Bushwalk Australia

Hi

I'm planning on spending a few days snow showing around Mt Kosi in a few weeks time. The proposed route will start from Thredbo, follow the main range track, then loop back via Summit Walk/Seamans Hut.

Am seeking advice/suggestions regarding conditions, route and camping spots from anyone who has been over this route when under snow.

A.

Hey, I did almost this exact track earlier in the season.

Don't bother trying to find the track under the snow.
Be prepared to navigate by compass in a whiteout.
Be ready to put up your tent in a blizzard.
Watch out for cornices.

Thanks, Icefest. You make it sound soooo enticing!

Wait until the photo comp is up. I took some incredible shots!
It's fun, cold and the sunrises/sets are otherworldly.

Insta-preview: http://puu.sh/aS9O1/8e9a5862ef.jpg

icefest wrote:Wait until the photo comp is up. I took some incredible shots!
It's fun, cold and the sunrises/sets are otherworldly.

Insta-preview: http://puu.sh/aS9O1/8e9a5862ef.jpg

Very impressive icefest

andrewbish wrote:Hi

I'm planning on spending a few days snow showing around Mt Kosi in a few weeks time. The proposed route will start from Thredbo, follow the main range track, then loop back via Summit Walk/Seamans Hut.

Am seeking advice/suggestions regarding conditions, route and camping spots from anyone who has been over this route when under snow.

A.

Some updates on weather and conditions closer to the day may be able to be found on the www.ski.com.au forums, especially the backcountry and weather subforums.

icefest wrote:Hey, I did almost this exact track earlier in the season.

Don't bother trying to find the track under the snow.
Be prepared to navigate by compass in a whiteout.
Be ready to put up your tent in a blizzard.
Watch out for cornices.

Great advice I reckon.

In good weather, with a nice high pressure system over the area and low winds it's a wonderous part of the world where it seems nothing can go wrong. Of course, 30 minutes later it can be 40 knot winds and 25 metre visibility.

Bank on being able to make out none of the track.

Seamans is a reasonably popular place to camp. Beware of land mines, maybe try to bring back your waste to avoid subjecting others to the issue. The Rawsons Pass toilets are both snowed in and locked at this time of year.

Overall the conditions are great this year, but there has been a lot of wind leading to sastrugi and ice in many areas. Check the backcountry trip reports subforum on ski.com.au and there'll be plenty of pics.

If you are getting the chair up from Thredbo there's a fee. If you wish to avoid this fee, parking at and heading up form dead horse gap is the way to go, as it saves a few hundred metres of vertical and lands you in a similar spot, with some lovely walking as well. If going overnight I suggest parking at the head of the cascades track as the snow clearing folks don't care much for vehicles in the carpark at DHG proper.

Have fun, I hope to be out there from Monday week for a bit.

walkon wrote:

icefest wrote:Wait until the photo comp is up. I took some incredible shots!
It's fun, cold and the sunrises/sets are otherworldly.

Insta-preview: http://puu.sh/aS9O1/8e9a5862ef.jpg

Very impressive icefest

Seconding that!

Thanks, guys. Another question re spikes:

I am planning on using snow shoes for the trip. My Yowies are just ok on icy slopes of moderate gradient.
Any thoughts on the need for crampons, instep crampons or microspikes?

I don't like yowies a huge amount. You'll have problems with grip on some steeps.

You should be fine without spikes, but if you are planning on doing more exiting stuff take them. I used lightnings and they were fine -even for climbing Townsend with a pack.

Most parking in the NP will require daily resort entry fee. I avoided it by paying for a bus up from jindabyne and hitching back down.
Bus + entry + lift were less than 100 in total.

Also, I think the toilets are removed and not just locked (I doubt the snow was 3m deep early in the season).

I have camped near Cootapatamba hut- it's bright red and has a bunk bed & a big chimney you can climb down in deep snow. It was a great spot. We snowshoed from the chair lift to Seamans Hut, over to Rawsons, up Kosci, and then down the south to Cootapatamba. Camped there and then up the Ramshead range & back to the lift. Great trip

icefest wrote:Also, I think the toilets are removed and not just locked (I doubt the snow was 3m deep early in the season).

They are now made of about 1000 tonnes of steel, concrete and granite. They are also covered in soil. I suspect they leave them in place.

http://www.djrd.com.au/alpine/Rawson%20 ... ities.html

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/200 ... 916085.htm

http://geoffmallinson.com/2014/07/19/ra ... d-by-snow/

I'll be darned.

