Bogong High Plains region tracks

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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Lophophaps » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 11:15 am

That seems to be summit hut. It looks like the summit cairn on the ridge, but I suspect that it's a big rock at the top of Eskdale. The hut was located a few minutes from the summit ridge, maybe 4-6 poles down Staircase. My picture from 1973 is below.

Summit Hut 1973.png
Summit Hut Bogong 1973


When the huts were burnt there was talk of having a refuge under the summit cairn. Stupid. The highest point in Victoria, windswept, hard to find in bad weather, cramped, dark, no air lock, no toilet areas ... The plan did not proceed. Bivouac was rebuilt. The summit cairn has been that big for decades.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 1:00 pm

That's the photo. Clearly the hut isn't at the summit (the highest point).
But SV Maps would have you believe there is a hut at the summit, which may be the proposed bunker hut?
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SV Bogong summit
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 1:11 pm

To circle back to the topic before I went on a digression about the summit hut...
Rooftops has a route from Loch carpark to Diamantina Hut as Lophophaps described earlier: walk up the road a bit , maintainance track up to the summit, then walking track down towards Diamantina hut.
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Rooftops mt hotham
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby north-north-west » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 1:33 pm

Don't know if it still exists, but I walked that dotted line from Hotham to Diamantina Hut, maybe ten years back. But a lot of the minor tracks that used to exist up that way have disappeared due to lack of maintenance (thanks to expansion of the ski resorts). Used to be possible to cover almost the entire distance from St Bernard to Hotham carpark without using the road except for multiple crossings.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Lophophaps » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 2:16 pm

I'm unaware of a plan for a summit bunker hut on Bogong. The reasons decades ago are still valid. The August 1943 Gadsden tragedy is partly due to the group going higher to find Summit Hut. In a blizzard they did not find the hut, and all three died. A hut on the summit is stupid. In the 1970s the Forests Commission of Victoria put huge signs on many summits, including Bogong, Howitt, Speculation, Clear and Magdala. Without any co-ordination the signs all vanished, a strong protest from bushwalkers.

The above map has Diamantina Hut in the right place but the spelling is wrong. A suggestion was made that the AAWT be moved away from the road between St Bernard and Diamantina Hut. Parks Victoria has limited funding and competing priorities. The old coach road would be a good starting point.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 2:39 pm

Ok, I through thought* I was tripping balls when I read you were unaware of a summit bunker hut as you said: "there was talk of having a refuge under the summit cairn", but I guess the refuge could be above ground with some form of cairn on the roof? My bad for interpreting 'under' as under the current cairn (so underground), thus a bunker.
"The above map has Diamantina Hut in the right place but the spelling is wrong". I am responsible for many crimes against the English language, but that's on Rooftops.

*speaking of crimes against the English language.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 2:46 pm

Without any co-ordination the signs all vanished, a strong protest from bushwalkers.

Or a strong protest from 1 angry bushwalker. :)
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Lophophaps » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 6:38 pm

There is something called the visual landscape system which looks at how a non-natural structure appears to people away from the structure. MUMC Hut was formerly silver and could be seen from near Bright, so MUMC painted the hut, green from memory. There was a similar consideration with the Falls-Hotham huts, strangely having good views but unable to be seen from a little distance. A hut above ground on the summit of Bogong would be seen for miles, not a good idea.

The plan after the huts were burnt in the 1970s was for a refuge under the cairn, and that horrible thought has stayed with me for over 40 years.

There were many bushwalkers chucking many signs off many summits. If you venture down Hells Window and traverse a short way you will come to the spot where the Magdala sign landed. Bogong was harder, and a spanner was needed to undo the nuts and bolts. I may have a picture from the newspaper and elsewhere of the signs before they were removed. The Forests Commission of Victoria meant well, but the signs were out of proportion for the setting.

