7/07/1984 – 8/07/1984 Thredbo – Snowy River – Thredbo
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Ngarigo country
Distance: 20km Total Ascent: 640m Total Descent: 640m
Participants: Steve Campbell??, Greg Christlo, Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Peter Davies
Started organising gear and packing at 5:00pm and cooked a batch of Anzac biscuits and banana cake to take. Left home at 7:00pm with Greg Christlo for the drive to Goulburn where we waited for Peter and Steve Campbell before driving through to Rutledge’s hut where we crashed out around 1:00am.
Day 1: Saturday 7/07/1984 Thredbo – Seamans Hut
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 2125 m
Total climbing: 365 m
Total descent: -276 m
Average speed: nan km/h
We were packed and on our way by 10:00am, taking the chairlift to the top of Thredbo in very windy conditions. I was hassled very early in the piece with a broken zipper on my red gaiters. We followed the pole-line to Rawson’s and along a big drift on the road to Seaman’s hut. Visibility was very poor, up and down motion was hard to sense. We then headed down into the valley below Seaman’s Hut and along then towards the south for a 2:00pm lunch stop.
Etheridge Range 7/7/1984
The morning was marked with a lot of uncertainty and indecision due to the poor weather, high winds and low visibility. As it began to deteriorate even further we headed back to Seamans Hut to spend the night. Here we were joined by an Austrian tourist using Alpine ski gear. He was quite memorable in only having brought bread and peanut butter to eat.
Meanwhile we enjoyed Peter’s Scroggon mix, a roasted (until they pop) mixture of whole wheat, sunflower seeds and peanuts, with a touch of margarine garnished with chopped dates, sultanas and current after roasting. Delicious.
Dinner consisted of salami and mushroom’s fried in butter as an entree with Wiener Schnitzel and vegetables for the main and a “glass” of wine. Some Tim Tams sufficed for dessert.
Day 2: Sunday 8/07/1984 Seamans Hut – Thredbo
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 2064 m
Total climbing: 265 m
Total descent: -359 m
Average speed: nan km/h
The weather just as miserable as last night (which included a very rugged up toilet excursion) but with clearing clouds. We headed off down towards the Snowy River for a few runs after downing some porridge for breakfast. Down low in the valley we found a group of five tents occupied by a group from Newcastle.
Seamans Hut 7/7/1984
Near Seamans Hut 7/7/1984
Seamans Hut 7/7/1984
There was a lot of wind-blown powder amongst patches of crusty stuff, some of which was easily broken through, all very thin, easily breaking through to the bushes beneath. It was hardly surprising for this early in July.
Lunch at Seamans Hut. Then straight back down the valley to the top of Merritt’s Spur and around, rather awkwardly, with the wind behind us for our return to the chairlift in just under two hours.
Our plans to ski down were scuttled by very strong winds. There was no-one about due to the lift being closed above middle station so reluctantly we jumped onto the chair lift back to the village.
Left the carpark about 4:00pm and had Peter at Wollongong station for his 10:47pm train back to Sydney.
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