Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

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Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 12:47 pm

https://www.ski.com.au/xf/threads/mt-bo ... st-4592613

You can read a trip report and see many photos at the above web link. Thanks for your interest in this matter.
:-)
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby stry » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 1:22 pm

Great pics, thank you. I admire your diligence with the camera. :D

Spelling correction needed in a few places in an excellent report. Michell Hut/Refuge. No "e". Howard Michell was definitely not a "Michelle" :lol:
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 1:52 pm

Nice report!
You're a machine. Clocking up the trips.
Love the photos.

Brings back memories.
I was planning on doing Mountain-creek campsite->Eskdale->Cleve Cole day 1. Cleve Cole->Staircase->Mountain-Creek campsite days 2 when I was there in December, but fearsome reports of uber-winds had me doing the circuit in 1 day with loaded backpack....I think I must be getting over the trauma because I'd gladly try it again after lockdown 3 & broken foot. It seems like it'd be Type 1 fun to my deranged mind. :)

So, you started walking at Eskdale Spur trailhead?
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby indented » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 1:53 pm

Nice report with some great photos and very timely for me, I'm heading up there in a few days!

What are your thoughts on camping near the summit? The forecast looks as though the weather should be mild enough, but I'm not sure on water. I've read there's supposed to be a gully 500m south of the summit that has water, but tossing up whether it would be better to camp near Michell after climbing the staircase.
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 1:58 pm

indented wrote:Nice report with some great photos and very timely for me, I'm heading up there in a few days!

What are your thoughts on camping near the summit? The forecast looks as though the weather should be mild enough, but I'm not sure on water. I've read there's supposed to be a gully 500m south of the summit that has water, but tossing up whether it would be better to camp near Michell after climbing the staircase.

You could pick up a couple of liters from Michell hut tank and carry that to to the summit if you go up Eskdale Spur.
That last push from the tree line up to the summit plateau is a gut buster, so maybe if there's easy to source water at the top, go for that and avoid the extra weight?
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby indented » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 2:04 pm

Baeng72 wrote:You could pick up a couple of liters from Michell hut tank and carry that to to the summit if you go up Eskdale Spur.
That last push from the tree line up to the summit plateau is a gut buster, so maybe if there's easy to source water at the top, go for that and avoid the extra weight?


We'll be heading up Staircase with Eskdale planned for the return. I'd rather not slog a couple of extra kilos the whole way up the staircase, but I've only read one report on the water and other sources seem to indicate there might not be any.
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 2:06 pm

Sorry, if you're route is set, then MIchell hut for water isn't a help.
There's a tank at Bivouac hut halfway up staircase I think, but it'd be a long carry and in any case it's only halfway up the spur.
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby indented » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 2:08 pm

I was expecting that to be the case. I guess I'll have to weigh up the extra carry against the summit sunset/rise benefits!
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby camm » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 5:44 pm

Awesome pics, mate! It was great to meet you and hangout in the Prince of Huts during the t-storm.
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby camm » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 6:02 pm

Baeng72 wrote:There's a tank at Bivouac hut halfway up staircase I think, but it'd be a long carry and in any case it's only halfway up the spur.


The tank at Bivouac had water in it on 20 Feb, but it knocked pretty hollow. We did get some rain per @paidal_chalne_vala 's trip report.
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Tue 23 Feb, 2021 9:14 pm

Yes I started my trip at the Eskdale spur trail head. I can get my car in there no problem. I have been in my friend's Subaru up there in winter , in the snow. Take a chainsaw just in case, as always.

There would be water flowing in Bogong Creek closer to the Bogong Creek falls, down near the Quartz Ridge.
After having my tent trashed by gale force winds near Carruthers Peak on the Main Range in NSW I will not camp above the tree line again. That was scary.

Camping on the summit of Mt. Bogong or Mt. Feathertop comes with its own risks.

Camping at Michell Hut is an option. It is what I have done for white season ascents of Mt. Bogong.
There is water in the tank at Michell hut and it sounded not too empty when I knocked on it.
Cleve Cole Hut has plenty of water and camp sites.
You can access CC hut more easily from Mulhauser track( 4 x4 access needed) and Long Spur. That is how I usually go to camp at CC hut.
Granite Flat Spur car park is the closest you can get a 4 WD to the summit.
I mean to find out if that 4 x 4 track has been graded for better vehicle access. I could probably get my Toyota up there .
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby Lophophaps » Tue 02 Mar, 2021 7:05 am

From Mountain Creek there are two ways to get to the start of the Eskdale Spur. If the gate is open you can drive past the foot of the Staircase. However, a big 4WD is needed, incised creeks and rocks. The other way is going north from Mountain Creek, longer and probably viable in a 2WD with reasonable clearance.

The creek about halfway between the start and Michell Hut seems to be viable all year, except perhaps at the end of a dry summer. I had plans for a summit camp one November, but it was very cold and very windy, so I went down Staircase to Mountain Creek. There are reasonably flat spots near the summit, no shelter from the wind.
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby indented » Tue 02 Mar, 2021 7:22 am

Went up over the weekend, it's certainly quite the climb! Was great weather but unfortunately quite windy up top so ditched the summit camp idea and went on to Michell hut (That was quite the log book entry PCV!). Winds picked up overnight and my tent was flapping away even sheltered by the hut and trees which reinforced the decision to play it safe. The next morning a couple of walkers came bouncing down into camp quite early, they'd stayed at the summit and said the wind wasn't too bad. Turns out they had been hoping to paraglide off the top, so I'm not sure whether "not too bad" for them means the same to the rest of us.

Water tank at Michell looked to be around 3/4 full, and the stream part way down the Eskdale below the hut was flowing reasonably well.
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Re: Mt.Bogong : Overnight walk.20 & 21 /2/21

Postby camm » Tue 02 Mar, 2021 3:51 pm

Inland, paragliders are hoping for light cycles straight up the face, but have a small window of strength and direction depending on the performance of their glider. If they walked down they didn't get that. An alpine bushwalker's "not too bad" would normally be unflyable.
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