Cleft Peak, Mount Cobberas Number 1, Moscow Peak, The Cobberas, Alpine National Park - October 2016

The view from Cleft Peak was worth the effort.

My second day up in the Cobberas involved a bit of a circuit around some of the higher peaks in the area. Luckily for me I had a beautiful sunny, blue sky kind of day for it. So after breakfast I pulled on the boots, loaded my pack with all the essentials for half the day and headed off. I’d pulled up pretty well after yesterdays walk, the only slight issue I had was with a couple of hot spots on my feet, but you gotta expect that I suppose as I haven’t warn these boots for months and when I last did I was a few kilograms lighter.

The day started with another off track ramble, this time up towards Middle Peak.

My first objective today was to climb to the ridge that connects Cleft Peak to Cobberas Number 1, once again the spur I was climbing was pretty open so the walking was pretty good, the ground was nowhere near as rocky on this climb as it had been around Moscow Peak yesterday which also helped. I was aiming for Middle Peak although I started to sidle north before getting to the very top and came out on the ridge top just to the north of Middle Peak. Once on the crest of the ridge Cleft Peak was very close at hand but the walking was fairly slow.

Sidling around beneath Middle Peak on my way to Cleft Peak.

Between me and Cleft Peak was a series of rocky outcrops that had to be either climbed over or skirted around which made for reasonably slow progress, there was nothing to hard as Cleft Peak was always in sight but it still required concentration. Closing in on Cleft Peak I could see that there was actually three rocky outcrops with the centre one appearing to be the highest, I could also see that it would require a bit of an exposed scramble. Climbing a grassy gully I first of all headed for the easier northern most outcrop with my pack, with this outcrop only marginally lower than the main summit it provided for a great view and was easily climbed, the view north to the Main Range was particularly good.

Cleft Peak, the highest spot is on the rocky outcrop on the right.

There was still plenty of snow on the Main Range.

That's Mount Cobberas Number 1, taken from the slightly lower northern summit of Cleft Peak.

After climbing the sightly lower northern most peak I dropped the pack and headed up the middle peak which from what I can tell is the summit of Cleft Peak. This climb involved a couple of easy scrambles with a fair bit of exposure, the first scramble up onto a sloping ledge and the second one up a gully off the ledge to gain easy access to the summit. It pays to scout the second scramble out a bit as the first gully that I came to was a lot more of a committed scramble than the next one along the ledge. Once on top I sat down for awhile and took it in, unfolded in front of me I could see my whole route around to Cobberas Number 1, the height of my view point flattening out the route a little deceptively. To the east I could see the snow covered Bogong High Plains and Mount Bogong but my eyes were drawn to the north. With Moscow Peak, Cobras Number 2, and Mount Pilot all lined in front of the snow covered Main Range it was a great spot to sit and soak up the wilderness, yeah so many places to visit and so little time!

Cleft Peak, I climbed up to the sloping ledge to the right, avoided the first obvious gully, climbing the second gully above the small patch of snow grass.

The Pilot with the Main Range in the distance.

My ongoing route curving around to Mount Cobberas Number 1, it all looks pretty easy from up here!

Moscow Peak in the middle distance, I was camped above the open grassy area in the snow gums on the left of the photo.

After taking it all in for awhile it was time to make a move and head over to Cobberas Number 1. The scramble back down was thankfully uneventful and I grabbed my pack and headed off along the broad ridge, firstly back towards Middle Peak and then down to a saddle between Middle Peak and Mount Cobberas Number 1. This grassy saddle was a superb spot, there were even a few rills of water trickling west so at the moment it would make for a great campsite. Leaving the saddle I aimed to the south of a large rocky outcrop I could see on the ridge that leads to the Cobberas Number 1. The climb was probably around 100 metres but the scrub was once again fairly sparse and I was easily able to make my way around any of the thicker sections.

There was no shortage of mature snow gums today.

