Kudos to P.V guys on Bogong

[Thewaz]

Just returned from a 4 day trek over Bogong, taking in Eskdale, T Spur, Duane Spur, Spion Kopje, Grey hills and Quartz Ridge.
Ran into a few Park Vic guys clearing the middle section of Eskdale spur. They were insane, the heat they were dealing with and work ahead of them is huge. They make our hiking pleasurable.
The fallen trees up there at the moment is massive. T and Duane spur were horrid, and the track down from Mt Arthur almost gone. Bottoms section of Quartz was also very difficult due to fallen trees.
These blokes deserve a massive Kudos.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Steve from ski dot com was keeping the Eskdale spur track clear all winter. He hurt himself coming down the Bungalow spur in August and has been out of action around Mt. Bogong to some extent. He has done some brush cutting and whipper snipping as well as chain sawing on Mulhauser spur approaching Mt. Bogong and the Stony Tops track on the Northern Razorback. He is a volunteer and should be cloned time 1000 !! . .He does the work of 10 P.V. men.

[andrewa]

There were a few very big logs across the Eskdale when I was up there on Cup W/E, which had been made "navigable" by "Ubiquitous Steve" , who does a lot of voluntary track clearing during winter. It would be interesting to know how often PV actually go up there to clear the track...

A

[Xplora]

T spur and Duane were cleared last year by Parks. They try to do it before the big mountain race which should be on again soon. Most of the work has to be done once the local office receives its contingent of fire crew and also once the snow has gone. Track clearing is just another thing that sucks money out of their budget and being the poor cousin to DELWP there is not much money going around (or staff to do the job). Fire crews are not placed to clear tracks so it is easier for walkers but important routes need to be clear enough for access in and out if there is a fire. U/Steve does do a good job and there is always avenues for volunteers to help but they like a group or organisation to work with. Personally I do not mind getting over or around the odd fallen tree. We are in the bush and it does not need to be too sterile but it can become a bit tiresome if there are many trees to get around. I have met many of the workers in Mt. Beauty and they are a good team. If you have information about track conditions or problems on tracks in that area you should give them a call. The bottom of Quartz and the Grey Hills can be accessed easily with management vehicles. Even if they cannot get up there to clear it, the information you give can be passed on to others if they call the Parks office.

[Thewaz]

Bottom of Quartz was a challenge

[damoprz]

That looks like some good exercise

[eggs]

I remember that bit - think it looks a bit worse than 2015 though.
But not as bad as the Eastern Arthurs.

I am just back from a circuit of Blair / Westons / Tawonga and Dibbins huts.
Not too bad except for the section nearing Westons on the ascent and the Fainter Fire Track just north from Tawonga huts.
No way could they get a fire vehicle into there at the moment.

[Snowzone]

I remember that bit - think it looks a bit worse than 2015 though.
But not as bad as the Eastern Arthurs.

I am just back from a circuit of Blair / Westons / Tawonga and Dibbins huts.
Not too bad except for the section nearing Westons on the ascent and the Fainter Fire Track just north from Tawonga huts.
No way could they get a fire vehicle into there at the moment.

Agreed Eggs!!! The over under contortions coming off Moss Ridge has never been matched anywhere else I know of....

Did Viking Circuit a week ago and lots of trees down over track before Viking Saddle.

[Lophophaps]

Did Viking Circuit a week ago and lots of trees down over track before Viking Saddle.

Was that after The Razor? There were quite a few trees there a year ago, and I lost the track a few times. I was thinking that short of a helicopter this was a very remote spot, a day of walking from Speculation. Spec to Catherine Saddle would need a half track, big rocky drops.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

I am going up the Quartz Ridge in March 2017 . I hope the steeple jump and hurdles course have been chainsawed by then.Those naughty trees keep falling down. Ubiquitous Steve does a fine job with track clearing and also he restocks many of the huts with wood in Late May and June.

[Xplora]

I have passed the info regarding Quartz and the Grey Hills on to Parks in Mt. Beauty but no guarantee anything can be done.

