1 Week To Go! 1 Resort To Go!

In the first days of Spring, I sprung across the infant Murray River near the start of its 2500km journey to the sea, and thus leapt from Victoria into NSW.

These past few weeks I've enjoyed some great company on my journey, not just in the resorts but in between too. Alpine Odyssey is as much about others' passion for the high country in winter as it is about mine. Having recently farewelled good mate and even better photographer Mark Watson, who has been documenting my journey from Falls Creek through to Charlotte Pass, I'm on my own again for the final stretch north to Jagungal, north to Selwyn Snow resort and north to my finish in the ACT. More on that later.

The weather gods gave Mark, Dave and I an absolute thrashing on the day we left Falls Creek. It was a foul day that just got fouler, heading across the High Plains in a headwind driving freezing rain straight into us. We were very happy to take shelter in Ropers Hut. Then the following day relented to offer up a sublime day for Mt Bogong, Victoria's highest. What a day. What a bloody day! Sunshine and a cloud sea beneath our feet pretty much all day. For the most part a solid, frozen surface certainly offered some challenges at times and late in the day I was rather lucky.

Down, down we had gone from the High Plains to cross the Big River, a river where I almost lost my life 25 years ago. Some memories as we approached it....

Then up, up onto Mt Bogong on Quartz Ridge, with incredible light as afternoon merged into evening. Then, just on dark, guided by their head torches, we come to a camp, not too far off the summit of Mt Bogong. Those legends again, Britta Weller and Bill Taylor, holding out cold beers! They'd come up another way to meet us. Keen to stay close to schedule, the following day was my longest of the journey, some 13 hours on the go to reach the Omeo Highway.

With the Alpine country dropping fairly low in the border region, Mark and I climbed onto our mountain bikes for 3 days, diverting to visit friends Jill, Toby and Alison, who farm in the remote Benambra Valley. Whilst our route had been snowless until the very end, that end had us wallowing knee deep, often more, up and over Bobs Ridge to the Thredbo Valley, making for slow, frustrating progress into the night.

Reaching Thredbo Resort No 9 and my first in NSW, was an incentive, but far more than that was to reach my beautiful wife, 36 days after our last hug at Mt Baw Baw. So good. For Mark too, to be greeted by his lady Loz, who had flown in from UK a couple of days earlier.

Having explored the NSW Snowy Mountains for some 35 years, it felt good to be on home territory. After enjoying the delights of Thredbo and putting in some turns on its slopes, it was off to ski up Mt Kosciuszko and traverse the Main Range to little Charlotte Pass Resort. Now we had the company of North Face Youth Ambassador Theo Lansbury, 14, and his dad Owen. Theo was along to learn some pearls of wisdom from a grizzled old adventurer. As is usually the case the grizzled learned much as well.

Whilst I find Mt Kosciuszko to be one of the less interesting peaks in the Snowies, as Australia's highest I had to take it in. All the more so as a thank you to the generous donor who 'bought' it for my Our Yarning fundraising, paying a record $5000 for the highest real estate in the land!

From our camp that night we looked across at Watsons Crags, offering some of Australia's steepest backcountry terrain. It is impressive but that night my thoughts were with the family and friends of a 23 year old backcountry skier who tragically lost his life there just two days before. Such incidents, fortunately rare in our backcountry, touch all of us who love skiing beyond the resorts. It is a very special outdoor activity but there is a thin line that we traverse with a mix of skill, experience, weather, snow conditions and luck. Occasionally it plays out the wrong way, very occasionally in tragedy. Rest in peace.

In 1986, as a UK backpacker fresh out of university, I found myself working a ski season at the little NSW resort of Charlotte Pass. A resort accessible only by oversnow vehicle (or ski!). It is where I learned to ski and where my love affair with the Australian Alps began. I returned for another season there in 1994.

25 years ago, during my first winter traverse of the Australian Alps, I pulled into Charlottes to stay with good friends, Wayne and Alex, who were running a lodge there. Washing the dishes was a young snowboarder, fresh out of photography school, who I met for the first time. This time Mark Watson could enjoy being on the other side of the kitchen doors. We caught up with Wayne and Alex, back running another lodge, skied the resort before I skied the 9km down to Resort No. 11, Perisher.

Now I am skiing north through Kosciuszko NP to solitary Mt Jagungal and on north to Selwyn Snow Resort, the last of my Skier's Dozen of Australia's mainland skis areas. Selwyn, rebuilding after being destroyed in the Black Summer bushfires in January 2020, is still very much on my radar to visit, despite being unable to open for the 2022 season. When I was planning my Alpine Odyssey, everyone was hopeful Selwyn would be open for this winter. Although it didn't, I will pay my respects to the new construction, perhaps put in a couple of turns if conditions allow, and look forward to the grand reopening in 2023.

From Selwyn a drop in altitude and Spring snowmelt will see a transition to walking as I head toward Namadgi NP in the ACT, and Mt Bimberi, the highest peak in the Territory. I will then be passing through Wongalu and Ngunnawal traditional lands, the last of nine traditional lands my journey will have traversed.

I hope to take the final steps of Alpine Odyssey to finish at the Namadgi NP Visitor Centre in Tharwa, ACT on the afternoon of Sunday 18 September, my 50th day. I invite people to join me on my final day, to walk the 15km from Honeysuckle Creek Camp Area or the 12km from Booroomba Rocks Picnic Area to Tharwa on that day. Keep an eye on my Facebook or Instagram pages for any updates or SMS me.

The finish of my Alpine Odyssey coincides with a week of activities being held in Canberra for the Our Yarning project, the beneficiary of my fundraising. There are workshops for budding indigenous authors, donor meetings and, on the evening of Wednesday 21 September, I will be joining Dr Julie Owen, Ngarrendjeri woman and Cultural Lead for the Our Yarning project to give a free public lecture. Their conversation will be moderated by Awakabal man and Our Yarning author Stirling Sharpe.

I am pushing to complete my journey in 50 days to mirror my fundraising target of $50,000. With some $46,200 raised so far, I'm confident I can reach my target but I need your help. Like a busker singing for his/her supper, if you've enjoyed following my little journey and have a few dollars/pounds/euros to spare then I'm more than grateful for anything you can contribute. I want to get to both finish lines - my journey and my contribution to the wonderful Our Yarning project. You can donate here. A big thank you to those who have donated to help achieve this target.

Thanks and cheers,

Huw

Mission Accomplished!

8 Down, 4 To Go!