Trip Report - Mt Bogong: Saturday 17 July 2010.

[thecornicestore]

Trip Report

Mt Bogong: Saturday 17 July 2010.

After the nice little dump last week we just had to go get some freshies on the weekend, so we decided to undertake a day mission up to Mt Bogong on Saturday.

We drove the car to the base of Eskdale Spur and headed off at about 6.30am with the head torches lighting our way for the first 20 minutes or so. It wasn’t long before we were stripping layers off as the walk up is always hot work! The track was snowed over after about 30 minutes off walking, at about the 1400m level.

We arrived at Michells hut at about 8ish for a break and some breakfast. There were a couple of tents and a few crew in the hut, and everyone was pretty pumped about the day ahead as the sun was out, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it looked pretty still up top.

When we got above the treeline there was a fairly good snow cover on the northern ridge and we chucked the skins on the Splitboard skis on the last little uphill section of the north ridge.

When we got the main ridge Cairn Gully was looking great. The cover wan’t complete, with a couple of small, shallow creek lines and a few rocks and shrubs exposed. But there was plenty of cover and fresh snow and not a track to be seen! When we got to the summit there was a few crew up there and we were all itching to lay some tracks.

The snow wasn’t light fluffy powder, but it was still nice and soft and it hadn’t thawed/frozen since the dump during the week. There was nice 20-30 cover of fresh snow on top of the base and there was some nice little rollers and rock drops available because the gully wasn’t completely filled in. The skin up on the Splitboard was easy after each run as the snow was soft and there wasn’t any ice to be found.

We stayed in the gully for the day picking different lines each time we went down, and never had to worry about finding the fresh stuff.

I reckon that after another good dump the Gully should be filled in nicely and the chutes of the main ridge should be looking ripe!

We got back to Michells hut at about 4.30 and had some arvo tea and a bit of a rest. We then pushed off and had to don the head torches again for the last 20 minutes before we got back to the car at about 6.30pm.

After a big day we definitely enjoyed a beer and a hot shower, but it was worth the effort as you don’t get blue skies, hardly any wind and fresh snow every day on Bogong!!

Some pics can be found here:
http://s944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/


http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6608.jpg

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6602.jpg

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6627.jpg

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6728.jpg

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6662.jpg

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6679.jpg

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6670.jpg

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6703.jpg

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6695.jpg

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/thecornicestore/Mt%20Bogong%2017-07-10/_MG_6654.jpg

[Coopski]

Simply gorgeous photos. Thanks for sharing

[John Deere]

Nice work!

[Bear]

Cheers for the report and pics.

[Caboose]

Awesome!!!!

[BlueHue]

Very nice work indeed!

[roo]

nice one.

[SA]

Good effort with the trip and the report!

[skijacski]

Nice to see a boarder with the right gear - excellent report.

[chris_the_dr]

Great report, thank you. and fantastic photos too. My mate and I are planning a trip in august as well as a day this Sunday. I understand the road into the base of the spur has been re-routed and is not quite as steep as the old road, but is a bit off camber on fresh clay. Based on your experience last weekend do you think we will have any problems getting an 04 outback in there?

Cheers, Chris.

[thecornicestore]

gday Chris,

Last year I drove my 1997 Outback up there after a 50cm dump, with snow down to 1000m. we had to drive in snow to get to the base of Eskdale. That was a struggle!! had to don the chains on the last steep/bumpy section and it was super slippery. I drove the Outback up there 2 weeks prior to that and it was OK as the road was dry.

On the trip last Saturday we had a real 4WD so we were fine.

Even with the new route, you still have the last section of rough/steep 4WD track. I would keep an eye on the conditions. If its going to be wet/snow then I would DEFINITELY take some chains and you will have to take it easy (or else try to borrow a real 4WD). If its dry you shouldn't have any problems as long as you take it easy.

Hope this helps, and have a great trip!!

Cheers
Adam

[chris_the_dr]

Thanks. Will let you know how we get on.

Chris.

[Caboose]

Nice to see a boarder with the right gear - excellent report.

isn't the "right" gear what suits "you", the rider, best????

[John Deere]

Yep, like you said.... ski's :p

[chris_the_dr]

Ok, went up on Sunday. Not heaps of snow, but enough to have fun :)

Took the Outback ('04, premium). Dry and sunny in the morning, no problems getting in (though we did walk a few sections of the last bit of the track first just to make sure). Snowed down to camp creek in the afternoon, so we returned to a wet and snow covered track at dusk. And the outback handled it all just fine, standard tyres, no chains (though we did have two sets with us just in case). Having said this, because I'm an idiot we did have one minor bump (would have happened to me in any vehicle though - too embarrassed to go into details...), and there was only just enough clearance in a couple of spots.

I would be fairly comfortable using this car again for this, but would make sure I walked the steep sections first (mainly to check for clearance), would make sure I had a couple of sets of chains with me, and would be quite prepared to leave the car at some point and walk the rest of the way if things looked too slippery or it looked like running out of clearance.

And thank you for your helpful advice Adam :)