[sambar358]

Most of these tree-falls would be victims of the bush fires and by now their roots have rotted away and nothing much is holding them up.....winter rain, wet soil & wind.....and down they all come. Those trees in Thewaz's pic wouldn't take a whole lot of work to chainsaw off as they are just spars, nice and clean, relatively small in diameter and all stacked nicely across the trail. One bloke on the saw and another chucking-off would get them sorted pretty quickly but getting a crew there to do it may be another thing altogether ! Not much fun negotiating that tangle with a pack on as it is though.......and it'd probably be just as bad off the trail as well I'd think. Cheers

s358

[FloatOnSnow]

Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me how much snow is on top of Bogong at the moment? Is the the trail clear across the summit from Cleve Cole down to Quartz ridge? What is Big River like at the T-spur end? has the chain been replaced? The Alpine Challenge ultra run is taking place there this weekend so I was wondering how much track clearing they had managed, though I understand there has been a snow dump this week that would have hampered efforts by P.V.
Ta!!

[eggs]

Not sure when the snow dump you are thinking of was, but there was a dump Sunday Nov 13th - rapidly disappeared by next day.

This is Bogong summit area - Photo taken last Wednesday [16th Nov]
Lot more snow than my visit there Oct last year, but tracks would still be well clear.

PS - I notice from the Hotham web cam that the snow sheets near the camera that were there last week have now all gone.
And Feathertop has lost most of its snow too.

[Travis22]

Did Viking Circuit a week ago and lots of trees down over track before Viking Saddle.

Was that after The Razor? There were quite a few trees there a year ago, and I lost the track a few times. I was thinking that short of a helicopter this was a very remote spot, a day of walking from Speculation. Spec to Catherine Saddle would need a half track, big rocky drops.

Ha, Thewaz's photo in this thread instantly reminded me of the Viking Circuit, there were a lot of trees down last year but there are a LOT more now. Lots of recently fallen trees again on this years Cup weekend trip. Yes, after the Razor leading into the Viking Saddle. All you could do was laugh at the sheer number of trees one had to hurdle, climb over, under, balance along, go bush around etc.

Travis.

[FloatOnSnow]

Thanks eggs, there was a snowfall this week. Looked substantial as course markers for the Alpine Challenge event were stopped going up Big River fire trail in their cars by fresh snow.
Was this photo of Bogong taken from the high plains?
Cheers

[Xplora]

A very small dump of snow on Wednesday night. It was trying to snow early in the day but mostly rain. The rain on Wednesday morning was huge and would have taken a great deal more of the snow on Bogong. Even the above photo shows considerably less snow from the week before when I was up there. All the tracks are clear to Cleve Cole, Bogong and Quartz apart from a few very short sections. Parks are busy trying to clear the tracks for the Alpine Challenge this weekend.

[FloatOnSnow]

Awesome news for me. Thanks heaps for the info!

[eggs]

Shot was from Jaithmathang

[davidj]

I did essentially the same route as OP last week. The trickiest section was the northern end of the Grey Hills Track, down Mt Arthur, where the path was very overgrown. I lost the path for a bit, and I had a thunderstorm and heavy hail to make the experience a bit more exciting.

The southern end of the Grey Hills Track was a bit tricky too. There's a little sign pointing north on the Spion Kopje fire track, but there's no path visible. It's probably okay in clearer weather where the contours of the land make it obvious where you should be if you have a map, but it's a bit harder in poor visibility like I had.

Anyway, the clear route down Eskdale Spur was appreciated.

[peregrinator]

I included the note below in a comment in the photograph guessing game thread. Copying it here for those who might not play that game.

By the way, for anyone planning to walk on Quartz, a crew of five from Parks Vic Mount Beauty cleared fallen trees and did brushcutting on February 15 (noted in intentions book). Also, one of them did an asbestos survey at Cairn Creek hut and installed route markers (orange tape) on the walking track to it on February 9.

Quartz Spur Feb 2017 tree clearing

[north-north-west]

That's an impressive bit of work. Good to see the alternative tracks getting attention - but they usually do take decent care of the Bogongs.

[peregrinator]

Impressive amount of work, indeed. I should have added that the clearing continued almost to the top of the tree line. There were fewer and fewer trees to clear with increasing altitude, but intrusive shrubbery was trimmed over the whole distance.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

This is good news. I have put off my Watch bed creek/Ropers hut/ Grey Hills/ Mt. Arthur/ Quartz Ridge /CC Hut/ Staircase spur trek until Green season 2018-2018.