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| Lake Mountain |
We seem to have flicked the switch over to winter conditions this week down in Victoria. A couple of weeks ago I was sitting on the summit of Mt Hotham late in the afternoon in shorts and a shirt, now the alps are coated in a fairly good covering of snow….sweet! So I decided to head back up to Lake Mountain this morning and check things out on what would turn out to be my first real snow walk of the year (although with a planned walk up in the Arctic Circle coming up I’m thinking it won’t be the last walk I do this year that features a bit of snow). Driving up to Gerratys Carpark from Marysville the snow started at around the 1000 metre mark this morning, so needless to say there was a fair covering when I pulled on my boots and left the ute.
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2˚, I wish it was a couple of degrees cooler.
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| The track to the summit is well signposted where it leaves Gerratys Carpark. |
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I was planning on doing the Lake Mountain Summit Circuit Walk this morning, the circuit part of the walk starting on the summit. Before reaching the summit though I had the biggest climb of the day in front of me, although the climb is just over 100 metres so it isn’t overly tough. Making things a little easier this morning was that the climb is along a cross country ski trail so I wasn’t pushing through overhanging, snow laden vegetation on my climb. After a steep initial section the climb eased off a bit and I was able to take in the surroundings a little more. I’m guessing that there was around 20 to 30 centimetres of fresh snow coating the ground at around the 1400 metre level so the scene had a bit of that winter wonderland feel to it.
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The fire regrowth looks better in the snow I reckon.
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Shortly after leaving the carpark I entered the Yarra Ranges National Park.
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| I followed the summit nordic ski trail up to the top of Lake Mountain. |
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Arriving at the Lake Mountain Summit I managed to get a photo of the trig without the ugly communication towers in it, although to be frank the overhead conditions weren’t that conducive to nice photos anyway. From the summit I set off towards the Alps Lookout and onto the circuit section of my stroll, this was also where I left the Lake Mountain Cross Country Ski Trail network and headed off onto a walking track. Strait away the walk got a lot harder, where as on the climb up to the summit I’d had plenty of footprints in the snow to follow, on this loop (which heads further out away from the resort) it looked like only one or two people had pushed through since the snow had fallen a couple of days ago.
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Lake Mountain Summit Trig.
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Hmm...
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The track was was well marked but hidden beneath the fresh snow this morning.
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| Negotiating these large rock slabs required a bit of caution. |
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After pushing through knee deep snow for ten minutes or so I arrived at the Alps Lookout, gazing out into the grey mist there was no view of the Victorian Alps this morning though. Leaving the Alps Lookout I continued shuffling my way south, the well marked pad staying just off the eastern side of the summit ridge. With this much fresh snow on the ground for the most part the actual track wasn’t really discernible but there are a lot of track markers scattered about, sometimes the track markers were only a few metres apart so navigation wasn’t too bad. What was pretty tricky was not going arse up as I crossed over the snow covered rocky slabs, I’d managed to leave my walking poles in the back of the ute so It was only a matter of time until I ended up sitting in the snow.
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I don't think I'll be able to see LA this morning.
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The view from Alps Lookout.
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I was tracking along the eastern side of the summit ridge.
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| It was only a matter of time before I went arse over on these rocks. |
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Dusting myself off and muttering something about being old and stupid I climbed back onto my feet, happy to see that all limbs were still aligned in the right direction. While the sun had made a couple of half hearted attempts at breaking through the gloom, things were still socked in when I arrived at the turnoff down to Sherlock Lookout. Not to be deterred I took the short side trip out to the lookout anyway more in hope than reality. Sure enough the clouds didn’t magically part before me so all I got again was another photo of the skeletons of the prettified burnt Snowgums in the grey gloom, yes it has a certain stark, macabre beauty but I’d rather a view and a few mature Snowgums any day.
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For the most part the tracks are well signposted up here.
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Sherlock Lookout
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| The snow was starting to melt off the track in spots. |
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After my my short side trip out to Sherlock Lookout I re-joined the main loop and headed towards yet another lookout, this time Taggerty View Lookout. We’ll you’ll be shocked to know but once again all I got at the lookout was a photo of dead trees in the mist. Taggerty View is the spot that where my circuit walk started to head back north towards the Lake Mountain Summit and leaving the lookout it took me a few seconds to work out which of the snow covered tracks I’d just walked and which one I was meant to be following (like I said, I’m old!). Thankfully fresh snow makes it pretty easy to see boot marks and I was soon striding out, well shuffling slowly anyway, back towards the summit. The misty, drizzly conditions this morning meant that I was starting to get pretty damp so arriving back at the still deserted Lake Mountain Summit I didn’t linger too long, one selfie and I was on my way again.
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Taggerty Valley View, no view this morning though.
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With no long range views on offer I was looking for something else to photograph.
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| One last easy climb and I was back on the Lake Mountain Summit. |
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Now so far I’d been to three lookouts and hadn’t got a view, so when I saw the signpost pointing to Marysville Lookout as I was dropping back down to the ute I did the logical thing….I wandered out for another look into the gloom. Now Marysville Lookout proved to be even more problematic than the other lookouts that I’d visited, I couldn’t even locate the lookout...or the track to it for that matter! Anyway I got a bit more practise wading through deep snow and trying not to go arse over again on the snow covered rocks so my little excursion wasn’t a total loss. Back on the summit track it was a very easy, quick and painless descent back down to Gerratys Carpark, the fresh snow cushioning my joints and allowing me to stride out a little.
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I made tracks through the fresh snow towards where I though Marysville Lookout might be.
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| After giving up on finding the exact location of Marysville Lookout it was time drop back down to the ute. |
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The Dirt.
I walked 5.1 kilometres and climbed 245 metres on this stroll. In normal conditions I’d say that this is an easy walk however under a fair dump of fresh snow this was a medium grade stroll for me this morning. There is a café and toilets at Gerratys, although I’m not sure if the café is open year round. Once the official snow season starts there is a pretty steep entrance fee to access Lake Mountain unfortunately and you will also need to carry wheel chains. Mr Tempest wrote this walk up in his old 2005 edition
Day walks Around Melbourne book. While this walk is pretty easy for a snow walk, the alpine ares still should be treated with respect, people have died up here. Now I am old, unfit and broken, but I’ve also been doing this stuff for awhile and experience can make things a bit safer. If anyone stumbles onto my blog and thinks that they might want to do a snow walk then maybe just stay close to the resorts while you gain experience.
Relevant Posts.
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| The nordic ski trail made for a pretty easy and painless descent. |
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| Gerratys was a little busier now than when I had left it a few hours ago. |
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