Mt Torbreck, Mt Torbreck Natural & Scenic Reserve - July 2018

I did manage to get a few minutes of sun today.

So far this year I haven’t managed to get in a snow walk. So, after a couple hours at work last Friday I decided to head up to Mt Torbreck near Alexandra. When I was a very young bloke I remember Mt Torbreck use to feature on the Snow Report on the television news. With the summit only a couple of hours walk from the car park it’s one of the few places you can easily (relatively) access some reasonably reliable snow conditions close to Melbourne without paying to park at a ski resort. I headed up through Alexandra towards Eildon and then up Snobs Creek Road to Conn Gap Road, following Conn Gap Road for less than 1 kilometre to park at the intersection with Barnewell Plains Road.

I started today's stroll at the intersection of Conns Gap and Barnewall Plains Road.

Being a Feral walk I’d managed to time my arrive at the car park with a hail storm passing through, so I relaxed for awhile in the warmth of the ute while I waited for the rain to back off a bit. Eventually, with the worst of the weather appearing to have passed me by I set off up the closed Barnewall Plains Road, a 1pm start in the middle of winter wasn’t ideal but I was pretty confident I could finish the walk and get back to the ute by nightfall. Barnewall Plains Road is a 4wd track and is seasonally closed so walking up here was pretty good, the road climbing fairly steadily crossing a couple of blackberry infested gullies before arriving at a rough picnic area at Barnewall Plain.

Barnewall Plains Road climbs fairly solidly, crossing a couple of these blackberry choked gullies.

There is no shortage of ferns lower down on this walk.

The picnic area at Barnewall Plain was pretty quiet today.

The picnic area at Barnewall Plain marked the spot that I left the muddy road and started to climb Mt Torbreck via a walking track, it’s also where the walk got a bit steeper for awhile. Leaving the picnic ground I was pleasantly surprised to find myself climbing on a clear, obvious track, apart from the occasional sleety shower scudding through everything was pretty good in my Feral world. The walking track started off by zig zagging up the side of the mountain before heading around to the south east a little bit and climbing the western flanks of the mountain.

I met the snow at around the 1300 metre level today.

The gradient eases off a bit close to the ridge line.

At around the 1300 metre contour I started passing through the first patches of snow as the track continued to climb fairly solidly, the snow giving my all the excuse that I needed to stop a little more frequently and take a few photos. The snow down here was a little on the icy side so I had to be a little careful where the track crossed some of the large rock slabs but over all the climb was pretty sweet. Less than an hour after leaving the picnic area on Barnewall Plains Road I arrived onto what I suppose I’d call the Mt Torbreck summit ridge line, a long high ridge that runs south from the summit of Mt Torbreck.

The gnarly old Snow Gums added a bit of interest to the walk.

By the time got to the ridge crest the snow was around 20 centimetres deep but it was still pretty easy walking, although it was a bit slow. Once on the ridge I headed back to the north along the ridge towards the 1516 metre summit. Even accounting for the harder than normal conditions, the walking along this ridge line was the highlight of todays stroll, the gnarly Snow Gums and granite boulders being a particular attraction (what’s that, oh maybe it’s just me;) The closer I got to the summit cairn the deeper the snow got but there was only the occasional deeper drift that reached knee deep, there was enough snow around that I couldn’t stay on the exact track though, so I proceeded to the summit cairn by keeping an eye out for the track markers and, when in doubt, staying as close as possible to the crest of the ridge.

The snow was a little deeper on the ridge line.

After around half an hour of walking along the ridge the Mt Torbreck summit cairn suddenly appeared out the mist in a small copse of Snow Gums in front of me. I’d been fairly lucky today in that awhile the weather was a little ordinary it wasn’t really windy and my good luck continued while I was on the summit. Climbing onto the very substantial summit cairn the cloud broke for a couple of minutes and I was able to get some glimpses through the Snow Gums over towards Mt Buller. Apart from the summit cairn there is also a trig point hidden in some saplings on the summit, if you want to explore a bit then there is also an old aircraft crash site. The plane crashed into the ridge line just to the north of the summit decades ago, although with the snow on the ground and the daylight hours dwindling I gave the wreck hunting a miss on this visit.

The Mt Torbreck summit cairn.

I look pretty happy to be here.

Looking south back along the ridge.

The cloud lifted for a bit while I was on the summit.

The walk from the summit of Mt Torbreck back down to the ute is a retrace but thankfully the changing light and overhead conditions added a bit of interest to the walk. Meandering my way back along the broad ridge I was lucky enough that the sun actually made it’s only appearance for the day and I was now able to get a glimpse over towards Lake Mountain, complete with a few streaks of distant snow to be seen in the trees. Like the walk up, the drop down to the picnic area at Barnewall Plain was fairly slow but once I was out of the snow things were a little quicker and I was soon back at Barnewall Plain. Incidentally this spot would make a nice camp in winter when the road is closed, the grassy and lightly forested picnic area being quite pleasant.

The walk back along the ridge line was another slow one, although that was mainly because I was taking too many photos.

Looking through the Snow Gums over towards Lake Mountain.

There are enough track markers about that the walk should be OK in all but the worst conditions.

All that was left now was to drop down Barnewall Plains Road to the ute down on Conn Gap Road, the walk down being a fairly quick and easy stroll. Arriving back at the ute with an hours daylight to spare I pulled off my boots and set off on the two and a half hours drive home, happy that I’d got at least one snow walk in this winter.

The distant ridge line with a few patches of snow is Lake Mountain I'm guessing.

Back down in the Mountain Ash.

Barnewall Plain Picnic Area is just visible through the trees.

Barnewall Plains Road.

The Dirt.
According to the GPS I walked 8.8 kilometres and climbed 594 metres on what I’d describe as a medium grade walk. Like I mentioned at the start of this post, day walks in the snow are a little thin on the ground in Victoria if you want to avoid the exorbitant parking fees that the alpine resorts charge. Yeah, yeah, I know there are a few tougher day walks spread through the alps but I’m talking walks closer to Melbourne that aren’t epics and that have reasonably reliable snow cover. As far as I know this walk has been written up a couple of times, first by John & Marion Siseman in their ‘Melbourne’s Mountains’ book and later by Glenn van der Kniff in his 2004 edition of ‘Bushwalks in the Victorian Alps’ book, I’m thinking both books are out of print now days. Both the notes describe the walk from where Snobs Creek Road intersects with Conn Gap Road but I drove up that section, the drive up here should be doable in a 2wd in dry conditions but if it’s been wet for awhile maybe give it a miss and walk up. All in all this was a pretty good walk, it makes you wonder why I’ve never been up here before!

Relevant Posts.
Blowhard Circuit, Lake Eildon National Park, 2017.
Mt Buller Traverse, 2015.
Lake Mountain Snowgum Walk, Yarra Ranges National Park, 2006.

I'm about to reach the locked gate on Barnewall Plains Road.

Heading down Conns Gap Road, there are a couple of switchbacks that can get a little muddy.