Just a quick write up for this one – this activation was partially opportunistic and partly to try and join the VK/JA/EU S2S party organised by a number of dedicated operators. I was already up at Mt Stirling for an Alpine SAR training day on the Saturday and to support the Mt Buller Sky Run on the Sunday.
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Eagles Peaks
Allen VK3ARH had been planning a trip to try and pick up The Governor and VK3/VE-075 (an unactivated peak), so Tony VK3CAT and I decided to join him. The original plan was to do a through hike from 8 mile gap on Brocks Rd to EaglesPeaks, The Governor and VK3/VE-075. However, the uncertainty of the scrub thickness suggested that this would have been a somewhat risky undertaking. The revised plan was to activate Eagles Peaks and continue on to the Governor and then return by the same route, camping in the saddle below it overnight. It didn’t quite go as planned… Continue reading
With only two summits remaining to achieve Mountain Goat status, I planned for a family trip to Mt Hotham on the AFL long weekend at the end of September. My goal was to complete the Mountain Goat on Mt Feathertop, Victoria’s second highest peak, during the bonus period which was rapidly coming to an end. I knew there would still be plenty of snow cover and that the weather would have to be just right to attempt it. Thankfully, the bureau of meteorology delivered a superb long weekend. Continue reading
The winter bonus period was getting close to finishing and I was keen to get a couple more high scoring summits done as I approached the Mountain Goat milestone. There are two 8 point summits in the Yarra Ranges National Park that are relatively easy to access – Federation Range (VK3/VN-029) and Mt Donna Buang (VK3/VC-002). With good weather forecast for this Saturday, I put up alerts and packed my pack.
I have recently been upgrading my camping skills to include snow camping after many years of day skis and hikes in the snow. I recently attended an Alpine Search and Rescue training weekend in some adverse conditions (lots of snow and wind) which has boosted my confidence in these conditions. Consequently I decided to repeat my trip to the Baw Baw plateau in winter, but this time starting from Mt Baw Baw resort and trying out winter hammock camping at the same time. Continue reading
Our first visit to Mt Buller this year was for the school’s trials for inter-school snow sports on the weekend of 21/22 July. The kids were in training sessions most of the time and so I decided to take the opportunity to activate both Mt Stirling and Mt Buller on the Sat and Sun respectively.
Being up at Mt Hotham for the school holidays, there was plenty of time to activate the remaining couple of summits in close proximity. The Twins was my first target and needed a good day. That day appeared on Tuesday 10 July with a forecast of light winds and clear skies. There has been plenty of snow this winter and so The Twins Jeep track had a good snow cover all the way to the Great Alpine Road. Continue reading
Sunrise at Mt Hotham (photo: my daughter)
I had an opportunity to spend 5 days at Mt Hotham in the middle of June thanks to my daughter doing her school work experience with Mt Hotham ski patrol. Originally, I was expecting to be hiking as there’s rarely much snow that early in the year. However, this year there was a substantial early fall the day before we headed up. Continue reading
The Razor and The Viking in the early morning mist (Photo: Glenn)
Glenn VK3YY and Allen VK3ARH were keen to get to some remote areas of the Southern Alpine National Park before the winter road closures made access too difficult. I too was keen to get back there and so a plan was formed and a weekend with an outstanding weather forecast for the time of the year presented itself. We chose to take my car due to its 4WD capability (which wasn’t really needed in the end).
The aim was to tackle five 10-point summits over the weekend with some decent hikes included. We managed four of the five and had a fabulous weekend. Continue reading
This weekend was a ski lodge work party weekend at Mt Hotham. I drove up on Friday afternoon and arrived in a snow storm – a rather early one! Thankfully the weather improved significantly over the weekend.
Being the last work party for the season, the jobs were done by Saturday night, so I decided to spend Sunday activating some of the surrounding summits while the tracks were still open. Reading the reports of the Hotham weekend in February organised by Brian VK3BCM, I decided to do a similar route out to Mt Sarah for a series of mostly drive-up summits. I ended up covering around 130km on gravel roads and 4WD tracks and getting back to Hotham in the dark! Continue reading
The Viking
Glenn VK3YY had a week off work at the end of Jan 2018 and suggested we plan a multi-day trip to visit some new summits for both of us. I had been looking at Mt Speculation and surrounds and suggested we aim for this area for a few days. Originally, we planned for a five day trip, but a band of heavy rain on the Monday caused a quick re-think and we cut it short arriving at Camp Creek near Mt Speculation on Tuesday afternoon.
