Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

Wednesday 26 October 2022: Tidbinbilla Mountain via Snowy Corner ! – M/M. A little recce by an old codger to see if I can get to The Pimple in a month’s time.

Summary

From Garmin Connect – Distance: 7.88km | Climb: 760m | Time: 2:07 moving + 2:40 of stops = 4:47 |
There were plenty of gasping stops on the climbs, but a lot of geocaching time too.

Grading: M/M; M(10).

Photographs Photographs are available here.

gpx File The gpx file is available here.

Track Notes

I was last at Tidbinbilla Mountain on 31 Jul 19, a few months before I got crook. We came in via Johns Peak and Tidbinbilla Peak and exited via Snowy Corner. Last time I came up the Snowy Corner pad was 27 May 17. The main thing that’s changed is my age. The route is the same, the footpad more developed by traffic.

Weather overcast to start. Showers, cloud and wet shrubs climbing and on the top. Slippery footpad. No views.

Walking from Mountain Creek car park at 7.37am. Plenty of water flowing in the arms of Mountain Creek. Track damp, bush vivid green.

Hit the spot to turn off the current Lyrebird Trail.

It climbs a short distance to the crest of the bottom of the Snowy Corner pad. You know you’re going the correct way when you see …

This area used to confuse me, but I’ve got it right now, aided by the well-worn footpad. The next turn is 90° onto the old Lyrebird Trail.

There’s a pad-side boulder near where the Snowy Corner route used to start, but you just follow your nose now.

On the lower part of the footpad there were orchids every few metres. A great season for them everywhere this year.

The real up begins.

So did my gasping, relieved by the search for 3 geocaches on the way to Snowy Corner and 1 more closer to Tidbinbilla Mountain. The first was GC8XGZ4 Mountains of the World – Kangchenjunga. Caching confidence enhanced, although it was only difficulty 1.5 out of 5.

Through the scree area. Steep.

Next major stop was at the bench and stool.

Another geocache nearby, GC8E4R7 Tidbinbilla Throne, that took quite a while to find. But difficulty 4.5 out of 5, so caching confidence soaring.

The second part of the climb to the crest of the ridge seems a fraction easier, but it still rises from 1170m to 1440m. Another cache near the top, GC8XGYG Mountains of the World – K2.

Reached the top.

Here the pad turns north and traverses through shoulder high shrubs. Wet, so I put my coat on.

After 250m it breaks out onto an open area.

Back in the scrub the footpad skirts a small rocky ridge. I think we used to walk the ridge several years ago.

A few hundred metres further on, another open area.

There’s a small cliff line on the SE approach to Tidbinbilla Mountain. Just before it, the last geocache for the trip, GC8XGXZ Mountains of the World – Mt Everest. The Footpad skirts the cliff, with ‘Cairn 1’ and ‘Cairn 2’ showing the way. I missed the pad going up and climbed over the low end of the cliff-ette.

A 90° turn at the top at ‘Cairn 2’.

The final approach to the top is from the SE, then a turn to the west at ‘Cairn 3’. There’s a cairn on a large block which marks the top of the descent, the footpad I’d come up. Perhaps an important marker in adverse conditions. It’s actually not visible from the flat top of the hill. ‘Small cairn’ is (see the map segment below).

The new (to me) logbook container on Tidbinbilla Mountain stands out. Pretty cold in the wind and showers. No view. I didn’t dally.

It was nice to get back down out of the wind. The footpad pretty slippery in the wet. Nothing special, just return. A little way down from Snowy Corner, there was an area of trees you could liken to a lichen forest.

A bit further down, the only sun and view of the day. Passed two parties of two guys each heading up as I came down.

Today’s big butt not so big.

I didn’t stop, apart from gasps and geocaching, so enjoyed smoko and lunch sitting in the car out of the showers.

Track Maps

Here’s where I went, on OZrasterNSW maps, ©GPSOZ.

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

Timings

I pulled the geocaching stops out of the times and got:

From	To	Distance	Time
Ascent
Car park	Bottom of spur pad	1.1	0:25
Bottom of spur pad	2 benches	0.8	0:43
2 benches	Snowy Corner cairn	0.64	0:38
Snowy Corner cairn	Tidbinbilla Mountain	1.1	0:50
Descent
Tidbinbilla Mountain	Snowy Corner cairn	1.04	0:36
Snowy Corner cairn	Car park	2.4	1:03

Well, well, well. On 27 May 17, the climb to Snowy Corner took 1:33. Today it was (less caching time) 1:21.

Relive the Trip

 

Party

Just moi.