I just had the worst night of my life!

[jeremy089786]

So just back from a pretty harrowing night…
On Tuesday night for the first time in my hiking career I feared for my life and had my EPIRB cradled next to me, luckily I didn’t have to use it. There were a mix of 3 ‘failures’ and bad luck that led to this situation: weather, gear and personal. As for the weather, now reading the reports, there were gusts of 130km/hr and 30-50mm of precipitation in the form of rain and then snow (about 3 inches).

On the 4th day of a planned 6 day hike across much of the Snowies (a trip report to come later), I was making my way across the main range on route to the Blue Lake. The day started off stunningly with clear skies, a platypus sighting and not a puff of wind and I made great progress from Schlink hut across the rolling grounds to the main range but when I hit Consett-Stephen Pass, the wind and rain started. At this point I glanced down Guthega ck and considered bailing, but decided to waterproof up and push through.

As I crossed Mt Tate, the weather continued to build, though still within manageable levels, but when I hit the saddle coming into Mt Anton, the rain and intense wind had me sheltering in a natural rock bivy and finishing the last of my chocolate (pic below). From here I tried to head to what looked like a more sheltered spot on Pounds ck but was repulsed by the intense westerly winds and had to settle for the western side of the saddle between Mt Anderson and Mt Anton. Here I pitched my MLD Duomid and discovered the first of the personal failures, I had packed only 3 long 9 inch and one 4.5 inch Ti Goat carbon fiber pegs, instead of four 9 inch ones. I also now realise I should have also packed some as additional tieouts. A little lower the wind wasn’t so bad and died off during the evening leaving amazing views of Watson’s Craggs (second pic). As the light faded I watched mist come from the West as the wind switched direction and marveled at how things change so quickly in the high country.

Going to bed around 8, I had a relatively nice 3.5 hours of sleep, listening to the wind and rain building and thinking to myself, I’m glad I brought the Duomid. Around 11:30 however things started to unravel. I woke to find the top of my down sleeping bag fairly wet as the wind was now coming up the valley and had somehow loosened all of the tents tensioners. This led to wind and rain blowing through the top vent of the tent and then coming down through the mesh onto my sleeping bag. I hopped out and tightened the cords, only for them to slip back and again become loose. To remedy this, I tied the ropes of the inner tent onto the pegs, giving a second level of tension and security. I now went back into the tent and arranged myself on the opposite side, farthest away from the incoming wind.
For the next 2 hours I had a relatively decent time as everything held but as I lay there I noticed that the sound of the precipitation had changed and around 1:30ish I peeked out to see a good deal of snow was building. ‘Ah good’ I thought to myself, ‘no more nasty rain’, but just as I was thinking this an almighty gust ripped the 4.5 inch peg (which is still much more burly than an average peg) out of the damp soil and shot it into the snow, never to be seen again. Now things started to get really bad.

Tent before the storm

Last pieces of chocolate!

Now with only 3 pegs, the tent collapsed and I was left clutching its remains to keep the snow off me. I unfurled my emergency blanket to keep some of the moisture off, however this served to further wet my sleeping bag by trapping any of the moisture that was coming out of the sleeping bag and myself. So for the next 6 hours I lay there trying to keep the shelter high enough so it wouldn’t wet the bag, but not so high as to attract too much attention from the wind. Of course as the shelter and my body were warmer than 0c any snow that fell on ‘us’ quickly melted into pesky water. Adding to the problem, in the cold, I couldn’t close the top vent of the shelter leading to the odd flurry of snow and precipitation entering.

For the next 3 hours I stayed in this position with the sleeping bag becoming gradually wetter until the section from my knees down was almost completely deflated. Luckily my newly purchased Exped Synmat Winterlite was providing ample warmth from below and from about 4 am I started horizontally rocking against it to produce some warmth. This worked great for the first hour, but then as I started to tire from holding the tent and rocking and I slowed up and started to cool off. At this point, embarrassingly I tried reasoning with the weather asking it in varying moods to leave as I cradled my EPIRB.

Luckily an hour or so later, light started to filter in which produced a massive boost in morale. With no letup in the weather, I got myself ready to leave when need be. I put my EPRIB in my pocket, my compass around my neck and started looking for the gear I had left outside, which was now covered in snow. Included in this outside gear were my shoes and rain protection (in the vestibule), which were now wet and full of snow (another personal failure). Mid way through struggling to put on my wet socks, insult was added to injury as the suprisingly sharp Silva compass around my neck put a 5cm hole in my Exped which quickly deflated.

