My pulse quickened, and I leant closer to the map. A two day winter circuit incorporating the summit of Mt Buller revealed itself to me; starting from Gardiners Hut on the Howqua River, climbing right over the top of Mt Timbertop before approaching Buller along the dramatic West Ridge. My return route would be along Four Mile Spur which is a clear cut ridge that runs in a south westerly direction down to the Howqua River, creating the perfect return route. The final hurdle was going to be a high water crossing of the river before completing the circuit at my starting point, Gardiners Hut.
I knew that allowing only two days for this circuit meant a tight schedule and I would have two long and arduous days of walking. I didn’t mind however, for I intended this walk as a training exercise to help me prepare for my solo attempt of the Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT) in the early spring. I was hoping that completing this circuit would give me some much needed experience in wet and cold alpine conditions. I was not disappointed!
I spent less than a week on the planning of the hike. As soon as I spotted the route on the map, I felt compelled to undertake a serious attempt, even if it proved unsuccessful. I did not try to find notes on the full circuit but I did research what I judged to be the riskiest section, the ascent along the west ridge under heavy snow. In hindsight, the river crossing was by far more treacherous. Nevertheless, I was instilled with enough concern about the ascent that I hired a pair of crampons and an ice pick from the good folks at Bogong Equipment (all their snowshoes were hired out, due to the excellent early season snowfalls). Other safety gear that I took as a precaution included packing an extra two days of food, a spot as my emergency signalling device, extra fuel, snow pegs, back up compass, two down jackets, snow goggles, waterproof over mitts, a thermal sleeping bag liner, and plenty of hot chocolate mix. I figured if the worst happened and I got stuck above the snowline I would be able to live quite happily in my Hilleberg Soulo tent for 3-4 days. In the end, I was especially glad to have taken the extra food, as my two day hike turned into a three day epic.
I started walking late on the Saturday morning after a late night drive from Melbourne followed by a cramped sleep in my car; my body was lethargic, and the pack felt heavy. The first four kilometres of the track followed the meandering Howqua River, from Gardiners Hut to Sheepyard Flat. While it proved to be a pleasant warm-up exercise I tried to avoid looking at the swiftly flowing river. Would I be able to cross at Gardiner’s Hut at the end of my walk, or would I have to bush bash the four kilometres along the water to the bridge at Sheepyard Flat? This question I pushed to the back of my mind as I strolled comfortably over the bridge, the cold water swirling below.
To climb up to the start of the Mt Timbertop summit track from the Howqua valley, one may either follow the graded dirt road, called Howqua Track or an unmaintained walking track along an unnamed spur that follows the road in a rough fashion. In my mind, there was no question which way I would go. However, the two routes diverge considerably within the first kilometre so a crossover from the walking track to the road is not really feasible. I committed to the walking track and started the climb up towards Mt Timbertop. (The start of the walking track is not sign posted but is clearly visible, on the right hand side of the road if one is coming from Sheepyard Flat. After Doughty Rd, there is a private driveway to the right and the track leads up a well defined ridge just past this private road.)
I was to gain 400m in elevation in roughly 7 kilometres. I was pacing myself as the climb was long and steady. I was followed by the beautifully variant calls of the lyrebirds and stopped many times to stare at the funky fungi growing along the track. One of the most striking specimens was the coral fungi, which seemed to me like a stranded sea creature stuck on the ground, very far from home.
Coral Fungi on Mt Buller. 2014.
The track was well defined at the start, but soon became overgrown. The overnight rain meant I was soon saturated from the overhanging branches. As I climbed steadily up, I could occasionally hear the roar of a dirt bike along the graded dirt road to the west, and while it sounded close-by I knew that through the barrier of the thick undergrowth, it might as well have been light years away.
Reaching the top of a rise just before Muzzas Saddle, there was a split in the track. According to my map and compass I was to follow the track on the left, which happened to have the unmistakable ‘closed’ sign of a few smaller logs placed perpendicularly across it. The other track was clearly marked with pink track markers, but seemed to be headed entirely in the wrong direction. So I took the ‘closed’ track and crossed my fingers.
Before long I was in an overgrown rainforest gully, scrambling over slippery logs with my 25kgs+pack. At least there was plenty of water so I decided to fill up my water bladder with about 4 litres of clean mountain water, which would allow me to set up camp at any stage. It was already getting late, with about an hour of light left and I had barely covered half the distance towards my planned camp site at the start of the West Ridge track. I swung the pack back on after my water refill and picked up the pace. I was determined to get to my planned position before I struck up camp.
The going got slow and I was struggling to keep to the pad. I was forced to put the headlight on as twilight settled around me, accompanied by a steady soaking drizzle. After about an hour and a half of rough going my minute track popped out onto a better maintained one and it wasn’t long before I reached my first true check point, the start of the well marked Mt Timbertop summit track.
It was well past sundown and I still had 11kms to go to my planned campsite. I ate a muesli bar and pushed on. The next hour I followed the switchback track under the dimming glow of my headlight (the spare batteries tucked away in my pack) and gained about 400m in 2 kilometres. Reaching the summit of Mt Timbertop I felt that I had reached powerful place; I wished I had a view instead of driving rain, roaring wind and a gloomy darkness that hid the moon from my eyes.
The next three hours were a slog, my only aim to get to the start of the west ridge track, where I was to set up camp for the night. I was sodden and tired when I reached my destination. I set up camp, cooked and ate dinner in less than an hour. I fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of blue skies and crisp snow.
To be continued…
Mt Buller from the Bluff. Olympus Em-1. 2014.