[SUBW-A] Trip Report, APEC ski trip, 7-9 Sep 2007

[Ashley Burke]

TRIP: Main Range Ski Touring, APEC Long Weekend, 7-9 Sep 2007

PARTY: Nazih Chammas, Albert Chetcuti, Rob Hynes, Kate Lord, Jeremy Platt,
Ashley Burke.

PHOTOS:

I have placed photos of the trip here:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~aburke/SkiTrip20070907-09/Photos.htm

Albert's photos are here:
http://sports.webshots.com/album/560643556glUMaU

TRIP REPORT:

An injury suffered late on the second day of this trip was the only downside
of what was otherwise a fantastic 3 day Main Range ski trip.

Desperate to get out of Sydney and away from all the APEC nonsense we drove
all the way to Island Bend on Thursday night, stopping only in Cooma to hire
skis for those that needed them. It was well after midnight by the time we
rolled into the camping area to snatch a few hours sleep.

Then it was up early on a fine Friday morning to begin the task of getting a
base camp established high in the mountains, in a snowy bowl below Mt
Twynam. We walked/skied up from Guthega to Illawong Lodge, and on the way
had to fumble around with that third world quality flying fox system across
Blue Cow Creek, because boulder hopping across would have resulted in wet
feet, as I discovered. The dry boulders were actually covered in a thin film
of invisible and frictionless ice.

Anyway, after Illawong Lodge the snow cover was total and we climbed up to
our base camp below Mt Twynam. I skied up and back a couple of times to
ferry packs up, and there was also the opportunity for a nice ski down to a
water supply. By the time we were all there with all our gear, it was time
for a late lunch.

In the afternoon, we headed off for a ski. A couple of us skied to the
summit of Mt Twynam, and from here the views of the Main Range and Watsons
Crags were so enticing we couldn't resist, so we skied out along Watsons
Crags for tremendous views westwards, and southwards to the flanks of
Australia's highest peaks. Kate and Jeremy meanwhile climbed to a point near
Mt Twynam where great views across to Watsons Crags could be seen.

Then it was time to return to our tents for food and to rehydrate ourselves
with tea, port, wine, beer and whatever other beverages each tent party had
on hand. We all needed some sleep too after the long drive and long day, so
we enjoyed a quiet night. The only shock was seeing Nazih wandering outside
the tents in his terrorist outfit, a full faced balaclava with only 3 holes
in it, for eyes and mouth. It was just as well he was in the snow and not
back in Sydney otherwise he may have been arrested.

Next morning was cloudy but the visibility was good and a full day's skiing
from our base camp was in order. We all climbed together up to the summit of
Mt Twynam and then set off in groups for different objectives. Albert, Kate,
Jeremy and Nazih did a side trip out to Watsons Crags and then a circuit
that took them down to Blue Lake and then back up to the tents. Meanwhile,
Rob and I headed off on "The Three Peaks", these being Twynam, Kozi and
Townsend, the three highest peaks on the Australian continent. This was an
excellent full day's skiing. From Twynam we headed south along the Main
Range, over Carthuers Peak and then along and up Koscuiszko, and then a huge
run down into Wilkinsons Valley for lunch. After lunch we climbed up to Mt
Townsend. From here there is a fantastic run down to Lake Albina, which was
still completely covered in a skiable snowpack. This was pretty hard to beat
skiing. Then it was a long climb from Lake Albina up to Caruthers Peak, from
where we took another long downhill run to Blue Lake. This lake was also
covered in skiable snowpack, but there were some ominous cracking sounds
underneath us as we skied across the lake near its outlet. Then we climbed
very steeply up to Twynam Saddle, before taking a slow run downhill in the
now heavy snow back to our tents.

Albert, Jeremy, Nazih and Kate had arrived back at the tents not long before
us, after an unfortunate incident. On their final run down to the campsite
Kate had to stop quickly to avoid crashing into Albert, and she chose to do
this in the way that she knew she could - by falling over. In the process,
she badly hurt her knee. She hobbled back to the tents and Mr Bean and I
found her here a few minutes later.

Fortunately there was plenty of raw material around to make an ice pack
with, but even with proper first aid treatment Kate's knee became stiff and
sore during the evening. She spent most of the night trying to find a
position that was comfortable to sleep in.

Sunday morning was a beautiful clear day, the snow was firm with a light
dusting of fresh snow on top. After breakfast Kate began hobbling slowly
down the hill towards Illawong Lodge. Albert, Rob and I went on a short side
trip to Mt Anton for fantastic views, including ones north to The Big J,
still smothered in a decent blanket of snow. Then we returned to our tents
for final packing and to undertake the task of getting our gear and Kate
back to the cars.

Kate had made slow headway down the hill towards Illawong but was never
short of offers of help from passing skiers, and was also offered a variety
of expert - and different - diagnoses of what was wrong inside her knee.

I got to ski down to Illawong twice, which was great fun, once carrying my
pack and once carrying Kate's. Albert carried Kate's skis strapped to his
pack, which made for a top heavy ski down for him, and it was important to
keep an eye out for low hanging branches.

We all had lunch on the grass near Illawong Lodge and some residents from
the lodge came out with a cup of tea and packet of Tim Tams for Kate. Jeremy
did a great job helping Kate back along the track to Illawong while a couple
of us went on ahead to retrieve cars and bring them up as close as possible.
One of the Illawong residents helped carry Kate's pack back towards Guthega.
So with so many helping hands and Kate's cheerful optimism, Kate managed to
hobble back into the car in good time.

Then it was back to Cooma to drop off hired skis, thence Canberra, thence
home. Kate has since had her knee x-rayed and fortunately there are no
broken bones.

A fantastic 3 day weekend despite the injury.

My photos:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~aburke/SkiTrip20070907-09/Photos.htm
Albert's photos: http://sports.webshots.com/album/560643556glUMaU

Ashley Burke
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~aburke