After climbing Kilimanjaro in August 1999 and Aconcagua in February 2005, I thought that it was time for another attempt of a Seven Summit (I also have two Denali back offs on my resume). Given that I am spending a month Down Under studying glaciers in New Zealand and attending a conference in Melbourne, Kosciuszko (2228 m; 7308 ft), the easiest by far of the original Seven Summits listed by Dick Bass in the early 1980s, was my target, once again in winter (see first link below). I previously attempted Kosciuszko (Kosci) in late July 2007, but I ran short on time as my rented equipment (snowshoes) had to be returned to the shop in Jindabyne by closing on the evening that I needed to drive back to Sydney to catch an early morning flight to Cairns for a climate conference. So, this year I brought my own snowshoes and planned three days for another attempt of Kosci to maximize my chances with the weather. The forecast for Thursday, 25 June, appeared to be better than for the following two days, so I drove my little rental Hyundai to Thredbo ski resort from my motel base in Cooma, 85 km (52 miles) away, at the crack of dawn. I risked not renting tire chains, which should be carried in winter for mountain travel here, like in western U.S.
For Thredbo (base elevation at 1365 m; 4470 ft), imagine a much larger version of Wildcat (similar vertical drop) along with the base development of a Bretton Woods or Vail. I bought a tourist ticket for the Kosciuszko Express quad chair to the Eagles Nest station (1937 m; 6353 ft), which seems to be accepted practice, any season, for this Seven Summit. Upslope from Eagles Nest, the highest restaurant in Australia (imagine a smaller but fancier Cannon Mountain summit tram station), there are a couple T-bars servicing upper bowls (see second link below for ski area map). Despite a good start with natural snowfall a month ago, Thredbo and Perisher, a ski area in the next valley north on the Kosci massif, have not seen much new snow the past couple of weeks. Contrast that with late July 2007, when there was an excellent natural snow cover over the entire area, including the upper bowls where I observed many kite-skiers (looked like lots of fun
). Below-freezing temperatures at night have fortunately allowed both areas to cover some of their lower slopes with machine-made snow. Meanwhile, the locals continue to fret and await more natural snow (sound familiar ).
Simple math from the numbers provided above suggest that the elevation gain over the 7 km (4.2 mile) walk between Eagles Nest and Kosci’s summit is 291 m (955 ft), but with some of the ups and downs along the traverse, I am guessing that the total one-way elevation gain is around 350 m (about 1250 ft). So, perhaps imagine a walk from Madison Hut to Jefferson for rough distance and elevation scale, but that is where most comparisons end. The Australians have constructed a raised grated steel walkway for about 5 km of the distance to protect alpine vegetation, which appears to have been very effective over the past couple (or three, four ) decades. I was able to pick out this walkway where it was not covered by snow drifts for about 70% of the route, which was appreciated given the white-out conditions, near-continuous snow flurries, and moderate winds the entire day (glad that I brought my ski goggles ). The final 1.4 km climb up the summit cone is via a 540-degree spiral path, marked in parts by wood poles (perhaps compare to Mount Washington’s Auto Road), also to protect vegetation, which was the only section where I needed my snowshoes, in part for traction.
Given the weather, I did not linger very long on the summit (white out, snowing, and -4 deg C, but much lower wind chill), as I was concerned that my return tracks were getting obliterated by the skiers’ so highly desired natural snowfall. I carried a good topo map, and compass bearings were fairly straight forward, but I was a little unnerved being solo for about five hours above treeline in white-out conditions. I passed only one couple on their retreat, from about half way to Kosci, I think, based on their fresh tracks (I only said hello and did not ask any questions, as they seemed a little bummed out). On my return to Eagles Nest, there were over 100 school kids with their instructors milling about and participating in some kind of outdoor education course. Nevertheless, I made my way through the throngs of humans to the highest restaurant in Australia for a celebratory meal (scallops on roasted veggies), accompanied with a couple of Blue Tongue premium lagers (nothing to write home about, as not very hoppy, like the two kangaroos that I saw on my drive into Cooma).
I was tempted to head back to either Thredbo or Perisher for some DH skiing today on machine-made snow topped with a couple inches of fresh powder, but the costs of ski rental and a full-day lift ticket were substantial, so I decided to take some lower elevation walks instead. Off to New Zealand’s South Island in a couple of days, then back to Melbourne for a conference. One of my return goals is learning how to upload some of my photographs to an Internet site so that I can post a link here (although most of the shots taken on my Kosci walk were in a white-out ).
