Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

Saturday 19 October 2024: Tidbinbilla Mountain via Snowy Corner and the Pimple * – L/R. It’s time to revisit the Tidbinbilla Range skyline. In via the Snowy Corner route, a heart-thumping 500 vertical metre climb in 2km to the crest of the range. Another 200vm climb takes us to Tidbinbilla Mountain for glorious 360° views. We’ll scramble up the Pimple for more huge views. Return via the south-east exit track which begins just south of Tidbinbilla Peak. Around 12km and 1100vm. For robust walkers.

Summary

From Garmin Connect (recorded on Epix Gen 2) – Distance: 12.12km | Climb: 1030vm | Time: 3:53 moving + 4:08 of stops = 8:01 | Grading: L/R; H(12).

Photographs

View photographs here. Lots more photos in the album.

gpx file

Download the gpx file here.

Track Map

Here’s where we went.

Trip Report

I last did this trip on 19 Nov 22 and recently went up the Snowy corner footpad on 29 Sep 24.

Older and slower. Mountain Creek carpark to Snowy corner cairns, 2.7km and 530vm, 19 Nov 22 in 1:40, 29 Sep 24 in 1:45, today in 1:44.

Immediately into the Snowy Daisybush on the link track from the start to the Camelback FT.

Purple Love Creeper too.

Lovely damp creek crossings on the Lyrebird track.

Orchids and more flowers about as we climbed, especially on the lower slopes of the Snowy Corner track.

I let walkers go at their own pace to regroup at the benches halfway up. Of course I was puffing along at the rear. Robust discussion on the safety of letting the party spread out. I’ll continue to allow this on clear fire trails and tracks, as long as the next regroup point is well known and there is a competent tail end charlie (I might be slow, but I’m still competent). I’m happy to manage the minimal risk associated with this spread on my trips. I think it encourages independence and self-reliance. Of course, off-track or in poor visibility, maintaining group cohesion is mandatory.

A photo and waypoint marked to remind myself that the little cliff is NW of the Second open area.

A final puff up to Tidbinbilla Peak for morning tea.

Grand views all round.

 

Exiting the top to the N, a rocky descent for a while then turns into the most delightful going as the footpad heads NE.

A few braided footpads, but easy going to the Pimple turn off cairn. A clear footpad.

Always strange to first descend towards the Pimple. It takes a while to spy it too.

1km in 36mins to the bottom of the feature. Then a slow scramble to the top.

Stupendous views unfold as you crest the top.

A 30min lunch to appreciate the area.

Views all round.

I was particularly interested in the razor ridges that rise from the Cotter River to the crest of the Tidbinbilla Range.

We’ve walked up these two ridges quite a while ago.

Is it possible for me to do it again?

We left at 12.30pm. Surprisingly, the descent seemed easier than the ascent. Slow and careful got us all down.

A puff back up to the crest of the range.

The next leg, to the cairns S of Tidbinbilla Peak, has a few braided footpads. I’d tried a new thing today, with a couple of walkers preparing to become CBC walk leaders. I asked them, and others, to take turns in leading. Everyone did a great job – except for me. I was second in line keeping an eye on a new leader and took my eye off the ball. A very scrubby recovery by me to get back on the footpad. I know it puts walkers on the spot, but think they learn more and practise so much more than just following the person in front of them. Hope they learned from my whoopsie too 😏.

The cairn S of Tidbinbilla Peak seems to have reproduced. There are now multiple rock stack cairns. I was tempted to reduce them in number and size, but I would appreciate them marking the point in poor visibility.

An uneventful descent to join Camelback FT, Michael Z curving us around nicely to chop off a bit of the FT.

Back at Mountain Creek car park at 3:45.

Always a super trip, new for a few in the party.

Party

9 walkers – Jenny A, Michael C, Jan H, Mon H, Hsu L, John M, Sal O, Michael Z, me.

AllTrails

The AllTrails map is here, where you can pan and zoom.

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Additional Trip Reports

As I age, I’m doing a few more simple hikes. I don’t always produce a full trip report. If you’re interested, you can find details of them on the Completed Walks tab. There you can access the trip’s map segment, download a gpx file, see the distance, climb and grading, and link through to the photo album. Additional metrics are available by looking at the start waypoint on the map segment – moving time, stopped time, total time.