Snow conditions around Kosciusko

[earthairfire]

Im planning to hike a bunch of the highest peaks around Kosciusko national Park next weekend and wondering if anyone who's been there recently can comment on snow conditions?
Can I hike the peaks in trail runners yet or need footwear suitable for snow? Maybe even snow shoes but I'm doubting it?

Thanks in advance,

Tim

[Mark F]

There will be quite large drifts and Kosciuszko is most probably fully covered. You will most probably need spikes or snowshoes. Here is the current view of the track to the summit from the top of Thredbo. https://www.ski.com.au/snowcams/australia/nsw/thredbo/thredbo-kosciuszkotrack.html Also check out the snow cams onto Kosciuszko from Perisher (currently fogged up) and the one from Guthega onto the Main Range.

To me a bit early in the season given the high snow levels this year.

[earthairfire]

Many thanks! I'll probably hedge my bets and take snowshoes and leave them in the car if when I get there it looks like I'll not need them.

Cheers,

Tim

[J M]

I'd love to hear how you go mate, especially re: trail runners. I'll be heading up to do the same walk in a few weeks.

Cheers
Jack

[johnw]

On a similar theme I will be visiting again over the Xmas break. What's the current thinking on likely remaining snow levels? I was last there nearly 2 years ago and there was virtually nothing. Over the years at that time of year it has waxed and waned from little to extensive drifts, and actually walking in falling snow (while bushfires raged around Sydney ). One year I even saw people hiking out to some big drifts with XC skis.

[Mark F]

By Christmas it will be all gone except a couple of the big drifts. There is/used to be an annual ski race just after Christmas on one of the big drifts. Like you experiencing falling snow I remember having about 10cm of snow around the tent when camped on Townsend - 27 December and another time at Grey Mare with 15-20cm settling on the ground on 22 Dec. The online snow cams give you a pretty good view of whats out there.

[johnw]

Yes I'll check the web cams closer to Xmas. Mostly from curiosity, and it can make for some nice photographs. I doubt any snow will have an impact on my walking plans.

[earthairfire]

I'd love to hear how you go mate, especially re: trail runners. I'll be heading up to do the same walk in a few weeks.

I'll preface my comments by saying that we planned to hit 10+ of the highest peaks in the area, so depending on what you plan to do may mean you have different gear requirements.

When we arrived there was patchy snow above 1900m and a freeze + a little snow was forecast so I decided to take winter boots and crampons, but leave the snow shoes behind.

On our first peak (Rams Head), we quickly got to the point that crampons and ice axes were needed to summit. On the approach boots would have sufficed, but trail runners would have been wholly inadequate for any of it. Some other peaks were fine in just boots, but trail runners would have been pretty wet and miserable pretty quickly (temps ranged from 5C daytime to -7C overnight).

On Sunday night the 'little snow' forecast turned out to be a 20-30cm dump which kept us in our tents most of the day save for the occasional snowball fight or snowman build. On the Monday, we had the fun of trudging through the fresh powder. Snow shoes would have been nice to have, but it wasn't so deep that it was a problem not having them. We decided to ditch any further attempt to summit at this point given the avalanche risk after a freeze then a fresh dump.

So.... in summary. If you're doing the Kosci summit via the steel path you MIGHT be ok in trail runners. Anything else over 1800m and I'd be wearing boots for a few weeks yet.

A couple of pics of the conditions at our camp site @ 2100m:

Before the storm

After the storm

Obligatory selfie

[Lophophaps]

Ye gods and little fishes, the "After the storm" pic could have been mid-winter! Nice image. The selfie is good and you have a nice ... nose. Here are a few pics from Christmas trips. The first pic shows drifts coming back from either the Sentinal or Watsons, and the second is Blue Lake. Look closely at the first pic and you will see skid marks, and the bloke running when he hit the grass. Pic three is also Blue Lake in a better year. The last pic is near Mount Anton ascending from the east. That was a scary traverse. I went up at a steep angle over relatively gentle snow and reached the rocks swiftly. The others did a very shallow traverse and went over steep ground with a nasty slide ending in a 60 degree snow slope above rocks. Ouch!

[J M]

Cheers for the update Earthairfire and nice pics Lophophaps! I'm planning on hitting the 10 summits as well and I'll be bringing my boots for sure seeing the conditions up there at the moment. Next week looks reasonably warm but not a lot of rain to melt much before I head up the week after.

Anyway, looks like you had a great trip!