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Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Sun 12 May, 2013 4:58 pm
by Moondog55
Simple enough trip.
Met up with Andrewbish at the truck park opposite the Kalkallo hotel and drove without incident to the mountain.
Stopped halfway up the mountain to put more firewood in the trailer [Vicroads doing some felling of bushfire killed trees] and after getting to the camp site spent 3 hours moving all the firewood and gear. Cool night and I was up at 0500 and then spent a couple of hours sorting through gear and cleaning out the firepit.

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Sun 12 May, 2013 5:25 pm
by Hallu
Fascinating trip.

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Sun 12 May, 2013 6:33 pm
by Moondog55
Driving was reasonably hard work for a one nite stay It will make setting up camp and living well for 3 weeks or more so much easier tho.
Thanks to Andrew for his invaluable help unloading a tonne or more of firewood and helping me camouflage the dump from casual sight

I'm sure he will add a few photos to the report, he took more than I did

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Sun 12 May, 2013 10:00 pm
by neilmny
Crikey how do you hide a tonne of firewood moondog?
Looks like a great spot although will look a lot different with a metre or so of snow over it.

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Sun 12 May, 2013 11:21 pm
by Moondog55
Well in one way it was easy and after all it is only couple of cubic meters

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 9:04 am
by Kinsayder
I'm looking forward to hearing more of this trip.

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 11:08 am
by Moondog55
And I am waiting for Andrew to post some pictures and comments here LOL

I was working so hard that by the time I started to take more photos it was too dark.
It is a very pretty area and yes, it is very different with a metre or more of snow on the ground. Reminds me I need to get a new shovel just in case the one we left at the hut disappears

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 11:12 am
by andrewbish
Looks like we got in the just in time - check out the first snow of the season
http://ski.com.au/snowcams/australia/vi ... index.html

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 11:47 am
by Kinsayder
Great timing, Andrew! So what do you two do up there? Is it a three week stay? Are you hutting or tenting? Sorry for so many questions but this has gotten me quite intrigued.

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 12:25 pm
by andrewbish
Kinsayder wrote:Great timing, Andrew! So what do you two do up there? Is it a three week stay? Are you hutting or tenting? Sorry for so many questions but this has gotten me quite intrigued.

What will we be doing? XC skiing, snow shoeing, igloo/snow cave making, popping down to Falls Creek town (8km away). Repeat.
I will be up there for 5-6 days, but MD is making this his home away from home for 3 weeks, maybe 4.

We will probably also do a bit of sitting around the fire, singing sea shanties and talking bs.
Falls--044.jpg
Moondog admires the modified fireplace, now with cooking area and a fire pit


Falls--033.jpg


What are we staying in?

Not the hut - it's too small!
Falls--054.jpg


I will be in my new Macpac Minaret
Falls--041.jpg


Moondog will be in his Paddymade beauty:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=13201#p173912


One last thing - all are welcome to come along, whether for a few days,a week, or longer. The more, the merrier, I say. You could even make the camp a stopover on a trip of your own as the site is very central the routes between Bogong Village (over the Fainters), Hotham, Falls Creek and Mt Bogong.

Andrew

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 12:37 pm
by Moondog55
I think that old cast iron brake drum got heavier as we carried it to the campsite.
Nice photo of the hut, Parks have been doing some work there replacing tap washers and such and there is some new anti- feral fencing in. Brumbies are a damned nuisance in this area but the toilet roof still slopes the wrong way so a shovel is needed each trip just in case access is difficult

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 1:24 pm
by Kinsayder
I would love to come, Andrew and Moondog, I really would but I have two small girls (one is four years old and the other seven months old) and a pesky masters degree that is keeping me from doing such things. By mid June I should get a mini break and will head into the Grampians and in September I've got three days to (possibly) head out from the Loch Carpark to Feathertop via the Diamantina Spur and back via the Razorback. It's hardly three weeks of adventure but leave passes are getting rarer these days. Please keep us posted! :)

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 1:45 pm
by Moondog55
Well you could always reroute to start at Falls Creek and pass us on the way through. I do understand your commitments tho, my kids are all grown up Happily
What's the Masters in?? My Evil Step Daughter is half way through her PhD and doesn't get time to scratch

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 2:58 pm
by Kinsayder
How far from Falls would you be via snow shoe?

It's a Master of Information Studies. It's killing me too. I just want to hike, play with my girls and read but it keeps saying No!

