2004/02 New South Wales loop - Mount Kosciusko |
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Friday February 20th
It was a surprisingly cold night, but dawned to a hot and windy morning. We drove back to Thredbo village and took the chairlift up the mountain. The mountain-bikers were also going up the chairlift, with their bikes tucked under their arms.
Up at the top it was even windier, and difficult to make progress uphill 
against the blast. The hiking trail was very steep and soon took us above treeline and into even more wind. The trail is now a metal walkway, with an iron grid suspended a few inches above the ground. This encourages hikers to stay on the trail, and it allows water to flow underneath, and the tiny alpine plants can even prosper in those few inches. There were lots of flowers, but nothing grew very tall in that wind.
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Mount Kusciosko (11.50) |
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We hiked the rest of the way to the top of the mountain. Koskiusco is Australia’s tallest
at 2228 metres, or just over 7000 ft. It is one of the Seven Summits that Dick Bass climbed in his effort to summit the highest mountain on every continent. He left this one until last, and then he and his family and friends walked up it together for a big party. We just had lunch up there after posing on the geographic marker. For just a few moments we were the highest people in Australia. Surprisingly, there was animal life up there, birds, lizards, and flies, of course. There was also a large snowdrift on the south face of the mountain.
We had a pretty sky for the walk down, little lenticular clouds, an indication that the weather was changing. At the chairlift café we talked to a couple who were postponing their hike until the next day because of the wind, but that didn’t seem wise, as there aren’t many warm days.
We drove out of the park and then back in on the Charlotte’s Pass road, looking for another campground. By accident, we explored the roads that service the Snowy River dam until we ran out of drivable road, and then backtracked and found the Island Bend campground. This was small, but there were only two other parties there. One of our neighbours was a lady cooking over an open fire in a smart black evening dress. We could only think that she’d misread her invitation.