Ski Touring The Main Range

Almost a month to the day and we are back for some more ski touring in the NSW Alps, this time we are heading for the main range. I am not sure exactly what constitutes the "main range" but it seems to be centred roughly around Mount Kosciuszko and extends at least as far north as Mount Tate and south to the alpine area above Thredbo. Almost all of Australia's peaks over 2,000 metres lie within this small area, although calling the numerous rounded bumps on ridge lines "peaks" is perhaps somewhat lofty.

Apparently, it is becoming a bit of a thing to hike up all 26 to 33 (interpretations vary) of these high points. Tick lists such as these are always objectively arbitrary but subjectively meaningful. I've had numerous weird tick lists over the years, none of which I ever completely finished but which were fun, in a strange way, when I was obsessing over them.

Day 1: Guthega to Carruthers Ridge

Anyway, back to ski touring. This time we started from Guthega, about 5 km southwest of Guthega Power Station (GPS). The road deteriorates quickly past GPS. It is two wheel drive, but windy, pot-holed and dusty. Guthega is a bit of a weird place. There are a few lodges and a chair lift that runs for 1.5 hours in the morning, presumably to take downhill skiers over to the south side of the mountain. Many of the north facing runs are completely melted out and there is hardly anyone about when we arrive, just a couple of other ski tourers heading out. In the month since we were last skiing, the wind blown bare patches have greatly expanded and the height of snow has shrunk by about 25 cm or almost a quarter.

We start skiing around 11.15 am, and head south roughly following the Illawong track. Between the parking lot and the suspension bridge over the Snowy River we have to take our skis off once and a few times we ski across bare vegetation. Ski travel along this track will not last much longer. There is a big warm bare spot around the lodge so we stop for lunch where we can take our boots off and enjoy the sunshine.

Once across the suspension bridge it is easy skiing along the western bank of the Snowy River to Carruthers Creek. We are after a bit of shelter for camp against the incessant westerly winds as we will leave the tent for two nights while we day trip around the area, so as we skin up beside Carruthers Creek we are looking for a sheltered campsite.

Doug finds a great campsite behind some stunted snow gums and a big boulder at around 1800 metres. There is even a snow melt trickle above camp which obviates the need to melt snow for water. Although we don't have evening sun the site does get early morning sun and the setting sun paints delicate shades of pink and red around the surrounding hills.

It is a bit weird to be camped where we can see the lights of the groomers plying the ski slopes. This is definitely not deep Canadian wilderness, but it is always nice to be camped out and skiing is a bonus.

Day 2: Mounts Clark, Northcote, Townsend, and Lee, Muellers, Abbot and Carruthers Peaks

The sun lights the tent early and it is a delightfully warm morning cooking breakfast and packing for the day out. We begin by skinning up to the ridge above camp and then contour across the broad basin that drains into Club Lake Creek. We dodge dry patches of ground and skin up to our first "peak" of the day, Mount Clark, which is a round flat bump. A short descent, we don't bother to take skins off as the snow is still frozen and we are soon on top of "peak" number two, Mount Northcote.

We don't really have a firm plan for the day but we have been up Mount Kosciuszko before, and, although it is the highest peak in NSW, it is actually one of the least inspiring, with a very long gentle north ridge and a lot of bare ground showing on all aspects. Instead, we skin up Muellers Peak, a short section on the east face actually requires kicking a few steps as our skins are sliding off the icy slope.

Skins off for the descent off Muellers Peak and we are able to coast across the broad basin below to Abbot Peak. On the map, Abbot Peak has two closed contours and we are unsure which is actually higher so we ski up both, tackling the western one first, then the eastern one as this gives us a better run down to the base of Mount Townsend. Mount Townsend is probably the most impressive looking peak, but it too is an easy skin up the southwest side. From the top we can see a couple of skiers on Mount Northcote and this turns out to be two sea kayaking friends of ours who are doing day trips from Charlotte Pass. We exchange a couple of text messages as they head off to Mount Kosciuszko and we have a surprisingly good corn snow descent down to Albina Lake.

From Albina Lake we skin up to Mount Lee and along the ridge to Carruthers Peak where we meet two other skiers, also day tripping from Charlotte Pass. There are a couple of other named peaks in the area we could tag - Alice Rawson and Mount Sentinel - but it would be good to have a couple of new peaks we can come back to another year so instead we ski down to camp on the ridge. Another party has camped about 60 metres below us on the ridge and they ski past just as we arrive at camp.

Day 3: Little Twynam, Mounts Twynam, Anton, Anderson, Tate and Mann Bluff, return to Guthega

Another warm morning but the west wind blows all day and it takes until 11.00 am for the snow to soften. We pack up camp and contour around to Crummer Spur. We follow Crummer Spur all the way to Little Twynam where we have to remove our skis to touch the top as the snow is all melted. It is very windy and our skis act as sails in our hands. It is windy all the way to the top of Mount Twynam, but from there the wind is behind us and not near as annoying.

Unfortunately the descent of Mount Twynam is solidly frozen and it is a chattering descent down to the base of Mount Anton where patchy snow on the west side means it is easy to walk to the top that try and ski. From Mount Anton we continue north and ski up to the top of Mount Anderson where we meet a young bloke out for a day trip from Guthega.

The east ridge of Mount Tate is almost all completely bare of snow but by weaving around a bit we are able to ski all the way to near Mann Bluff. We leave our packs and skis for the short hike up to the top of Mann Bluff and then ski over to the base of Mount Tate. We leave our packs at 2,000 metres on the ridge and skin up Mount Tate, the rocky top is blown clear so we walk the last bit.

Back at our packs, all the plodding has released pent up demand for some downhill skiing and as the snow has nicely softened we make turns down the east facing slope of Mount Tate gradually also traversing to the south as we go. Travel in the Guthega River valley looks tedious. The creek has melted out and there is not enough gradient to slide downhill so we continue traversing until we are roughly above the footbridge over the Guthega River where we get some more turns. There are quite a few old ski tracks, this is obviously a popular descent, and we follow the tracks, turning and traversing until we ski right out to the foot bridge.

On the east side of the Guthega River the snow has melted off so we have to walk until we reach the dam road where we can ski again until skis come off to cross the melted out dam wall, then skins and skis back on for the final 1 km ski up to the parking lot.

It was a grand three day trip involving ski ascents of 13 little peaks and two very fine corn snow runs. Another month, however, and there will be much more bare ground than snow, so that is probably it for our skiing this year.