Now with a wet sleeping bag and less warmth from beneath, I decided it was time to chance a quick descent to the hopefully warmer valleys below. I remember thinking to myself at this point ‘this is it’, if you don’t make this, it is game over!’. I packed my bag, tucked my sleeping bag into my jacket and pants and crashed through the snow down into Pounds ck. Only once I descended halfway down the scrubby creek did I feel that as long as I didn’t break anything too badly, I was now safe. Walking along the beautiful lower reaches of the creek, I funnily enough started scouting the river for future packrafting trips, apparently quickly departing from my revelations in the night of ‘I don’t want to go hiking for quite some time’. From here I walked to Guthega before following the 10km or so of road to Smiggins Hole where I managed to get a lift back into Jindabyne.

Lessons learnt…
Bring more pegs
Bring a synthetic sleeping bag on trips where wetness and life threatening cold may be experienced
Where possible sleep in huts or Hillebergs if you are on an extended trip in alpine areas and can’t get accurate weather updates
Even if your wet weather gear is wet, try and find a place to put it inside your tent
Synthetic puffy jackets and warm inflatable mats are the best things since sliced bread (though I already knew this)!

Any more tips or similar experiences?

Last edited by jeremy089786 on Thu 09 Apr, 2015 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[DanShell]

Tip.....find a less exposed location for tent

But did you have fun? Adversity = memories

[Moondog55]

Fun trip and well written report
Yes always bring the BIG pegs at least 8 of them in my experience

[jeremy089786]

Ha, a good tip!

From the saddle it drops away very steeply. I could have however ditched my nice flat spot and had a shelter rather than sleeping night. If I had of known the forecast I would have!

The previous days were great. Also cold, windy and scrubby but good adventure. That night is currently in grade 4 fun territory (not fun at the time or in retrospect) but might slide back to a lower grade with time ha!

[dashandsaph]

Great report Jeremy, and some useful lessons. Sounds like type 2 fun, hopefully not type 3.

http://kellycordes.com/2009/11/02/the-fun-scale/

[north-north-west]

From the saddle it drops away very steeply. I could have however ditched my nice flat spot and had a shelter rather than sleeping night. If I had of known the forecast I would have! !

Personal failure #1. Last thing before you leave is to check the forecast.

[jeremy089786]

Ha, it looks like we have been using different though similar fun scales! Type one is the same, 2 is expected type 1 that goes wrong and is fun in retrospect, 3 is planned only to be fun in retrospect (something like the Alaskan Mountain Wilderness Classic or a sub 36 hour 3 peaks attempt) and type 4 is your type 3. Must be similar to playing amatuer card games with backpackers. Sooo many different variations ha!

[jeremy089786]

Also I did check the weather when I left (5 days prior to the storm) and it was predicted to be partly cloudy! Snow but tolerable winds were forecast for Tuesday.

[andrewa]

Erk. What a bummer!

I reckon even my Hilleberg would have been struggling in that with 3.5 pegs!! The other issue for all who read this is to ensure we carry adequate pegs. The little square spikes that form part of the Hilleberg peg pack would not have held - the "V" shaped ones might have been OK.

And hard to get inspired about packrafting as we come in to winter!

A

Last edited by andrewa on Thu 09 Apr, 2015 3:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Moondog55]

Rereading that I think you need a waterproof breathable bivvy cover as a matter of course. I have had a nite or two like that myself but thankfully none in the last 3 decades

[north-north-west]

Also I did check the weather when I left (5 days prior to the storm) and it was predicted to be partly cloudy! Snow but tolerable winds were forecast for Tuesday.

Might not fit into your weight philosophy, but you can get a mobile signal anywhere on the Main Range. For a trip of that length even I would have taken my phone and checked the weather every couple of days.

Well, enough carping. You survived, as uncomfortable as it was, and got yourself out despite the conditions. Congrats on that.

[jeremy089786]

Indeed Andrew and Icefest have hit the 'peg on the head'. Eight long pegs (and or rock bags) will definitely be accompanying me on future alpine trips. Lesson thoroughly learnt.

[jeremy089786]

Also a good point about weather checking whilst up there. The rolling grounds were the first part of my trip I hit reception and in hindsight I should definitely have checked then!

