Coronet Peak trig cairn and a great view from lunch

Maps: Rendezvous Creek and Corin Dam 1:25000

Walk Description

This walk was organised and led by me as an irregular CBC Tuesday walk:

Tuesday 19 November: Coronet Peak - L/R. Another of the more difficult trigs to bag, this granite cap provides uninterrupted 360° views. Well worth the long day's huff and puff. The trip involves ~10km on the Cotter Hut Road, ~13km on the Australian Alps Walking Track footpad and ~4km through the bush and a short scramble to the huge granite dome. Around 27km and 1200m climb. Maps: Rendezvous Creek and Corin Dam. Limit: 8. Leader: John Evans - john@johnevans.id.au, 0417 436 877. Transport: ~$12 per person.

7 of us drove from Canberra to the Orroral Tracking Station car park.

Further Information

Water at Sawpit Creek (6.8km), Pond Creek tributary (11km), Pond Creek tributary (15.5km), Sawpit Creek (19.7km).

Based on times from 5 Nov 13 - 9km from start to Cotter Gap in 2 hrs going in; Cotter Gap to Pond Creek tributary is 3.2km, so estimate 45mins; in and out from Pond Creek tributary to Coronet Peak ~5km (allow up to 4hrs); out from Pond Creek tributary to Cotter Gap 3.2km in 50mins; 9km from Cotter Gap in 2 hrs going out.

So a long day, leaving town at 6.00am to beat the heat and to give us a good time safety margin.

Civil sunrise - Sunrise - Sunset - Civil sunset: 4.48am - 5.16am - 7.21pm - 7.50pm.

Photographs

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Track Maps

Track maps: thumbnails are active - click for a larger picture

Track overview

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

Video

Google Earth

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Track Notes

A glorious day, forecast 6-27°C for Canberra.

11.8km in 2hrs 35mins to the turn off from the AAWT for Coronet Peak, marked by the ant hill. A good pace, but it allowed us plenty of time for lunch on the top and extra time up our sleeves.

The way follows an old vehicle track, marked on the 1st edn Rendezvous Creek 1:25000 map. It is obvious, both on the ground and the cleared tree growth, up to our morning tea spot. I tried to follow the old vehicle track on 19 Oct 10, based on the track alignment on the 1st edn map, and there was no joy. Perhaps the map-marked alignment is incorrect; it may be worth going back and just following the track on the ground.

Anyway, I realised that we hadn't stopped for morning tea, so we did at a point where we had to leave the old vehicle track alignment, around 500m in from the AAWT.

Our leg to the top of Coronet Peak from morning tea was 1.8km and took us 1hr 45mins. Medium scrub to start, bands of thicker scrub and a little granite as we got higher. We approached from the NW via the flat-ish neck, then to the base of the granite cap. The blue tape we placed on 11 Aug 09 was gone, but we found one of the little marker cairns. A little scramble and we were on the top at 11.40am, 4hrs and 35mins after setting out.

Stupendous views! Checkout the video and photos. We savoured our surroundings for a full one hour lunch; maybe I won't get back here again.

It took 1hr and 5mins to return to the morning tea spot on the old vehicle track. Nice to be going down, as the day was warming up. The going seemed a little scrubbier and our straight line track from 1250m down to 1200m was forced by granite taking us down the W side of the spur.

Back on the AAWT, our homeward leg was a little slower than coming in, taking 3hrs 15mins.

A classic Namadgi trip with million dollar views.

Summary

Distance: 28.8km Climb: 1200m. Time: 7.05am - 5.15pm (10hrs 10 mins), with 1hr 10mins of breaks.

Grading: L/R; H(15)

Walk Participants

7 walkers - Mike B, Roger E, Chris F, Trevor L, Wayne P, Ken W, me.