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| The Rams Head Range. |
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| Looking back up towards the Rams Head Range on my descent down to Dead Horse Gap. |
Sam and I had weekend up in Thredbo recently, ostensibly to organise a few details for my AAWT walk later this year but really it was just as much for the chance to have a quick break away. After checking into our accommodation at the Alpine Hotel I decided that I’d head out on a late afternoon walk. With less than three hours before dark I decided to walk the Dead Horse Gap walk, my reasoning being that with the last half of the walk back down alongside the Thredbo River to Thredbo then it wouldn’t matter to much if the light started to go on me. To start this walk meant jumping on the Kosciuszko Express Chairlift to take me up to the tops, a nice and easy way to gain more than 500 metres elevation.
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| My walk started with a ride on the Snowgums Chairlift. |
Being a Feral walk though not everything went to plan. Heading over to the flash Kosciuszko Express Quad Chairlift I could clearly see that I wouldn’t be going anywhere on that lift today, there were no chairs on the lift! My conciliation chairlift today was the Snowgums Chairlift, this looks like an older lift and only takes two people at once, of more concern to me though was that it would drop me 50 metres or so below the top station of the Kosi lift. After paying my $28 for my one way ride (I’m not embellishing that price, it’s bloody expensive) I jumped on board and was soon heading skyward through the snow gums. My journey to the tops was enlivened by two intermediate stations, as the chairlift skimmed over these platforms I quickly learnt that I had two options, either point my legs straight out in front of me or run, road runner style, as my feet dragged across the platforms, yep there is never a dull moment in my Feral world!
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Hmmm, not a lot of leg clearance here.
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So it was time for the Feral shuffle.....
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Thankfully I wore my best boots today.
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In between intermediate stations the scenery was pretty special. |
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Safely disembarking at the top station I picked up Merritts Nature Walk and set off on what I was looking at as my warm up walk, the climb up to the top station of the Kosi Express Lift. After climbing for a few hundred metres I reached the official starting point of the walk, huffing and puffing already I was wondering how I was going to handle 700 kilometres of this stuff later this year. Heading up the paved Kosciuszko Walking track for a couple hundred metres I picked up the rough track that would lead me down to Dead Horse Gap. Now I haven’t mentioned the weather conditions yet, well needless to say they were less than ideal this afternoon, the snow covered tops of the Rams Head Range were cloaked in cloud and as my route initially contoured just to the south of those peaks, I too was walking in and out of the snow and mist.
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Alright, it's time to start walking....
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Climbing up Merrits Nature Walk to the Crackenback top station, hmm I was thinking I'd be walking down hill today.
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| After leaving the Kosciuszko Track I climbed a little more towards a spot called Saschas Schuss, yeah I dunno what a Saschas Schuss is either. |
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After leaving the paved Kosciuszko path, the Dead Horse Trail actually climbs a little before topping out at a spot called Saschas Schuss at just under 2000 metres, on the way passing some dormant skiing infrastructure. Passing though the upper most of the Thredbo ski lifts is actually the hardest navigational challenge of the walk, there are quite a few maintenance trails running all over the place, I just contoured my way south west and eventually the Dead Horse Gap Track became fairly obvious. After passing over the high point the track started a very easy descent into the distant snow gums, in the process passing through a pole line that I’m assuming marks the boundary of the ski resort.
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Once I picked up some duck boarding I knew I was on the right track.
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The top of the Main Range looked a little inhospitable today.
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| We were up here a couple of weeks before winter so it was good to see a little bit of snow around already. |
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With the under foot conditions alternating between snow and ice it was a slippery walk into the tree line, quite often it was better to walk on the snow covered grass than risk the icy track. Eventually the snow cover disappeared and I found myself descending through beautiful snow gums and huge granite boulders, the occasional brumbies enjoying the sheltered conditions. An hour after leaving the top station of the Snowgum Lift I spotted the sealed Alpine Way snaking through the valley below me, my descent to Dead Horse Gap was almost over. The last few hundred metres down to the gap are actually the steepest of the whole walk and I was pretty happy to finish the last of the steps and wander over the small snow plain to check out the bridge over the Thredbo River.
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Around the same time that I started to pass through the snow gums I also passed out of the ski resort.
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There are forests of petrified snow gums left over from the 2003 fires.
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| Unfortunately there is plenty of evidence of brumbies up here too. |
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I was now going to follow the cascading river all the way down to Thredbo, thankfully this section of the track is pretty easy as by now it was getting pretty dark. The walk downstream beside the cascading river was the a really nice way to finish the walk, in between walking small snow grass openings and through the plentiful snow gums the track crossed and re-crossed the river a couple of times. High up the side of the steep valley to my right I had the Alpine Way guiding me towards Thredbo, but what got my attention the most was when the path crossed the river, the bridges allowing for great views up and down the river. It was virtually dark when I arrived at a lookout over a small waterfall but I still managed a dodgy photo before heading off on the last short section down to Thredbo, the lights of which were now appearing through the snow gums. After a short section of duck boards the path bordered the golf course for a short section (stay left and don’t cross the river here). On reaching a road bridge over the river I crossed over and wandered through the quiet streets of Thredbo back to Sam who was waiting for me at our accommodation, this had been a nice way to start the weekend.
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The section of my stroll from the chairlift down to Dead Horse Gap is actually part of the AAWT.
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The actual Dead Horse Gap is slightly up the Alpine Way to the right, my track dropped down to meet the Alpine Way opposite Cascade Trail (AAWT) which can be seen coming in down the valley on the other side of the road.
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| It was getting pretty late in the day by the time I started heading down alongside the Thredbo River towards Thredbo. |
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The Dirt.
I walked 10.6 kilometres on this medium grade walk and climbed 211 metres with a moving average speed of 3.8 kph. I used the notes out of Ken Eastwards Top Walks in New South Wales, the walk has also been written up by John & Lyn Daly in Take A Walk in Kosciuszko National Park, I'm pretty sure that the walk has been written up by others over the years as well. Normally the go is to jump onto the Kosciuszko Express Quad Chairlift, but during my visit it wasn't running so I caught the older Snowgums lift instead, no real problem though it does mean a little extra distance and climbing. The chairlifts are very expensive though, $28 for a one way journey is bordering on price gouging I would of thought. Once on the track this is a very nice walk, although with the walk creeping over the 2000 metre contour line then it pays to make sure that you've got some warm clothes in your pack.
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