[GPSGuided]

Feeling cold just by reading your tale. Great story that'll last for years to come! Thanks with lessons learnt by all.

[Lizzy]

Thanks for the report and glad you live on to continue Packrafting!!!!
Sounds a tad wild up there....brrrrrr....

[perfectlydark]

Very good read im happy to learn the lessons reading it here than going what you went through glad your safe

[Chezza]

I have yet to do a trip where a peg did not pay the ultimate sacrifice through my heavy handedness. I carry all the pegs I need and a couple of spares.

Awesome trip report!

[Empty]

Great selfie! Definitely take more chocolate next time.

[peregrinator]

Also a good point about weather checking whilst up there. The rolling grounds were the first part of my trip I hit reception and in hindsight I should definitely have checked then!

Does anyone know whether any radio broadcasts (offering some weather forecasts) can be received "up there"?

[Hallu]

My brother does quite a bit of trakking in the atlas mountains, south america etc... and now only bring synthetic sleeping bags up there.

[DarrenM]

Wow Jeremy, glad you made it back mate! Good detailed info too and serves as a reminder of how quick things can turn. BOM 4 day forecast is everything in that area and I only really trust it for 3 days out and watching the synoptic chart would have indicated the potential for something in the leadup. I also have a number stored in my phone that National Parks leave the forecast as a recorded message each day which can help in areas you can get reception. Kosci is Brutal and I'd never head up high without bombproof gear if I didn't have the full forecast. Keep in mind also that intensity of the local weather can be much worse than forecast also.

I've had plenty of nights with similar weather but in a 4 season tent that thankfully held up. Definitely harder to combat wet conditions like that than winter snow up there. Good work and look forward to catching up at AT to hear about the packrafting options you scouted.

[jeremy089786]

Thanks for the well wishes and great advice, next time up there I will definitely register for the weather updates service and of course bring more chocolate! Now back to repairing my busted gear...

[Moondog55]

What busted apart from the mat?

[wayno]

Rereading that I think you need a waterproof breathable bivvy cover as a matter of course. I have had a nite or two like that myself but thankfully none in the last 3 decades

+1
fleeces function better for warmth and drying speed in the wet than synthetic fill jackets

[jeremy089786]

Mat was the only major bust. Besides that I need to give the down sleeping bag a wash, put the wet maps back together (to stick them up on my wall) and replace the tieouts for the shelter. Also, +1 to breathable bivvy I have had them in the past but have ended up selling them on from lack of need until now! Finally, as well as the synthetic jacket, I was wearing a light fleece and 2 sets of merino thermals which were winners. Would now consider a heavy fleece in the wet.

[Moondog55]

As a simple SB cover that is both LW and breathable/water resistant; Evans Tyvek ones are hard to beat.
As for Waynos opinion of shelled synthetic insulation I would say it depends; I Nikwax mine and find the drying time isn't much different from the same warmth in fleece.

[Bluegum Mic]

Wowzers Jeremy. I'm glad you're ok. I was in the ACT when that hit and it was a decent system. I'm now down in the snowies. Glad you're safe n sound

[Lophophaps]

Epic journey, good report, glad you got out in one piece, more or less. Saving weight by leaving pegs behind and punching holes in things is ill-advised. It's a pity you did not get blasted on Tate as there's a ripper spot about halfway down, biggish rock wall on the right, next to the track. From memory this faces south or SE. A large garbag can work as a quick bivvy bag. The Stephenson vapour barrier principle works. You'll be soggy but warm. If the tent is collapsing then one option is to take it right down and hang on.

I was in a group where a party member bought the tent fly. This was the vestibule fly, and there was no fly for the tent. That night it rained - the party member got very wet. On a trip to SW Cape in Tassie we laughed at one group of four friends that had ... wait for it ... a spare tent. All was revealed later - they partially burnt down one tent, and this was why they had the spare tent. It was not me in either instance.

[north-north-west]

It's a pity you did not get blasted on Tate as there's a ripper spot about halfway down, biggish rock wall on the right, next to the track. From memory this faces south or SE.

I prefer Mann Bluff.

Attachments

[wayno]

get some rocks, tie your guy line around a rock and put another rock on hte guy line between between the first rock and the tent, heavy enough to not move in the wind... you can to the same with a stick and a rock...