9/07/1987 – 15/07/1987 Guthega Power Station – Whites River – Dicky Cooper Bogong – Tin Hut
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Ngarigo country
Distance: 51km Total Ascent: 2460m Total Descent: 2460m
Participants: Stephen Campbell, Stephen Davies (Report), Sue Farrell, John Eddy?, Robert Eddy
Thursday 9/07/1987
“Stevie spent heaps of time shopping, cooking, putting on roof racks and packing. He was pretty pooped when we headed off about 5:30pm” Sue
Camee’s car broke down Wednesday night and Ian pulled out as well. Organised return transport for Suey and Stevo with Judy. Got to Ed’s about 10:30pm to be greeted by the car making a lovely gurgling sound. Slept in the car, the new curtains pulled across the windows made all the difference.
Day 1: Friday 10/07/1987 Guthega Power Station – campsite near Whites River Hut
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 1782 m
Total climbing: 644 m
Total descent: -189 m
Average speed: nan km/h
Left Guthega Power Station about 12:00pm following the aqueduct to Disappointment Spur Hut. We arrived there about 1:00pm, grabbed some lunch before heading off, another 30 minutes to the road and a further 30 minutes to our selected campsite above Whites River Hut. We noted there was still some nice powder snow hanging about after falling 10 days previously. John came up for the trip and even carried some of our gear!
Wet snow began falling as Peter’s tent was going up at 5:00pm. We skied for 30 minutes just on dusk, the snow was really great!
A combined dinner job, vegetables prepared in one tent whilst the soyaroni was done in the other. Apple and custard of dessert.
Day 2: Saturday 11/07/1987 Vicinity of Whites River Hut
We spent the morning skiing on two small runs on the hill behind camp as there was crusty crap elsewhere.
We had birthday celebrations for Sue one day early. She was treated to vegetables with cashews and cheese and banana cake with candles, balloons and champagne topped of with a cheesecake and whipped cream. I gave in a little and allowed her to have any early present, a silk inner sheet and said she could have the rest after midnight.
Day 3: Sunday 12/07/1987 Whites River – Guthega Power Station – Dicky Cooper Bogong
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 1983 m
Total climbing: 1127 m
Total descent: -1102 m
Average speed: nan km/h
Awoke at 2:00am and Sue shortly after. She opened her balaclava, Wild magazine then I asked her if she wanted to marry me. She wasn’t sure if I was kidding at first but accepted!
We agreed to keep it quiet until our families could be gathered around and the “special announcement” be made.
We skied to the top of Dicky Cooper Ridge with Steve Campbell. It was clear and cold with great views towards both Watsons Crags and Jagungal.
After returning to the tents for lunch we set off for the pick up of the trip’s early leavers, two hours back to the carpark. Fortunately Judy showed up on time.
After dropping Sue off for her ride home I headed back to camp alone at 6:10pm, arriving to the tent at 8:30pm. It was a beautiful still clear night with all the stars out and shining brightly before the moon rose about an hour after sunset. The aqueduct was in the shade most of the way so I used my “miners” headlamp along some sections.
Day 4: Monday 13/07/1987 Whites River – Tin Hut
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 2009 m
Total climbing: 342 m
Total descent: -246 m
Average speed: nan km/h
We headed along the road towards Tin Hut at 11:30am after a long slow pack up, it was OK except for the excessive weight on my back. Decided to head straight up from Schlink Pass. Off track the snow was good until above the treelike where it was wind affected and steadily got worse. Stopped for lunch in cold, clear windy conditions. Skiing along the eastern side in the general direction of Tin Hut the snow got worse with lots of rime.
Finally headed down to get out of the wind and rime. Conditions were better in amongst the trees on descent towards the Finn River where there some very thick wind blown deposits of soft snow.
I was very tired by my 4:30pm arrival to Tin Hut. Robert was not feeling well.
We settled on a campsite and collected some firewood to melt snow for fresh water. The next morning we found an open pool about 20m away!
Day 5: Tuesday 14/07/1987 Tin Hut
The weather had turned a little overnight becoming cloudy with light wet snow falling.
After some porridge for breakfast I got restless enough to venture out for a few turns about 10:30am to be greeted shorty later by another party of four. I found a small sheltered slope and skied its wet powder wind deposits until 12:00pm.
Robert and I were now seriously out of sync as he was just heading out as I got back for lunch. As some fine misty rain appeared about 1:00pm Robert returned and I had finally geared up to go back out, however, Robert’s description of his wet clothing etc. changed my plans so off came the boots again as I settled in to read the “Avalanche Safety” book I had carried in.
Getting a little sick of this I was back on the snow by 3:00pm skiing the same slope again in windy, cloudy, misty and occasionally sleety conditions until 4:30pm. I practised weight-unweighting for parallels, starting to feel OK with that until tiring trying to jump out of the heavy snow. After collecting some water and re-pitching the tent I got into my book.
Dinner: Vegetables, split peas, lentils, soyaroni and chili sauce for mains. Apples and custard with passionfruit for dessert. Lights out at 10:20pm.
Day 6: Wednesday 15/07/1987 Tin Hut – Guthega Power Station
This route was reconstructed from memory using Google Earth Pro and GPS Visualizer.
Max elevation: 2007 m
Total climbing: 375 m
Total descent: -903 m
Average speed: nan km/h
Robert was keen to escape as the weather was much the same as yesterday. We had strong westerlies blowing along with some snowfall and visibility of a couple of hundred metres, clearing occasionally to yield views down Finns River. The tent and trees had well and truly been blasted by the elements overnight (see PHOTO, still looking for it).
We were packed and gone by 1:00pm. We were reliant on our compass bearing to find Gungartan Pass with the visibility really deteriorating down to a couple of metres near the pass. Around here the wind was funneling through giving us a real blast. Moisture laden air left the Bolle glasses lenses frozen and provided zero visibility. The skiing had become impossible with a kaleidoscope of ice, rocks, powder patches and crust in front of us. Walking was not much better between the slipping on the ice and sinking up to the thighs in soft patches. Fortunately it only took half an hour to get below the worst of it. We were then down onto some better snow through the valley and the sidle up towards Schlink Pass. This is an excellent route. It seems much faster than the alternatives.
Some great snow on the road but a little patchy and slower than expected. The weather here was much more bearable. Returned via the aqueduct passing two day-trippers along the way. Back to the car about 4:30pm and Berridale at 6:00pm. Bombala tomorrow? No, grandma’s in hospital with a pinched nerve in her back, old age she says.
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