Monday 4/09/2017 Cascade Trail Carpark – Teddys Hut
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Ngarigo country
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report)
This day trip can be done in summer or winter (on skis or snow shoes). It follows the Cascade trail and then the Thredbo River on a scenic trip to an historic Snowy Mountains drovers hut.
Wild brumbies are often seen in this area. The easiest access to the trailhead is to drive past the Thredbo ski resort to the Cascade Trail car park below Dead Horse Gap.
Max elevation: 1825 m
Total climbing: 1367 m
Total descent: -1365 m
Average speed: 4.67 km/h
Total time: 06:46:05
The weather forecast was not favourable with high winds likely so we decided to stay low and opted to ski up the Thredbo river valley. The conditions were not too bad when we headed out, the fresh snow was lovely and the wind was behind us.
Of course we knew this would change on the return journey but the Cascade trail was quite pleasant and we crossed the bridge and followed the Thredbo river. The snow coverage was quite good with some icy patches on exposed sections. We skied up the right hand side of the river and needed to do some winter “bush bashing”. Before long we reached Teddys Hut which was quite small and the gaps between the wood panels meant that the snow came right inside the hut. Regardless, it was a good spot to have lunch.
Teddys Hut
We started our return journey at 2.00pm and the conditions soon deteriorated. The wind gusts were reportedly up to 100kph and the sago type snow was biting our face and eyes. Then visibility was next to zero and our glasses iced up so our skiing was really impaired. We stuck close together as it was impossible to tell whether we were moving or not in the whiteout conditions.
We pushed on and eventually reached the trail where the going became a bit easier. The last downhill run on the fresh snow was actually quite pleasant and the sight of the car lifted our spirits.
It was very unusual conditions for this time of year but of course you need to be prepared for sudden changes in conditions in the mountains.
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