Footnote: I was curious why John Christiana, who reached Denali’s summit with Frodo and Ben Baranko in 2004, besides Aconcagua with me in February 2005 and Everest with his guide in June 2004, is not on the Seven Summits list (first link). But, then I remembered that he decided to climb Mount Wilhelm in PNG rather than Carstensz Pyramid in Western Papua, the alternative “Oceania” peak to Kosciuszko for the Seven Summits. Sadly, he has been involved with deeper problems more recently (see third link below).
http://7summits.com/info/7stats/statistics_all_basic.php
http://www.snowholidays.com.au/documents/Thredbo_TrailMap_2007.pdf
http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/120824/1/
For Thredbo (base elevation at 1365 m; 4470 ft), imagine a much larger version of Wildcat (similar vertical drop) along with the base development of a Bretton Woods or Vail. I bought a tourist ticket for the Kosciuszko Express quad chair to the Eagles Nest station (1937 m; 6353 ft), which seems to be accepted practice, any season, for this Seven Summit. Upslope from Eagles Nest, the highest restaurant in Australia (imagine a smaller but fancier Cannon Mountain summit tram station), there are a couple T-bars servicing upper bowls (see second link below for ski area map). Despite a good start with natural snowfall a month ago, Thredbo and Perisher, a ski area in the next valley north on the Kosci massif, have not seen much new snow the past couple of weeks. Contrast that with late July 2007, when there was an excellent natural snow cover over the entire area, including the upper bowls where I observed many kite-skiers (looked like lots of fun
). Below-freezing temperatures at night have fortunately allowed both areas to cover some of their lower slopes with machine-made snow. Meanwhile, the locals continue to fret and await more natural snow (sound familiar ). Simple math from the numbers provided above suggest that the elevation gain over the 7 km (4.2 mile) walk between Eagles Nest and Kosci’s summit is 291 m (955 ft), but with some of the ups and downs along the traverse, I am guessing that the total one-way elevation gain is around 350 m (about 1250 ft). So, perhaps imagine a walk from Madison Hut to Jefferson for rough distance and elevation scale, but that is where most comparisons end. The Australians have constructed a raised grated steel walkway for about 5 km of the distance to protect alpine vegetation, which appears to have been very effective over the past couple (or three, four
) decades. I was able to pick out this walkway where it was not covered by snow drifts for about 70% of the route, which was appreciated given the white-out conditions, near-continuous snow flurries, and moderate winds the entire day (glad that I brought my ski goggles ). The final 1.4 km climb up the summit cone is via a 540-degree spiral path, marked in parts by wood poles (perhaps compare to Mount Washington’s Auto Road), also to protect vegetation, which was the only section where I needed my snowshoes, in part for traction. Given the weather, I did not linger very long on the summit (white out, snowing, and -4 deg C, but much lower wind chill), as I was concerned that my return tracks were getting obliterated by the skiers’ so highly desired natural snowfall. I carried a good topo map, and compass bearings were fairly straight forward, but I was a little unnerved being solo for about five hours above treeline in white-out conditions. I passed only one couple on their retreat, from about half way to Kosci, I think, based on their fresh tracks (I only said hello and did not ask any questions, as they seemed a little bummed out). On my return to Eagles Nest, there were over 100 school kids with their instructors milling about and participating in some kind of outdoor education course. Nevertheless, I made my way through the throngs of humans to the highest restaurant in Australia for a celebratory meal (scallops on roasted veggies), accompanied with a couple of Blue Tongue premium lagers (nothing to write home about, as not very hoppy, like the two kangaroos that I saw on my drive into Cooma).
I was tempted to head back to either Thredbo or Perisher for some DH skiing today on machine-made snow topped with a couple inches of fresh powder, but the costs of ski rental and a full-day lift ticket were substantial, so I decided to take some lower elevation walks instead. Off to New Zealand’s South Island in a couple of days, then back to Melbourne for a conference. One of my return goals is learning how to upload some of my photographs to an Internet site so that I can post a link here (although most of the shots taken on my Kosci walk were in a white-out
). Footnote: I was curious why John Christiana, who reached Denali’s summit with Frodo and Ben Baranko in 2004, besides Aconcagua with me in February 2005 and Everest with his guide in June 2004, is not on the Seven Summits list (first link). But, then I remembered that he decided to climb Mount Wilhelm in PNG rather than Carstensz Pyramid in Western Papua, the alternative “Oceania” peak to Kosciuszko for the Seven Summits. Sadly, he has been involved with deeper problems more recently (see third link below).
http://7summits.com/info/7stats/statistics_all_basic.php
http://www.snowholidays.com.au/documents/Thredbo_TrailMap_2007.pdf
http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/120824/1/
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