Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

Wednesday 9 October 2024: A snowshoe/walk from Charlotte Pass. A marvellous last-minute invitation to join an NPA ACT trip.

Summary

From Garmin Connect (recorded on Epix Gen 2) – Distance: 9.23km | Climb: 390vm | Time: 2:46 moving + 2:09 of stops = 4:55 | Grading: M/M; M(8).

Photographs

View photographs here. Heaps more photos, including a million of Snow Gums.

gpx file

Download the gpx file here.

Track Maps

Here’s where we went.

Trip Report

Drive from Calwell to Charlotte Pass took around 2:30. We went to the lookout to check out the snow cover on the Main Range.

The initial plan was to cross the Snowy River, walk/snowshoe up to Carruthers Peak and return via Blue Lake. The snow cover looked patchy and probably called for shoes on/off many times, so plan B.

We drove down to Charlotte Pass village, deserted at this time of the year, left a few kg of snowshoes on the car and started walking just after 9.30am.

Heading SE we crossed the first of many delightful streams.

We began a beautiful ascent through Snow Gum woodland, taking our time and many photos.

A footpad guided us in places, as shown on the TopoView2006 map segment above.

At about the 1920m contour we broke out of the trees.

Lovely country.

Climbing higher towards a saddle, the footpad became clearer.

At the crest, we had a clear view along the alignment of the ‘longest chairlift in the world’ to the restaurant site.

A sad end to a visionary plan. Read all about it here.

Walking the alignment, there were many remains of the ‘longest chairlift in the world’.

And also lovely natural features.

Tiny wildflowers in the damp areas, Psychrophila introloba (Alpine Marsh-marigold). They grow in seeps and swamps, usually near flowing water or snowmelt, above the treeline. 

As well as the chairlift Meuller towers, there were a number of Switch Stations.

Crossing Wrights Creek was either by metal bridge …

… or more naturally.

Beautiful country.

A few wildflowers.

We made it to the restaurant site for a good look around and smoko.

Turning east after the break, a snow drift provided opportunity for different styles of descent.

The flora continued to attract our attention.

Our first crossing of Trapyard Creek was via snow bridge,

A low saddle took us to another Snow Gum and grass area.

At 12.40pm we joined the Perisher to Charlotte Pass walking track. new country for me.

Time for lunch and a look about.

Great track work.

The track passes through the edge of the tree line above Johnnies Plan. Trapyard Creek tumbles down.

A bridge.

A second tumbling creek was crossed by metal bridge.

Walking NW back towards Charlotte Pass village, Wrights Creek was again crossed.

The village was in sight, but another km or so had to be walked to gain it.

A wonderful trip, thanks Mike and all!

Party

4 walkers – Mike B (leader), Margaret P, Brian S, me.

AllTrails

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

Johnny Boy’s Walkabout Blog FaceBook Page

I’ve started up a FaceBook page. Each trip report posts to it. It’s another way to get some info to get out and breathe a bit of fresh air. Why not pop over and Follow the page, or give a post a Like.

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.