AAWT in April

[butter-nuts]

Hi Guys,

I have just begun planning for an attempt at the AAWT and am looking to lock down timing. From all the reading I have done, October~November seems to be the best time of year due to water availability from snow melt, however due to work, it's looking like I will have a good window in late March~April. I have read some trip reports around this time of year which seem OK (which is encouraging), I was just hoping for some input from those with experience. IS April a feasible time to walk the AAWT? Will water be a issue? Anything else (other than water availability) that I need to worry about around that time of year?

Thanks for your input, once I get timing nailed down I will make a more detailed post asking for critique of my gear, food drop location, etc.

[Mark F]

April is certainly a good time to attempt the aawt. The main water issues will occur in the section from Walhalla to Hotham where you will need to plan for serious water carrys but until much closer to your departure you won''t know the full extent. From Hotham through to Tharwa water is much less of an issue with pretty reliable supplies no more than an day apart. One piece of advice would be to include water in your food drops and potentially place more drops, possibly just water, especially in the Walhalla to Hotham section than you may otherwise plan.

[butter-nuts]

Thanks for your input Mark, this is exactly the info I was after! I was thinking of including a few liters of water in every food drop (can't hurt right?). From my initial planning I was thinking of the following drop locations as a start point:


1. Mt Skene/Rumpff Saddle (112km distance, 6,877m/5,907m elevation)
2. Hotham (123.7km distance, 7,884m/7,430m elevation)
3. Benambra-Corryong Rd (101.4km distance, 4,203m/5,388m elevation)
4. Thredbo (125.3km distance, 5,305m/3,992m elevation)
5. Kiandra (106.6km distance, 3,126m/3,691m elevation)
End. Namadgi Info Centre (106.3km distance, 3,119m/3,902m elevation)

What do you think? Would you recommend prehaps another 2 drops, one between Walhalla and Rumpff Saddle and another between Rumpff Saddle and Hotham?

[Mark F]

I would consider putting in some water around Mt Victor/Fiddler Green to allow for a dry camp and also a bottle where you come out on the road to Hotham as you are going to pass the spot on the way to Mt Hotham to place a drop anyway. You will also need enough in the Benambra-Corryong Rd drop for an overnighter and the climb to Johnnies Top. If you can get up to Selwyn Ceek Road or Macalister Springs (I keep seeing comments that the springs are drying out in late summer) then also useful drop sites.

[Mr Bean]

Sorry for the long post, but from our experience (Rumpff Saddle to Hotham) we did in two sections, but learnt a lot about the terrain. In January we did Rumpff Saddle to Mac Springs, then in March/April did Mac Springs to Hotham. Our notes were:

January
- Rumpff Saddle, water found at the alternate camp site (1.5km from the Saddle) as mentioned by John Chapman. The road forks and the right branch leads to a pipe under the track, where water was flowing.
- Low Saddle, on the decent from Mt Sunday, had a look for the water as mentioned by John Chapman, but the terrain is very steep and after 20min gave up. We could hear the water running which was frustrating. At Low Saddle itself, we found no water. We then hiked up and camped at the start of the Mt MacDonald climb and camped by the roadside (in John's book, its at the 129.5km mark). We then dropped packs and hiked (with every water bottle we had) down the Mt Sunday Rd to Barkly River West Branch (30min). Lots of water. In future, I'd probably do the same. An easy walk for reliable water.
- Nobs Track, by this stage, I wanted reliable water and did the 2km decent down to Clear Creek. Hard walk, but lots of water. The other option, which I'd explore next time, is at the AAWT / Nobs track junction (just down from Mt MacDonald) I'd head SW to a couple of stream crossings. The road appears to be an easier grade.
- Chesters Yard, lots of water.
- Just before King Billy's there's a spring that crosses the road.

March/April
- Howitt Spring, as you descend to Mac Springs, there's a spring to the right 200m from the track. When we went there in late March it was a slow trickle. Took us 20min to fill up a number of bottles. Saved time by not going to Mac Springs.
- Camp Creek, good water. Flowing well.
- Water tanks from Barry Saddle to Hotham. All were full in April. The new tank at Barry Saddle my be low, as they put 200L into it a couple of weeks ago.

Hope that helps.

As it is, we are planning on doing that section again next March / April, over school hol's / Easter. We can do that in 11 days, based on previous times. Its certainly a difficult but rewarding section of the AAWT.

[butter-nuts]

Sorry for the long post

No need to apologize, this is incredibly valuable information and very much appreciated! I am currently going through Chapman and trying to come up with a rough day-by-day plan, you post will be a huge help!

[LLSC]

Hi Butter-nuts. I walked the track in May a few years ago (you may have read our account 'AAWT May 17 blog' on this forum). It was better for me than when we had done it a couple of years previously, in early November, due to less hot days. However, we had plenty of cold weather, but you need to be prepared for snow and freezing conditions whenever you do it. Water, also, was less available: we had to walk several km down the road at Nobs Track before we found water. For me, more food drops were better than fewer and we were fortunate to be able to get one in at Camp Creek. Somewhere between Rumpff Saddle and Hotham it's good: some people walk a food drop in to Vallejo Gantner Hut.
It is a relatively quiet time of year: we only met two other people doing the walk during that traverse.
I hope all the track is opened again, following from the bushfires.
Have a great trip: it's a monumental walk.