Main Range Trip Report - 18 - 21 August 2007
The trip was off to a flying start. I had a great run down from Moree to Jindy on Friday afternoon/night and managed to smash my previous best travel time from 9hrs 5 mins to 8 hr 42 mins. Go the red flash.
After sorting ourselves out, Mark (The Bush Patrol) and I headed out to the Main Range from Charlotte Pass around lunch time Saturday.
Mark lugging a full 110L pack including a double kitchen sink and the Taj Mahal - Harden the fuck up Mark! The blue sky didn't last long.
We started hiking out under blue skies which quickly turned grey and before we knew it it was snowing grit balls and visibility was pretty ordinary. After becoming geographically challenged for a short while we found at the camp site we were heading for. We spent most of the afternoon setting up Mark’s new tent – the Taj Mahal. A thick layer of rain crust from last week made the going slow. By the time we’d set up the clouds had begun to part and we got a very brief but spectacular sunset over the Sentinel. The clouds slowly cleared during the night and conditions were quite pleasant.
The Taj Mahal Under Moonlight
Sunday morning we woke to a calm day with blue skies. We got our shit together then trekked on out to Alice Rawson via Carruthers. We met a couple of nice chaps on the way who dropped into an icy sounding Club Lake.
One of the guys we met on Carruthers skiing into Club Lake
The view from Alice Rawson was choice.
Yours truly taking in the views of the Main Range from Alice Rawson Peak
Rime Ice high on Alice Rawson Peak
After mucking around for a while at the top we had a run down Ians Gully (or thereabouts) into Northcotte’s Canyon. Mark stopped to take in the view of the Sentinel on the way down.
Mark checks out the view while contemplating more turns on the way down into Northcote's Canyon
We skinned back up the other side then headed back to Carruthers where we were treated to an awesome sunset.
View north from Carruthers about an hour before sunset.
View north from Carruthers Peak just before the sun went down
Some low cloud/fog blowing in from the east made the ski back to the camp site in the dark interesting.
We woke on Monday morning to see our handy work from the previous day.
Our tracks down Alice Rawson viewed from the camp site the next morning
Monday was one of those days that couldn’t be any better. It was a little windy in the morning but calmed down and by around midday it was hot and still. Sweat was the order of the day. We skinned out to Watson’s Crags (the actual crags) and skied down the north face. This was possibly one of the best runs I have ever skied. Very steep, a nice consistent fall line and perfect corn snow.
Looking down the north face of the Crags just before we dropped in
Looking back up at our tracks from the bottom.
After climbing out we took in the view of our tracks over lunch then headed over to Walters Gully. Mark went first and ended up finding himself in some real bother. A real steep (at least 40 degrees and narrow rock lined chute that narrowed less than ski width toward the bottom. After some gutsy moves (so he says) he got to the relative safety down below and warned me off that line over the radio. I took the numpty line out wide and got some more sweet corn turns in.
The chute Mark skied - note that it was full of debris on Monday
Mark about to make his mistake!
On the climb out we checked out the awesome spur and got a close up view of the chutes on the south side of Watson’s Crags. Buckwheat, try drinking some soy latte to soften the fark up! That chute you skied in 2004 is bloody-bullshit-farkin-mate.
Close up of the Crags from the Awesome Spur
We spent the last hour of sunlight exploring the western end of the crags and stayed out there for sunset then had another nice ski in the dark back to the tent.
Mark out near the western edge of the Crags
Making my way along the Crags
View from the Crags at Sunset
The wind blew up early on Tuesday morning so we softed it out in the tent until the sun had well and truly warmed things up. We had planned to ski a run on Carruthers north face before heading home but our laziness got the better of us and we headed back to Charlotte Pass. The snow didn’t appear to soften to well due to the cold winds anyway so we don’t think we missed to much.
A great trip all round. The cover on south and lee slopes is pretty good but the sunny aspects are starting to rot out. We really need some more snow to keep these areas feasible for the rest of the season.
There were people everywhere up there this weekend. Of note were two massive groups of people around on Monday. We didn't get close enough to see whether or not they had crosses around their necks but i'm guessing they may have.