A last minute call out for weekend ideas saw us settle on Boars Head, an abseil I’d wanted to do for ages. We quickly gathered an enthusiastic group and converged at Scenic World on Sunday at 9:30am. A short drive up to the Devils Hole exit and then a hop, skip and a jump up the road to the start and we were off.
With some dropouts due to illness and misadventure, the walk was reduced to just the two of us, and it was easy to make a decision to walk to Pearl Beach instead of doubling back to Wondabyne as originally planned.
We had lunch looking out across a beautiful view, before walking the final distance to Cowan Station. We said our ‘goodbyes’ and the half day participants were fortunate in having a very short wait for the train back to Sydney.
The gauntlet had been thrown down, and the challenge had been accepted by a handful of hardy souls — to go wet canyoning in the absolute depths of winter — and so Aussie FreezeFest was born. Julie had been trying for a while to get some interest in a local version of what has become an institution in the US, but for some reason people kept coming back with silly comments like “canyoning is a summer sport” and “you’ll all freeze to death”. Valid points,…
Well I believe this is officially the smallest SUBW group I have ever taken on a trip. Possibly the suggestion that those with fears of heights may not enjoy the day put some off, however with our speedy group of three we managed to have a fantastic day!
PARTICIPANTS: – Hon. President Chantal Bronkhurst (first outing) – Pete Harvey (avoided last year’s event by hiding in AFRICA, Jo take note) – Mitchell Isaacs (Navshield #4) – Tom Murtagh (Navshield #4) – Many people in other teams, coordinating the event, farming nearby etc
Our ridge didn’t do much in the way of climbing upward, rather it was happy providing an unending chain of rocky outcrops — never more than a few metres wide — broken by gaps that could be so small we could jump over, or so large as to require a serious back-track to find a way around.
Winter is a wonderful time to be in the mountains. The crisp, chill air is so refreshing, making for perfect walking, and the dynamic, ever-changing weather makes sure you get to see your surroundings in so many different lights that they seem constantly new.
This trip was originally planned as an early winter climb to the summit of Mt Gungartan, 2068m in the Snowy Mountains. However, other commitments meant that the walk was now pushed further into winter, and so the prospect of more snow and harsher conditions was likely. And, as luck would have it, a series of strong cold fronts in the forecast meant that things were always going to be unpredictable up there. Of course, that can be part of the fun, as long as you go well prepared. I’m pleased to say that everyone took the required gear list seriously, and everyone came well equipped for our walk into a wintery wilderness. After battling the Friday traffic, and with the daunting prediction for storm force winds and possible blizzards, our party of 5 made the long road trip down to the Snowy Mountains, stopping for refreshments at Marulan, then onto Cooma where we collected our snowshoes. Although not included in my original plans, the snow conditions meant that it would be near impossible to do the walk without them. They proved to be indispensible, and easy to use. We have since discovered some designs are better than others , but more on that later!
We started the weekend with a walk from Winmalee, up Blue Gum Swamp to Grose Mountain Lookout. Along the way we met a man who had walked with SUBW many years ago with many stories of club trips to share. He joined us to the top of Grose Mountain where we had lunch.