A Winter Ascent of Mt Bogong

My work pal Richard Hay persuaded me to try a bit of snow camping over the Queen's Birthday weekend.  Mt Bogong was the obvious choice, being the highest peak in the state of Victoria.  It also provided a good excuse to put my new -10 degree sleeping bag to the test.

We stayed over night on the Friday in the town of Mt Beauty, at the Bogong Moth motel.  On the Saturday morning at 10am we saddled our packs and climbed up the Eskdale Spur, the longer but less steep trail.  The trail leads from the Mountain Creek camp ground, up the jeep trail for about 4km before you hit the base of the Eskdale Spur.  You have to cross 4 or 5 creeks, some of which have man made crossings which saves your boots getting wet early on in the walk.  There were a couple of creeks that we had to get over without the luxury of a bridge, but luckily we all managed to keep our socks dry.  Make sure you have good waterproof boots otherwise your feet will be in for a very soggy day.

We made it to Mitchell Hut by about 2pm, staying there for lunch.  Mitchell Hut was destroyed by bush fires about three years ago but has since been rebuilt and has recently had an addition of a brand new dunny!  The hut was also right on the snow line so it was a good spot to rest before getting our warmer gear out.

Our intention was to make it over the summit and stay at the legendary Cleve Cole hut on the Saturday night.  Unfortunately by the time we made it near the summit of Mt Bogong the South Easterly winds were gusting up to and over 60 km/ph!!  We found ourselves literally being blown off our feet!  It was taking such a long time to progress that we knew we would be walking in the dark across the summit so we had to make the decision to turn back, and stay at Mitchell Hut.

It was a very wise choice I think.  They say "DON'T TAKE RISKS ON MT BOGONG", and we certainly were nott about to try and tackle the saddle of Hell Gap in 60 km/ph winds in the dark.

Viewing the show of stars that night at Mitchell Hut was absolutely incredible.  I have never seen so many shooting stars in all my life!

The next day we made it over to Cleve Cole hut in near perfect conditions, it was just so amazing to stand on top of the highest point in Victoria and look right across to Mt Kossy in NSW and back over to Feathertop and Hotham.  Cleave Cole hut is a beautiful old granite hut built in the 1930s in memory of Cleve Cole, who was the first European to make a winter ascent of the mountain.

The snow at this time was about 30cm deep but as it was about a week old it had compacted a little leaving it easy for us to progress without snow shoes.  If the snow was fresh though I think we would have needed them.

After resting for lunch at Cleve Cole hut we made our way back over the summit and onto the Staircase Spur to begin our descent.  The Staircase spur provides incredible views on the way down, right down towards Mt Beauty and the surrounding valley.  The Staircase spur is significantly steeper than the Eskdale.  We made the right decision to go up Eskdale and down Staircase.  The staircase spur route is about 3 or 4km shorter, however it would really take it out of you if you had to go up it!  My advice is allow yourself enough time and go up the Eskdale Spur.  That is of course unless you like a back breaking climb!

This mountain is definitely one that should be climbed if you're into this kind of stuff, and doing it in snow cover makes it so much more exhilarating.  Just make sure that you give the mountain the respect that it deserves, and make sure you have all the right gear.

Check out the photos!