dec, 2011 9:30 pm

Excellent series Eggs, looks like a great trip!

One of your shots reminded me of one of mine, very similar vista:

Australia:
eggs wrote:Image


Scotland:
Image

Happy new year!
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Sat 31 Dec, 2011 10:33 pm

Thanks photohiker
New Year should be soon.
Great shot from Scotland - are you on a track & what range(s) are they?
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby photohiker » Sun 01 Jan, 2012 9:04 am

Hi Eggs,

I'm somewhere on the trail to Sgurr na Feartaig and approaching from the SW.

The area is called 'Wester Ross' in the Northwest Highlands. There's so many hills and mountains and they are loved to death so much that they each have a name (usually Gaelic) and classification based on height. Most have extensive information regarding approach and climbing both on the web and in many books. Peakbaggers paradise. This one is 862m and classified as a 'Corbett' - once you collect all the high mountains, (Munros, 914.4m+) you can lower your sights to Corbetts (762 to 914.4 m) and Grahams (609.6 to 762 m). 728 to be climbed in all. Then there are the lesser Donalds and Marylins... All up, that's just 2084 hills to be climbed :) The record for climbing all the Munros in a continuous cycle is just under 40 days. There's 283 of them, you'd have to be pretty fit!



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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby johnw » Sat 14 Jan, 2012 12:36 am

Great report and photos eggs, from one of my favourite places in the world :D. Remnants of old fencing material etc can be found on and around many of the peaks. They are courtesy of the days when grazing was allowed up there. Late last week I found what looked like an old gate near Rams Head. The track (old road) around Twynam, and parts of the main range track, are from the days when the Soil Conservation Service undertook rehabilitation work on the range post grazing era, There has been a remarkable recovery since the late 50's but damage is still evident in some places as the growth rate is so slow given the climatic conditions. I returned from the area last Friday myself. Unfortunately much of that lovely snow highlighted in some of your images had already gone when I arrived. Probably even less there now. Other summer seasons I have seen much more lying around. Talking to locals this year the high post winter rainfall has caused the early exit of good snowfalls. I did find enough for 9 y.o. nephew to arrange a snowball fight though :lol:.
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Mon 16 Jan, 2012 10:19 pm

Thanks John

It was a terrific trip - and my first solo.
On the way, I was looking for the remnants of the Albina Hut - you can see the old road going down and it ends at a barish patch which must be where the hut was.
However, I also noticed when checking photos back down the Snowy River valley from Albina Pass, you can see another old road etched into the ground leading to a bare patch.
I believe it might have been the old Kunama Hut that was a ski lodge destroyed by an avalanche?
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby johnw » Tue 17 Jan, 2012 1:23 am

eggs wrote:Thanks John

It was a terrific trip - and my first solo.
On the way, I was looking for the remnants of the Albina Hut - you can see the old road going down and it ends at a barish patch which must be where the hut was.
However, I also noticed when checking photos back down the Snowy River valley from Albina Pass, you can see another old road etched into the ground leading to a bare patch.
I believe it might have been the old Kunama Hut that was a ski lodge destroyed by an avalanche?

Hi eggs,
I've never really looked for the Albina remnants although I've walked through there many times. I do have a photo of the intact hut in the Geehi Bushwalking Club guidebook. Interesting that you bring up Kunama Hut (aka Kunama Hutte). Back at the end of 2005 we decided to wander cross country to "peakbag" Mts Lee, Northcote and Clarke among others. While out on Mt Clarke I spotted some ruins in the valley below, which I believe to be Kunama Hut. We didn't descend to investigate; having to return to Thredbo we'd have had to come back up and didn't feel like adding further to the day's altitude gain. I did take a few photos and you can see the ruins below our position in the two images below. I can't recall if you can see it from somewhere in the Albina Pass vicinity, but I suspect a keen observer may be able to do so.
Kunama Hut 1.jpg
Kunama Hut ruins are located below the small tarns near the centre. Can be found by drawing a line almost directly down from the summit of Carruthers Peak (top centre).

Kunama Hut 2.jpg
Zoomed in from Mt Clarke showing a bit more detail of Kunama Hut ruins in the lower centre

I found an interesting thread on the following link below, discussing the 50th anniversary of the avalanche that destroyed Kunama Hut, killing one person inside (Roslyn Wesche) - http://forum.ski.com.au/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=107197&page=72&fpart=2
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Tue 17 Jan, 2012 9:32 am

Well that is a definite ruin and the slopes above it would be conducive to avalanche.
The valley is marked on the map as Kunama Cirque :roll:
Looks like a delightful camping spot.

That probably means my bare spot in the next valley along is just a bare spot - but there was a definite road. Perhaps this wound up the side to the saddle before descending to Albina Hut.
In this photo, the road is visible just above the light red dashed line - the bare spot is circled. [Click on photo to enlarge]
7676SnowyFlats.jpg
Between Albina Pass and Muellers Pass looking north to Kangaroo Ridge over a tributary of the Snowy
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Tue 24 Jan, 2012 4:03 pm

Just curious Lizzy - what snaps did you like best?
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby Kinsayder » Fri 01 Jun, 2012 2:16 pm

Beautiful pictures, both in terms of subject and composition. Great use of light too. Thank you!
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby Onestepmore » Sun 14 Oct, 2012 9:24 pm

Brilliant photos.
I can't wait to walk there - we're planning a trip over Easter :)
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby Mickeymoo » Tue 16 Oct, 2012 9:52 am

Great set of photos! Looks like a great time of year to be up there.
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 07 Sep, 2016 2:59 pm

A bit belated.
We got a chance to revisit the area in October 2013.
Tried out a beginners lesson on skis at Perisher before spending 2 days on snow shoes out of Thredbo.
There was fresh snow the day at Perisher, and the snow coverage combined with weather on top was fantastic.

Fresh Snow.jpg
Fresh snow at Perisher


Natures Art.jpg
Crazy shapes in the snow


Exploring0094.jpg
Exploring the Ramshead Range


A River Emerges.jpg
Rivers emerging from the snow


Ramshead Granite.jpg
Boulders near North Ramshead
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 07 Sep, 2016 3:06 pm

Tracks on North Ramshead.jpg
Tracks near North Ramshead


Thaw begins.jpg
Looking to North Ramshead


View to Kosciuzko from North Ramshead.jpg
Kosciuzko from top of North Ramshead. We went to Kosci next day.


BuriedLake0238.jpg
Lake Cootapatamba is under there!


Slopes of Kosci0301.jpg
The cornice above the lake
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby eggs » Wed 07 Sep, 2016 3:11 pm

First time on snow shoes which we hired at the chairlift.

Crossed paths with the Australian Cross Country Olympic team training on top of Kosci and noted some cross country skiers way over on Townsend.

Well worth the effort if you can get there in such conditions.
NorthRamshead0254.jpg
North Ramshead from the slopes of Kosciuzko


Jagungal0257.jpg
Distant view over Watsons Crags to Jagungal


Mountain Stream.jpg
From the walkway near the top of the chairlift.
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Re: 3 days around Kosciuszko

Postby farefam » Fri 09 Sep, 2016 7:19 pm

Very nice eggs. Good to see a comprehensive gallery of pics from the Main Range.
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