Background

I had planned to do the ten highest peaks in Australia. After mentioning it to a few fellow runners, John agreed that was a good trip but a better trip would be the top fifteen. He was right.

After a bit of research on wiki and the FKT site it appeared that the top fifteen had never been documented before. FKT had a route that included the top 14 and inexplicably the 31st. So the source of this trip was the top fifteen as specified by wiki. The only fly in the ointment was that there were two that tied for the fifteenth spot, so Johns’ top fifteen became sixteen.

There’s only 2200m of evelation for the whole route. All the peaks visited are over 2100m with the start point at 1837m.

Aerial View

The route starts at Charlottes Pass in the East and continues anti clockwise with a few out and backs.

Route

Starting at Charlottes Pass car park the Main Range Walking Track (MRWT) was followed anti clockwise towards Twynam, then South to Mt Clarke. Then an anti clockwise loop to Meuller, Alice Rawson, Abbot and Du Faur Peaks before returning to the MRWT to ascend Kosciuszko, Etherridge Ridge and RamsHead. Finally a long trek North to return the car park.

Trip Report

At 6:15 it was 3C at Charlottes Pass car park. The wide track headed steeply down the hill.

Five minutes into the route is the first creek crossing. It was high and my feet stayed wet for the remainder of the trip. The good path up the hill almost immediately crossed a short snow patch - a taste of what was to come higher up.

There were faint footprints to follow over the first longer and steeper snow field. I was in the cloud by then - a complete whiteout with no track. The map on my watch was the only confirmation that the track was a meter below my feet. Mt Twynam was the first peak with Little Twynam visible from it. However on the southern slope between us was the first steep snowfield. Following the faint footprints heading down I wondered how easy it would be to get back up. The snow crunched a little - not frozen, but not completely soft.

Picking my way through boulders to the peak of Little Twynam was easy. Like others it has a flattish top, so there were a couple of candidates for the highest point - the ‘other’ one always looks higher!

The southern slope of Mt Twynam as seen from Little Twynam.

Returning up that snowfield back to Mt Twynam was a slog, the down footsteps helped with my shoes not sinking in too far. Then it was across to the third - Watsons Crags/Tenison Woods Knoll. It was completely snow covered - a perfect mountain.

The clouds cleared briefly to allow a photo, then it was a less steep trudge avoiding the cornice to the South.

Then descending back through the cloud to find the Main Range Walking Track heading South towards Mt Northcote and another side trip to Mt Clarke.

The signage at the start of the metal boardwalk was a little ambiguous about whether or not running was permitted.

By Mt Clarke it had been close to four hours and it was apparent that there was no hope of it being a medium day. I even had doubts about completing them all. At best do as many as possible, maybe leave the last four outliers for another day.

After visiting Mt Clarke, the next few peaks could be seen from the Southern flank of Mt Northcote. Mt Townsend is the highest, Alice Rawson Peak is hidden in cloud at the right and Mueller Peak is directly in front of Mt Townsend.

Descending the Southern flank of Mt Northecote it was a direct line across the MRWT and directly up the cornice to reach the ridge leading to Mueller Peak.

The 45 degree slope was understandably trackless but short. I needed a hand, a pole and both feet to get up. Mueller is rocky and difficult to find a way to the top, and equally tricky to descend. The only minor route error for the whole trip was trying to follow the bouldery ridge towards Alice Rawson Peak instead of dropping off the ridge to the West to avoid the worst of it.

From Mt Muller, looking NW to Wilkinsons Cirque. Alice Rawson is some distance behind this intermediate peak.

Looking back at the ridge to the bouldery Muellers Peak. In hindsight the boulders could be avoided by dropping West.

Alice Rawson was also apparently rocky from the approach but easily ascended from the Western side. Then reversing direction and onwards to Mt Townsend. There’s often plenty of opportunity to pick an ascent route through the snow and boulders while descending the previous peak. The next three - Townsend, Abbots and Du Faurs were good examples.