Arriving onto the flat plateau like ridge that leads to Mount Cobberas the scenery went up another notch, this flat area was comprised of snow grass with a scattering of huge boulders littering the ground, mixed in with all this was a large number of beautiful mature snow gums. These snow gums are twisted and contorted into all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes and I never get sick of them. The flat tops made walking really easy and it got even easier when I met the walking track that comes up from Native Dog Flat, making the last couple of hundred metres to the summit a bit of a cake walk. To get right up to the trig on Cobberas Number 1 involves almost circling the rocky summit before scrambling up an easy rocky ramp, the final section up to the trig was a shimmy up a 1.5 metre rock face, although probably the toughest bit of the scramble was finding a spot to park my fat arse on the tiny summit!

The easy rocky ramp that leads to the summit of Mount Cobberas Number 1.

The final short scramble was a little exposed.

The view back towards Cleft Peak from the tiny summit of Mount Cobberas Number 1.

There isn't a lot of room up here.

Mt Bogong and the Bogong High Plains in the distance, there was a fair bit of snow on them as well.

It was well passed midday when I started back down towards camp, of which I had to pass through on my way up Moscow Peak. It was a beautiful walk back down to camp, with the route now being fairly familiar to me and the gradient generally down hill it allowed me to relax a little more and take in the beautiful scenery. After a quick bite to eat at my camp I grabbed the pack and headed off towards Moscow Peak. From what I could tell looking at my map it appeared that the highest point was the peak just to the north-east of a shallow saddle on the summit ridge, so I aimed to meet the crest of the ridge at the saddle.

A Copperhead Snake looking for a feed of frogs near the sphagnum moss swamp.

To reach the saddle I had to head north from my camp, once again the flora didn’t give me to much trouble but the ground is certainly rockier in the vicinity of Moscow Peak. As I climbed up towards the shallow saddle on the ridge I had to navigate my way around quite a few huge boulders, once again utilising a few brumby pads eased the way a little. It was a little surprising to see where these brumbies get to, a couple of times I’d be perched on some rocky outcrop only to look down and see the brumbies had left their calling card. Moscow Peak is a little lower than the other hills I’d climbed that day but being slightly remote from the Cleft Peak mount Cobberas Number 1 complex that I’d spent the morning on, it still provided a great spot to sit and take it all in. The craggy Mount Cobberas Number 2 seemed very close indeed with The Pilot half hidden behind it. Sitting up on Moscow Peak in the late afternoon sun I was pretty content with life.

Mount Cobberas Number 2 with The Pilot behind it, from Moscow Peak.

The ridge line on Moscow Peak.

There are some serious rocky outcrops on Moscow Peak.

All good things come to an end though and eventually I had to head back down to camp. With a couple of hours daylight left I once again chilled out a little, doing a little reading while cooking dinner and enjoying the last bit of warmth from the setting sun. Before the sun made its final dip below the horizon I crawled into the tent, grateful again to be off my feet after what had been a fairly long day for me. As soon as the sun set I was quickly forced into the sleeping bag as the temperature dropped, although that was no real hardship and once again sleep came quickly for me.

Looking back across to Cleft Peak from Moscow Peak.

Mount Cobberas Number 2.

The Dirt.
I walked 11 kilometres today and climbed 634 metres. I suppose I’d rate this as a hard day again although the ratings for this walk are very subjective. Reading through the narrative I seem to mention that the climbing and scrub aren’t to bad, and as far as off track walking and scrambling go that is true, but if you compare it to walking on a track its a lot tougher, hence the hard rating. If you are an experienced younger fitter person you’d probably be shaking your head at the hard rating, likewise if you have only ever walked on tracks you’d probably be thinking this is pretty tough, so anyway I’ll go with the hard rating. Apart from my camp I also had Telstra coverage from all the peaks today. Cleft Peak requires a reasonably exposed scramble so keep this in mind although the view from its other peaks is almost a good. Apart from a few hundred metres todays route was entirely off track with no track markers or cairns.

Relevant Posts.

Day 1 of this walk.
Day 3 of this walk.

The sphagnum moss swamp is the head waters for Moscow Creek.

Time to rest my tired bones.

I'm buggered if I know how to pin a spot on the map, I was camped in the trees to the west of the open spot.