AAWT river crossings

[robertibob]

Hi.

To all those familiar with the AAWT leg from Walhalla to Mt Hotham, I am preparing to do this solo over 14-16 days beginning Sep 18th (just under 2 weeks from now).

Just into spring, and with all the snow around, I understand this walk will be a very challenging and somewhat ambitous one, and my current concern is doing solo river crossings. According to Chapman's book and his online updates, there seem to be 3 crossings that do not have bridges that might be tricky. In order from Walhalla, they include:

13km. Eastern Tyers river @ Osheas Mill site. (cross at broken weir)

58.2km. Thomson River @ Thomson river campsite (log crossing)

95.5km. Black River (wading required - log crossing is vanished)

I am thinking of worst case scenario, where snowmelt and rain cause these rivers to swell. Does anyone have any helpful suggestions on how to do solo crossings with relative safety? I have already read other threads on this topic and have come up with the following plan. I have already purchased 15m of 6mm cord for pack hauling. I am considering buying another length in order to do the following:

If river is fast flowing and above knees, remove pack and wade/swim to other side with cord. Secure cord to suitable anchor. Swim back, collect pack and secure pack to cord. This way if I lose the pack the cord should stop it from disappearing too far down the river. Either wade with pack (using walking poles) or swim the pack over to the other side.

I was also considering securing the cord to both sides of the river and using it as a 'handrail' but am not too sure of this...

I will be using a pack liner which will obviously keep the pack contents dry, but as for the pack.... Should i consider something else to wrap the pack in perhaps?

Any feedback/criticisms would be appreciated.

Rob

[robertibob]

Just came across the swimming pack across a river thread. If only i'd read this first...

(viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1665)

[Charlievee]

Hi robertibob - I'd be keen to hear of your success. I'm planning to do the first leg as well, but in mid November. I'm hoping the water levels and temps will be a bit more friendly, especially after the past weekend. Wish you well Buddy.

[robertibob]

Thanks mate, Ill let you know how i go when/if i get back.

[anne3]

Hey there, the first river crossing at the broken weir is 10 min from my place, I will have a look for you on the weekend and post how it looks. I have never known it to be more than knee deep. At Easter time we crossed the Black River, the river is really jammed up with logs and unless it is in major flood I think you should be able to cross on these.
If you want anymore local info let me know
Anne

[anne3]

Me again...
I am not sure if they are still detouring people around "The Old Steel Bridge" that crosses the Thomson River on day one of the walk? If they are it is only because they are waiting for an engineers report on it since the fires, I have crossed the bridge three times since the fires and there is no damage that I can see, the track has been cleared and fixed on both sides of the bridge. I am doing the walk in Nov and will be crossing this bridge....
Also the track from Whitelaws Hut to Stronachs Camp has been cleaned up, I haven't walked this but have been told by a friend who works for the Forestry they they did it ( the clearing)

[north-north-west]

I don't think you need to worry about the East Tyers - it's just a creek at that crossing, if it was flooded bad enough to cause problems you wouldn't get that far in the first place.

The Thomson River log could be awkward, though. I seem to recall having a lot of trouble getting off the log and onto the bank at the far side without ending up knee deep in water, because the log - as wood is wont to do in wet conditions - had rotted away at that end.

Asfar as the Black River is concerned, unless they've cleared it up (which is highly unlikely), if you go down CS2 from Champion Spur Rd (instead of the official route down CS1), there's a massive log dam beside the vehicle ford, which can be used to cross if the water's too deep to wade. You really want to avoid the Black River section because of fire and flood damage from some years back - between fallen trees and regrowth the riverside is - while not totally impassable - ruddy unpleasant.
And if you cross on those logs, you can take a short cut up a side spur to join the track part way up the climb.

And, as I've said elsewhere, don't take the official route down from the Sunday helipad unless you are
a) a masochist with a death wish or
b) carrying a spare bulldozer. The road is a pleasant walk enough walk, while the 'track' is sheer unmitigated hell once you get below the steepest part of the drop.

Oh, and have fun. There will probably still be a lot of snow around on some of the higher bits. Should be great.

Personally, I'm rather worried about the Big River. I had in mind climbing Bogong and then doing a circuit down Quartz Ridge, across the Grey Hills and back up via Duane's & T Spurs, but with all this snow if the thaw is well under way that crossing may not be the safest thing around. Maybe I should go up Hannel's instead.

[robertibob]

Thanks guys for the your advice. Much appreciated.