Mt Feathertop, Winter 1990

I did mention that I'd have to go retro for a little while, back in the late 80's and early 90's I was still a bit of a bushwalking novice, we were pushing our boundaries and learning on the job in some cases. When I look back at this trip I think how badly under prepared we were, but what we didn't have in experience and gear we made up for with enthusiasm, luck, and some common sense.

Dave's work truck and our tents on a frosty morning at the Harrietville Caravan Park.

There was five of us on this walk, Dave, Darren, Naomi, John, and myself, we all worked together in Melbourne at the time. Only Dave had any real experience, being a kiwi he had done a fair bit of tramping in New Zealand. We all piled into Dave's work van for the trip up to Harrietville after work on the Friday. We had climbed Feathertop before so we had a bit of a routine. First stop was the Harrietville Caravan Park to put up the tents, followed immediately by the short walk to the pub (there was only one in those days), where we proceeded to pass the night drinking beer in front of the fire, the stories getting taller the more beer we consumed.

Naomi, John, me, and Darren, Dave's behind the camera.

Next morning we were up early and we made a fortuitous decision, on the way to the track head we dropped into visit the people that I used to work with, they ran a school camp and ski hire business up here, and while chatting we were introduced to snow shoes for the first time. After a bit of discussion we decide that it would probably be a good idea to hire some, so after strapping them to our packs we headed of to the car park at the bottom of Bungalow Spur.

A little bit of bush gymnastics on the lower section of Bungalow Spur.

Bungalow Spur is a fairly easy climb (if climbing over 1000 metres can be easy), its benched and well graded all the way to Federation Hut. We knew that we would be in for a long day however when we started to encounter snow about 2 kilometres into the climb at Picture Point. We had the snow shoes on before we got to Tobias Gap, and by the time we got to the Old Feathertop Hut site we were walking up the middle of the spur through the upper branches of the snow gums. Arriving at Federation Hut we had to dig our way down to get in.

The snow shoes took a little getting used to!

Still getting used to them!

That's how you do it, it must be my mullet!

Federation Hut was surprisingly warm, probably because the walls and half the windows were insulated by snow. It was to late in the day to go for the summit so we amused ourselves around the hut, watching the setting sun light up The Razorback and surrounding ridges. We were shocked by the degree that the temperature plummeted once the sun disappeared, retreating quickly to the warm hut. We spent a comfortable night sleeping in the loft of Federation Hut, the little pot belly stove heating up the hut nicely.

The original Federation Hut.

The Razorback, in the late afternoon sun.

Dave, Darren, John, modelling the latest from the house of Aussie Disposals.

Next morning we woke to a beautiful day so we quickly pulled on our boots and headed off to the summit, we had to be particularly careful on the final 100 metres of the climb as we didn't have crampons (we probably didn't even know what they were!), the snow on the top of the ridge luckily wasn't very icy, but we had to respect it for the steepness alone, as well as the ever present cornice that threatened to break of and plummet into the abyss below. The view from the top was something I could of never imagine existed in Australia, snow covered mountains in every direction as far as the eye could see. The Fainter's and Mt Bogong being particularly impressive due to our grandstand position.

The summit of Mt Feathertop.

The summit pic.

All to soon it was time to retrace our steps back to Federation Hut. Getting down safely we then had a late brekky, pulled on the snow shoes, made a quick descent of Bungalow Spur, and hit the Harrietville Hotel in time for a counter lunch. By early evening we were back in Melbourne reliving the adventure in our heads.

The Fainters and Mt Bogong from the summit.

The Dirt
Mt Feathertop has claimed many lives over the years, we had a successful trip but there was some luck involved. The climb up Bungalow Spur involves an ascent of around 1500 metres so just the height gain makes it serious, then factor in weather, etc. We stayed in Federation Hut, but that version of the hut has since burn't down in one of the many fires that have gone through the high country in recent years, the new hut doesn't have a loft to sleep in, but it does have an impressive toilet with a view. There are many notes available for the walk from all the regular authors.

I've lost track of all our team except for Dave who I still catch up with to reminisce over coffee and breakfast down in Mornington. John returned home to Scotland, Darren lives locally in Doveton, and Naomi got married and had a couple of children and lives in Rochester in country Victoria.

Making snow shoe tracks down Bungalow Spur.