A couple of questions.

[kanangra]

1) Can anyone tell me what Peppercorn shelter is like? I know the old hut was burnt down years ago and this shelter erected but does it provide much in the way of shelter?

2) What are the snow levels like in the Northern Snowies at the moment? How far down is there snow on the ground, any below 1500m? For example is there snow at Kiandra? Or out on Long Plain?

K.

[Mark F]

No personal experience but there doesn't seem to be much snow around Kiandra so even less in the northern Snowies.
See 3 mile dam at:
http://www.snowyhydro.com.au/water/snow-depths-calculator/

and the Selwyn snow cams
http://ski.com.au/snowcams/australia/nsw/index.html

[kanangra]

Thanks. I wasn't aware of those sources. The Three Mile Dam graph tells the story.

K.

[kanangra]

I answered these questions for myself over the last couple of days. I set off from Brindabella on the Long Plain Road and visited the Goobragandra River via Cooleman Ck trail, Boundary Rd., Broken Cart trail and Feints trail. I then climbed out of the valley on Feints trail to Peppercorn trail which I followed across the infant Murrumbidgee river back to the Long Plain Rd. Here I continued on the McLeod's Ridge trail out past the Peppercorn shelter up over Mt Jackson and Circuits Mt before descending back to the car near the Godradigbee river at Brindabella. It was an excellent circuit of about 100ks.

Now to answer the questions. There was snow from about the 1100 metre mark and once over 1350 it got quite deep. Where I crossed the Fiery Range at about 1530m it was over a foot deep on the track and two to three feet deep off it. Same with Mt Jackson at about 1600m. It was possible to walk through which was just as well as I had neither snowshoes or skies but it was a plod in parts. On the second day night fell with me still high on Mt Jackson and so I made camp on the track where the snow was less deep.

As to the Peppercorn shelter it is a ruin basically. Just a few old rusted sheets of corrugated iron tied together. Open on two sides. Nearby is the rusting remains of the beds and other contents of the old Peppercorn Homestead. Do not rely on this as shelter.

K.