The plan was a two day trek out to The Viking by way of Mt Despair and The Razor followed by a short climb up Mt Speculation and Mt Cobbler on the final day – about 36km of hiking in three days. Surprisingly it went to plan, but our feet and legs were very sore afterwards! Continue reading
I had not activated the two 10-point peaks on the Baw Baw Plateau during 2017 and was keen to do so before the end of the year. I had also never visited Talbot Peak and so wanted a new one too. The opportunity presented itself with good weather forecast on Boxing Day and the following day and so I quickly hatched a plan for an overnight hike to pick up both summits.
Hovea montana (Alpine Hovea) on the summit plateau of Mt Stirling
Another opportunity to visit the high country presented itself when I had to deliver my daughter back to her year 9 boarding school at Howqua. I dropped her back late Sat afternoon and continued on to Mt Stirling. I had originally planned to camp at Mt No.3 and do that first on Sun morning, but discovered that Sunday 12 November was the day for the Targa High Country rally and the Mt Buller Rd would be closed all Sun afternoon when I planned to leave! Hence the exit had to be via Mt No. 3 Road/Carter’s Rd/Buttercup Rd. That made finishing with Mt No. 3 the most logical order and so I headed first to Howqua Gap campsite for the night. Continue reading
Licola valley and the Macalister river on the approach to the southern Alpine National Park
Looking to complete a few more summits during the winter bonus period, I decided (together with Glenn VK3YY and Andrew VK3JBL) to return to the southern Alpine National Park in the same area we visited back in February. The plan was to attempt Mt Kent and Mt Dawson, both of which had only been activated once before, together with Picture Point Range and Trapyard Hill. We managed 3 out of 4.
Victorian wilderness from Mt Birregun
Australia’s exceptional ski season in 2017 saw me return to Mt Hotham at the beginning of the school holidays so my daughter could participate in a jumps skills clinic. The snow depth was still 170cm which is amazing for this late in September. I took the opportunity to activate a few nearby summits, two of which were new for me. Continue reading
Just a quick update for this activation. I took advantage of being up at Mt Buller for Inter-school ski races to activate this straight forward summit again. As in previous activations, I took the summit chairlift and then hiked up to the summit proper with my downhill skis over my shoulder. Continue reading
For the fifth year running I returned to two regular winter summits – Mt Loch (VK3/VE-005) and Mt Hotham (VK3/VE-006) as part of our school holiday ski trip to Mt Hotham. Rather than write the usual narrative which would read very similarly to the previous four activations (see 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016), I thought I would spend this post documenting what I’ve learned about activating snowy Australian mountain tops (however I have included photos from this activation to provide some visual relief!) Continue reading
This year, my daughter is attending a year 9 live-in programme in the foothills of the High Country east of Lake Eildon. This weekend, they had an open day and so naturally I wanted to visit her to see how she was going. This provided a bonus opportunity to activate some nearby peaks. I had wanted to do Mt Torbreck (lead photo) for some time and this proved a good opportunity, so I planned a late Saturday activation followed by an overnight at the Barnewell Plains picnic ground. With an early start on Sunday morning, I could squeeze in an early morning activation before travelling to the open day and then there would be time for a late afternoon activation on the way back to Melbourne. As it happened, the weather co-operated and I managed to achieve all these objectives. Continue reading
Early morning on the Great Alpine Rd near Mt Hotham
With only a few weeks until the winter road closures commence, I had the opportunity to spend Mother’s Day in the alps near Mt Hotham and reach the 500 point half-goat level. I spent the Saturday at a ski lodge work party at Mt Hotham which conveniently located me in the heart of the alps for an early start on Sunday morning. I specifically wanted to target those summits that would be inaccessible over winter and leave the more accessible ones for the bonus period. I also needed to be back in Melbourne Sun night, so went for 3 drive-up (mostly) summits accessed via Blue Rag Range track.
The motivation for this trip was a proposal on the SOTA_Australia mailing list to attempt some 160m summit to summit contacts. Originally I was thinking of using my kite antenna, but soon realised that the evening was likely to be the preferred operating time and so a kite may not be such a viable option. I rapidly put together a loaded vertical antenna and planned for a night out on the top of Mt Lovick which appeared to be drive up. It didn’t quite work out as I thought, but I still achieved most of the objectives of the weekend.