Buried they were.

icefest wrote:I'll be darned.

Buried they were.

To be fair, that spot gets a phenomenal amount of buildup - a friend was out on the MR one year and met some SMA guys taking measurements. One of the lee slopes in the area had tens of metres depth.

I do love one of the linked pics with just the little vent sticking up like a fairies' chimney!

climberman wrote:I do love one of the linked pics with just the little vent sticking up like a fairies' chimney!

That's all I saw...

icefest wrote:

climberman wrote:I do love one of the linked pics with just the little vent sticking up like a fairies' chimney!

That's all I saw...

Am itching to get out there this year, have been skiing lots but resort based with the family.

Climberman re sastrugi, thanks mate I had to look that one up before I went up the snow locally, it looks really cool. Is the sastrugi libel to stay or will the next dump of snow cover the it up. Is it like hard ice or wind carved snow.

icefest wrote:
You should be fine without spikes, but if you are planning on doing more exiting stuff take them. I used lightnings and they were fine -even for climbing Townsend with a pack..

Are there any places where Crampons/insteps are beneficial on the MR if you have lightnings. Would it be safer to use insteps over spikes going up Townsend

Hi walkon - it will depend on the wind. It's wind formed.

Generally, on the tops there will be a hard icy layer on the top, interspersed with softer drifts. These will reform with each windy blast, and soften with sunshine later in the season.

As far as Townsend goes, I got up quite fine with just snowshoes, but I've done some pretty hairy stuff on snowshoes. If it ices up badly your need forward pointing crampons (which both instep and spikes don't do) which MSR generally have. If you need proper crampons then you should also have an ice axe and know how to use it.

I personally think spikes do best when you need the grip of metal but need more manoeuvrability than snowshoes give. Iced over trails, icy logs, badly swept sidewalks all are quite suitable. I find them frustration on steeps.

Thanks guys, the sastrugi might be pretty though looks like a buggar to walk on.

Icefest from the sounds of it Mt Townsend wasn't icy when you went up it. Since Bisho has yowies I was trying to find out if lending him my insteps would advantage him on the hills more than his spikes. I can't remember the climb up Mt Townsend would lightnings do that if it's icy.

Oh yeah Bisho found out a couple things that yowies are really good at on the weekend

It can be icy up high, but usually only the very tops of the peaks. If you really want to summit then taking something with some traction would be good idea like crampons, lightenings or microspikes. If that doesn't bother you too much then you'd be ok without them. Check the weather forecast as the thaw/freeze cycle can also get pretty icy with slush freezing creating a pretty solid crust at times and can be quite slick on steeper slopes.

Also consider down Cootapatamba way - http://geoffmallinson.com/2014/08/01/sn ... e-thredbo/

Hey guys

Looking to head out there to do a similar route.

What (if any) avalanche precautions do you take at this time of year?

Avoid dangerous slopes. Avoid northerly slopes on a sunny afternoon. Avoid fresh snow on the Lee of the hills. Avoid cornices above and below you. Avoid gullies that will funnel you into trees and over cliffs.

There are exceptions to all of these points.

Cheers, so the usual precautions, good to know!

The main issue currently will be cornices, but always keep an eye on the weather and creating weak layers.

Matt (super admin wildwalks Matt) and I have been working on a way to see slope data so you can see where are slope angles in the most dangerous avalanche zones. See info on what means what at http://geoffmallinson.com/resources/ and the map at http://bit.ly/ozslope

Thanks for all the tips,

From looking at the topographic map, it looks like there is a lot of the main range that doesn't have the 25-50 degree slope required for perfect avalanche gradients? Obviously that's assuming that the snow is evenly distributed across the range.....

But will be sensible about the slopes we take, our trip will be on snow shoes.

walkon wrote:
Oh yeah Bisho found out a couple things that yowies are really good at on the weekend

I look forward to hearing more on this, I trust we shall hear more

Travis.

Travis22 wrote:

walkon wrote:
Oh yeah Bisho found out a couple things that yowies are really good at on the weekend

I look forward to hearing more on this, I trust we shall hear more

Travis.

I discovered that the large plastic base of a Yowie shoe provides a comfortable and quite well insulated place to park your bum while sitting on snow for a couple of hours