Feathertop East Ridges and Fainters West Spurs

[Captainparish]

Planning a partly off trail circuit starting in Hotham, heading to Tawonga Hut, to the Fainters, down to the West Kiewa, up either Feathertop 'east ridge' or the 'northeast spur' and along the razorback back to the car. Have done most of the route but the Fainters to Kiewa section and up Feathertop from the West Kiewa. Anyone got any tips on the best spur off the Fainters or Jaithmathang? Which is the less scruby spur up Feathertop from the West Kiewa? Mainly worried about blackberries on the lower sections. Well versed in off track missions in Vic and Tassie so don't need too much in the way of convincing.

[Captainparish]

Proposed route. I know there's some old fire trails heading up to the Fainters but after the scrub on Queens spur recently I'm happy to avoid hectic regrowth on old trails

[Baeng72]

Not sure if this helps, ignore if it doesn't.
I've done a height profile of almost the route you've marked, just staying high on the ridge down to West Kiewa Logging track instead of crossing creek.
There appears to be a track on the getlost map I have on the next spur to the south on the Fainters side, which you can see on the map.
A KM+ climb from the road up to Feathertop summit in about 2500m. Hard work in scrub.

Fainter-Feathertop

[north-north-west]

Thios was years ago so I doubt it's very helpful now, but I went down from Feathertop pretty well on your marked line and the only place where the vegetation was really annoying was the flat bit by the river and over to the road. It is, however, steep and often loose ground - think Diamantina Spur without the track to show you the easiest route.

Have also read a trip report from someone - and I think it was on this forum - that including descending from the Fainters to the road. Probably on the westward spur from Fainter South, but wouldn't swear to that. Have a search and see what turns up.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

That looks like Type 5 fun crossed with Masochsim writ large.
:-0

Go for it !

[JamesMc]

Many years ago I did a walk a bit further north - down the North East Ridge of Feathertop and up the west ridge of Fainter South. Fantastic walk apart from logging regrowth in the lower part.

I imagine whichever way you go, you will get into logging regrowth

JamesMc

[Lophophaps]

From Tawonga Huts the 4WD track goes northish to the Fainters. The track is fairly easy to follow, if wet in places. From Lost Plain it's possible to go south-west and south in light scrub to reach Jaithmathang from the north. I can recall a report on this forum about Feathertop east ridge having quite thick scrub.

Fainter North to Fainter South

Fainter North to North Razorback

Fainter South to Feathertop

[scroggin]

Looking west from The Fainters

A plan of mine was to follow the Fainter Track to where it dog legs down to Bogong Jack saddle - at the gate, leave the track and follow the spur down to where it hits the West Kiewa River Track, follow this south until it reaches the river, cross the river, head up the spur that runs SSW then W up to the North Razorback. I probably wont do it, but would be good for some fit hiker to do it and tell me how they went.

The blue markings on the route is where fire tracks exist.

[Captainparish]

Thanks for all the info and support everyone! We headed out on the 24th of Oct but were delayed on the way to Hotham and didn't leave the car till 4.30pm. This meant we had to alter our plans abit and unfortunately didn't get to head up Feathertop. We did however, head off a spur coming down just north of Jaithmathang so some info might still be useful for some.

Day One: Hotham to Tawonga Huts. 13km. 3.5 hours. This section is pretty simple...the official times for the Falls to Hotham crossing are way off if you're relatively fit and have a light pack.

Day Two: Tawonga Huts to Blairs Hut. ~12km. This included heading up Jaithmathang, heading along the plains just to the east of the ridge, dropping to the West Kiewa and then along the road to Blairs. Fairly hard day. The Route from Jaithmathang to North Jaithmathang(?) is offtracked but pretty simple. We then started down a little spur that is in abit of a bowl after the last Jaithmathang peak. The spur was fairly rough and got very steep so we cut across over a small river to the spur that heads off Jaithmathang North. Still steep but about 2/3rds down we hit an old fire trail that is not any maps as far as I know! It's last use would be over 50yrs judging by the size of the gums on it. It's overgrown but not too bad because deer obviously use it. There are blackberries towards the bottom but theyre not crazy. It probably took 3ish hours from the top to the river. Ill attach a photo of the rough route although my watch died just before the river. Happy to answer any question too.

Day Three: Blairs Hut to Hotham. 13km. 3.5 hours. Easy along the road. Checked out the ruins around Red Robbin mines. Few snakes around. Bagged Mt Loch as well.

Overall a great hike and a decent loop for those looking for a mix of on track/off track high country terrain. Next hike will be soley focused on Feathertop East ridge so I'll update this thread when it happens.

[Captainparish]

The East Ridges/Face project continues. A few weeks ago myself and a mate finally got a chance to head back out there. We camped on the West Kiewa the night before about a 1km before the Diamantina Spur turnoff. There's a table and fireplace here. This is also where Feathertop Creek intersects so early the next day we followed it upstream towards the mount. Most of the first hour or 2 is fairly easy if you stay in the water (bring crocs or river shoes, at least something with toe protection). Once you hit the Hellfire Gully intersection the blackberries and saplings worsen. It's pretty tough going in there and progress is slow. There are few places where you can get out of the water as the terrain is overgrown and steep. Our plan was to head up the Central Buttress but the Avalanche Gully/Feathertop Creek intersection is so overgrown with blackberries that we couldn't find a way through. We ended up going further up the creek and headed up the ridge to the South of the Buttress (this is called The Hypotenuse on some maps but we think Matilda Spur is a better name!). It's steep, shrubby, and loose under foot. Wouldn't recommend for a first backcountry bash but with persistence it can be gained. We found the Crows Nest campsite a few hundred vertical metres from the summit. Absolutely sensational spot to watch a sundown with the mountain looming over you! Next day we hit the summit, walked across to Diamantina (1-2 hours to the Kiewa) and then back to the car.

Overall a worthy mission and a fairly unique perspective on such an oft-climbed peak. If anyone's got any tips on the Central Buttress please do share, seems doable from where we were but the first hundred odd metres seems steep. Might take a rope for abseiling off it if required but outside of that I doubt there's much protection.

[Captainparish]

Few photos for reference, as there's not much out there

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Wow!