On Time, On Buller!
From the warmth of my little apartment Monday night, the snowfall raps gently on the window. Yes I'm at Mt Buller, my 4th resort of the 12 and the first of the big ones.
On Saturday night, two weeks after setting off from Mt Baw Baw, I arrived at Buller, having skied the 10km across from nearby Mt Stirling, resort No.3 and a cross country ski only place, with very limited facilities.
I can't deny it was rather nice to have my first hot shower and soft bed in a fortnight. I doubt I'll ever again make that much effort to reach a ski resort!
It has been, as in the script, a tough first few weeks. Heavy rain early on washed away the snow at lower elevations and brought its own challenges. Thick bush did all it could to entangle skis carried on my pack and one horrendously slippery log crossing across a swollen river was memorable. I never was much of a gymnast! If I'd thought too long about doing it I'm sure I would have baulked.
A rib injury added to the challenge, sustained in one particular after dark bush battle when I'd lost the thin track. I pushed hard on very long days, particularly in the second week, so keen to traverse the infamous Crosscut Saw before the weather broke.
You get what you get in an Australian alpine winter, but for sure it seemed my skis were more crucifix carried on my pack, on my back, not sliding under my feet. A ski crucifix heading to the 12 ski stations!
If on my Alpine traverse 25 years ago I met no-one in the first 3 weeks, on the day I left from Baw Baw I got a message from Heidi Peirce to say she was attempting a winter Alpine traverse and was a couple of days ahead of me. About a week ago I arrived at Rumph Saddle and there was Heidi. We sat out bad weather one day and walked together one day, then I had to keep pushing on.
Heidi is currently sitting out the weather at Vallejo Gantner hut and has been there some days and may be there for quite a while yet given the forecast! She has been focused on a winter crossing for a good 6-7 years now, completing 2 summer attempts and having a winter attempt in 2020 cruelled by Covid. Whilst there are no formal record books, I believe that, if successful, Heidi would be the first woman (solo or in a group) to complete the feat. Go Heidi!!
It felt very good to put the skis on again as I approached King Billy and Mt Howitt, but then it was crampons, metal spikes for my boots, crunching firm snow all the way along the Crosscut Saw.
The Crosscut Saw, as its name suggests, is a series of rocky pinnacles joined by a very narrow ridge and it is, undoubtedly, the most challenging winter ridge traverse in the Australian Alps. It is narrow and exposed in parts, with some 'thoughtful' manoeuvres made more so by a heavy backpack.
Long days pushing this old diesel forward, upward, downward. Hard work, good luck and perhaps indeed an element of being welcomed to travel through this rugged country by those who came long before us. I wore my Taungurung scarf, presented at that Smoking Ceremony two weeks earlier, with pride.
And strangely, from the point where I hit snow again, along King Billy, over Mt Howitt, right along the Crosscut Saw and traversing Mt Speculation, fresh paw prints - a dingo, a wild dog? - led me on. Why was such an animal following such a precise route, a very human recreational route over summits and along ridges?
The weather indeed broke just after I got across the Saw and a mixture of rain and sleet soaked and chilled me to the core. A couple of days later I finally reached Mt Stirling, a Stirling effort indeed! Sleeping in a teepee next to a roaring fire, it was good to be dry for a change.
As always a massive thanks to everyone who has donated to my Our Yarning fundraising, particularly in this past fortnight while I've been in the backblocks. Once my phone battery was charged again I could see we've now hit $35,000 of my $50,000 target. I really appreciate all donations for this brilliant Save the Children Australia Indigenous literacy project. Wouldn't it be amazing to reach my target before I reach New South Wales?
And I do note that Mt Buller and Mt Baw Baw are still for sale for Our Yarning. I do of course prefer to have issued the Title Deed for a Good Deed for the resorts I've now visited! Consortiums as well as individuals welcome! Having now visited them both, I can assure you you would not be disappointed with your real estate 😊 All details and donations here.
On Monday I enjoyed some lovely runs at Mt Buller, my first time skiing here, among the most stunning of ice formations dangling from the snow gums. How easy it is to climb mountains with chairlifts. I also found myself skiing with an idol, not of mine, but a Hindu god, in celebration of tolerance and understanding. The things you do and a nice link to my long history skiing in the Indian Himalaya.
Today, Tuesday, I head back into it and push on toward resort No. 5, Mt Hotham, possibly arriving on the weekend. Although with further heavy snow forecast and some challenging country ahead, progress could be delayed.
My huge thanks to so many for these past days including the non stop Rhylla Morgan, Dave McCombe, Craig Jones. Legends all.
Finally thanks to the wonderful Erica for all her help again, including putting these updates together when I continue on my way.
Cheers, Huw