Mount Townsend had steep snow on the ascent and descent. It’s rocky on top and slow going. The cloud didn’t help either.

Looking back at Mt Townsend it’s just possible to see where I surfed down the steep Southern flank. This was one occasion where the snow was helpful. The alternative was the boulder field.

Mount Du Faur was the last bouldery peak in this loop and also the turnaround point.

From there, there were good views of Mt Kosciuszko. The North and West facing slopes were mostly devoid of snow.

Dropping off Du Faurs it’s down into a broad basin (out of view at the left) before rejoining the MRWT.

However, the catchment has numerous creeks mostly snow covered… some only lightly covered. This basin was one of a few spots where the snow didn’t support my weight and ensured my slowly drying shoes had an unwelcome reset.

Ascending the western slopes of the catchment is mostly scrubby so counter-intuitively it’s worth ascending to find the rough single track that contours to Muellers Pass.

Once back on the MRWT a couple of long though well-trodden snowfields obscured the gravel and steps before reaching the Kosciuszko Track. It was easy to ignore the tourists and cross it to take the direct route over soggy grass straight up to the highest peak.

Thirty seconds was plenty of time to spend there and it was down the direct route over steep snow to the crowds sitting around at Rawson Pass.

Ignoring them too, the ascent to Etheridge Ridge was steady and finally rocky - again the highest point was difficult to determine. Some of the tourist groups at Rawson Pass were continuing along the metal boardwalk towards Thredbo. Following the easy ridge down parallel to them I nearly got ahead of them all and overtook them with some difficulty.

Only two more peaks to finish. The boardwalk was still under construction with a detour in place at exactly the right spot to leave it and take the direct route up yet another steep snowfield. Ramshead North is the most impressive looking peak of them all. It is a jumble of seemingly vertical loosely packed and massive boulders. The summit route starts at the steep snowy gully behind the face. The last 20m of boulders require particular care.

A pole was useful to steady tired legs on both the up and the down.

Surfing down the steep slopes Rams Head was visible in the distance beyond another snowfield. It looked like a low innocuous peak, but the face was all boulders making it difficult to pick a route even from up close. Yet, it wasn’t insurmountable and finally at 3:30 the last peak was conquered.

The remaining 10km back to the car park was mostly downhill. After descending the rocky face and veering North at the saddle another snowfield made for easier going towards Signature Hill. I aimed left of it and had difficulties descending, next time I’ll try aiming right. Then, ignoring the boardwalk, I headed across the next snowfield and after 300m missed then found the rough narrow trail marked by old wooden poles. It heads in a dead straight line NNE for several kilometers crossing the Snowy River twice, again there’s no way to avoid icy wet feet.

Eventually hitting the wide Summit Walk / AAWT at the bridge, it’s only another 5km of very gentle downhill all the way to the car park.

After Action Review (AAR)

I wore merino t-shirt and sleeves and lycra leggings for the whole trip and never felt particularly hot or cold, despite the strong breeze, morning cloud and numerous snowfields. The temp ranged between 3C and 13C with a reasonable breeze in the morning.

Walking on snow with the constant potential to slip tenses a few of the muscle groups beyond normal.

I wore a beanie for the whole trip - a wide brimmed hat might have been a better option - my face was sun burned mostly from the snow reflection - take sun block. The long sleeves and long pants saved the rest of me. I carried rain jacket, gloves & puffy jacket but didn’t use them.

I wore sunnies the whole trip - the sun on the snow would have caused snow blindness sooner rather than later.

A walking pole is highly recommended especially if there’s snow on the ground. It’s useful for testing depth, steadying across boulders and ascending the steeper slopes.

There was always plenty of melt water available from below the snow fields. In summer there would be permanent creeks in places and a few tarns on the saddles.

Going later in the season after the snow has melted from the southern slopes would be a far more sensible option.

Stats

Eleven and half hours in total
Estimated three hours on snow
Distance 47km
Ascent 2200m