Sunday 16/09/2018 Charlotte Pass – Trapyard Creek – Wrights Creek
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Ngarigo country
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies
We arrived at Southern Alps Ski Lodge by oversnow transport from Perisher Valley in the afternoon of the previous day after a polar system had injected a mass of cold air and strong winds across the area earlier in the day. We were disappointed that at most a centimetre of snow came with it. So, after some warm weather earlier in the week we were left with a hard, frozen base with patches of fresh windswept snow.
Max elevation: 1915 m
Total climbing: 736 m
Total descent: -729 m
Average speed: 5.54 km/h
Total time: 06:09:56
Getting away shortly after 9:00am we declined the opportunity to join groups heading elsewhere. Our objective was to ski the eastern edge of the Rams Head Range back to Porcupine Rocks.
Old Charlotte Pass to Thredbo lift ruins
Shortly after departing the lodge we descended to Spencers Creek to capture some photos of the often exquisite textures in the snow and ice at the waters edge. We were not disappointed. From here we climbed up beside Trapyard Creek before exiting to the north into an open valley beyond the snow poles. Near the top we headed south into the bush amongst the snowgums, aiming for the south-eastern edge of the Rams Head Range.
Fantastic views over and along the Thredbo River were enjoyed and photographed as we proceeded north-east until we had Betts Creek in sight below. This extended undulating hilltop (“1900” on the map) had lots of snowgums which had managed to retain lots more snow than the more open areas we had passed through previously, making the skiing much more pleasant than the earlier hard cover.
At this point we decided not to proceed, as there was too much bare ground ahead. So we headed back towards Trapyard Creek to complete a circuit of “1900” before exiting up a side creek towards the south after lunch. After this climb we picked up the Wrights Creek snow pole line which we followed downstream.
Some more photos along Spencers Creek in the afternoon light were taken before returning to Southern Alps Lodge shortly after 3:00pm. The day had remained around zero degrees throughout and had numerous periods of cold strong breeze belying the fact that it was now spring.
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