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 3:12 pm
by Moondog55
Cheats way is 4 k
from Windy Corner it is 8k
Cheats way is to pay $14- and get a single ride ticket to the top of the chairlift, Andrew has dicky hips and that is what I recommend for him

http://www.fallscreek.com.au/system/gui ... ailMap_sml

You either take Express to the Cloud9 cafe and walk the ridgeline via the Laura Dunkley shelter to the road at Ruined Castle or take Gully and Eagle ditto, either way saves 4 or 5 k of uphill road walking

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Wed 15 May, 2013 4:43 pm
by neilmny
Great pictures Andrew. I love that snowgum country. Very envious of you blokes.
That chairlift shortcut sounds interesting for a quick trip.....hmmmm

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 10:38 am
by Kinsayder
Will you guys still be there in mid September?

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 10:51 am
by Moondog55
My beloved has given me 3 weeks; so 21 August will be about the latest. Won't be much snow left by mid September unless we have an unusually big season like 1981

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 11:51 am
by Bluegum Mic
Well there are murmurs its on the cards ;-)
http://www.mountainwatch.com/snow-news/ ... May-Update

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 12:21 pm
by andrewbish
Bluegum Mic wrote:Well there are murmurs its on the cards ;-)
http://www.mountainwatch.com/snow-news/ ... May-Update


Ooooooooo [rubs hands together with glee]

I would really love to test out the new Minaret under a heavy snow load.

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 1:24 pm
by Bluegum Mic
As someone who is 7 months pregnant and living in QLD for two years this will be the first season in 18 years that I haven't made it down. So you can pretty much guarantee that it will be the most amazing season ever lol :evil:
Fingers crossed the summer drift is still about on signature hill in december so I can at least hike for a few turns when I get back

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 1:53 pm
by Kinsayder
That's a shame, MD. The purpose of the mid-September escape (aside from the obvious) is to avoid the immediate post Federal election news. I don't think I can cope with it. I'll certain try for it next year (although there is a glimmer of a chance that next year I will cash all of my leave in one fell swoop and spend some time in Yosemite). Assuming this is an annual thing.

Thanks for the heads up for this season , BM. Hopefully it's a good year!

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 2:13 pm
by Moondog55
Making this an annual event wouldn't be bad idea, I'd like some help with finding a basecamp tent we could put a pot belly stove inside in that instance tho

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 3:04 pm
by andrewbish
Kinsayder wrote:That's a shame, MD. The purpose of the mid-September escape (aside from the obvious) is to avoid the immediate post Federal election news.


I'm a big fan of using the back country to avoid painful realities. The main instigator of my return to hiking after a 25 year absence was avoiding having to watch Collingwood win the grand final in 2010. My account of that period may amuse.

A

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 6:51 pm
by north-north-west
And I'm spending most of the winter away from the Alps. Of course it's going to be a record breaking season. :roll:

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 11:17 pm
by Kinsayder
andrewbish wrote:
Kinsayder wrote:That's a shame, MD. The purpose of the mid-September escape (aside from the obvious) is to avoid the immediate post Federal election news.


I'm a big fan of using the back country to avoid painful realities. The main instigator of my return to hiking after a 25 year absence was avoiding having to watch Collingwood win the grand final in 2010. My account of that period may amuse.

A


I hear you on the footy front, Andrew. I did the Bluff circuit to avoid that match. I had a big day getting into the hut (partly due to a lengthy false-start and partly due to the shock of knee high snow at that altitude in late September). Anyway, I ate early and crawled into my sleeping bag despite it being about 7pm and there being a couple at the hut too. A little while later I heard the girl on her phone "Oh, really... Wow... That hasn't happened for a while." I knew it was a draw. So much for escape. I didn't know then that I'd be seated in the second row of the MCG 12 months later (we get tickets if Geelong play), like this year, perhaps. :D Nice blog post too!

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Fri 17 May, 2013 11:59 pm
by andrewbish
Ah, a fellow Cats man who suffered the pain of 2010. Well, I guess we get the last laugh tomorrow huh? Fancy having phone reception at Bluff Hut. Dammit - is there no escape?!

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Sat 18 May, 2013 9:49 am
by neilmny
You fellas should try being a Saints supporter :roll:

A yearly event eh.....how about the Moondog Muster....

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Sat 18 May, 2013 10:33 am
by Moondog55
We made the dump on the correct week-end. Road was closed yesterday I believe. 300mm of fresh wet snow on the ground, lets hope the weather stays cold enough for the base to start accumulating

Moondog muster sounds OK actually.

Snow shovels compulsory if it is a season like 1981

Re: Falls Creek and PV camping area

PostPosted: Sun 19 May, 2013 8:13 pm
by Kinsayder
Not quite, Andrew. I figured that with four of our top dozen players missing we might have struggled. It was a good game and whilst Collingwood supporters are genuine ferals and Dane Swan looks sillier than most clowns, they are a pretty admirable team. Still, we just might pull it off again this year. We'll see.

Neil, you can have your St Kilda. I don't envy that at all.

Moondog (and Andrew), good luck with it all. I hope it goes brilliantly!