All the witnesses are now quite old, and testimony after 40 years has poor evidentiary value.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 8:07 pm

OK, so an underground refuge, but not a bunker. :wink:
This is a cool photo:https://www.alamy.com/negative-mount-bogong-victoria-1951-a-skier-by-the-summit-hut-on-mt-bogong-the-hut-has-been-snowed-over-image328796876.html
In any case, it's been 6 months since I summitted the big-fella, and I think I'm ready to give him another try. If I hadn't done a recent walk slogging through calf-deep snow at Hotham I'd do it when lockdown lifted before heavy snow, but might wait until Spring now...
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Lophophaps » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 8:54 pm

If memory serves there were instances of drifts covering the entire hut. From now until October it's probable that skis or snow shoes will be needed to get to the summit of Bogong.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 9:07 pm

Yeah, I think unless it's a very warm August-September any bushwalks before then will be some lowland place like the Prom or the Grampians.
I still have a score to settle with Mt Difficult, and I'd like to 'marathon' the southern circuit in a weekend (telegraph saddle to LWB via Sealers, then LWB to telegraph saddle via Roaring Meg).
EDIT: oh bugger, a marathon is 40+ km, which would be the whole circuit. I'm to old and fat to walk 40km in a day. 25k sure on relatively flat terrain. But it would be marathon distance over a weekend.
I apologise for this classless digression from the topic of Bogong High Plains region tracks.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Lophophaps » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 9:21 pm

I cannot agree with the term "classless distraction". The prom is Bogong South, the Grampians is Bogong West, and Jagungal is Bogong North. This makes navigation easy. When asked where I am I say Bogong. Simple!
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 08 Jun, 2021 9:27 pm

Lophophaps wrote:I cannot agree with the term "classless distraction". The prom is Bogong South, the Grampians is Bogong West, and Jagungal is Bogong North. This makes navigation easy. When asked where I am I say Bogong. Simple!

Very magnanimous of you. I live equidistantly between Bogong South, Bogong West and Bogong proper. Otherwise the location known as plague central.
EDIT: I didn't say distraction (red herring), but just a digression (temporary moving of subject to something else). But classless nonetheless.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Lophophaps » Wed 09 Jun, 2021 8:18 am

Baeng72, we are neighbours in plague central. Fortunately, to quote a line from Monty Python and the holy grail, not dead yet. I am distracted by your digression, and thought that the words had the same meaning. My confusion is probably due to the air temperature or being sober. Maybe both.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Thu 10 Jun, 2021 10:54 am

I do get carried away with pedantry....Not sure if I'm just making that distinction up...People say 'But I digress...' when they've wandered off course briefly, but not so much 'But I distract...' so I guess that's where I got it from?
Anyway, current conditions near Hotham are looking rough, especially for the wildlife:
sharks2.png
Alpine Sharknado
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Lophophaps » Thu 10 Jun, 2021 3:25 pm

I think I saw one of those near the summit of Bogong. The Hotham snow-cams show a good cover, but alas, no people.
https://www.mthotham.com.au/on-mountain ... /snow-cams
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby badd0g » Thu 10 Jun, 2021 4:17 pm

north-north-west wrote:Don't know if it still exists, but I walked that dotted line from Hotham to Diamantina Hut, maybe ten years back. But a lot of the minor tracks that used to exist up that way have disappeared due to lack of maintenance (thanks to expansion of the ski resorts). Used to be possible to cover almost the entire distance from St Bernard to Hotham carpark without using the road except for multiple crossings.


Can confirm the route down off Hotham to Diamantina still exists. We use it for the Razorback run each year for the 64/100k events.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Thu 10 Jun, 2021 8:28 pm

Lophophaps wrote:I think I saw one of those near the summit of Bogong. The Hotham snow-cams show a good cover, but alas, no people.
https://www.mthotham.com.au/on-mountain ... /snow-cams

There does appear to be an uptick in Alpine shark (Carcharodon carcharias bogongiensis) sightings.
Of course, the elite glitterati that govern are covering it up and don't even acknowledge their existence.
Now, why isn't my 5G reception better that I've been vaccinated?
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby icefest » Fri 11 Jun, 2021 10:10 pm

I prefer the Aussie Alpine giraffes that haunt the Aussie Ski.com forums....
Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Tue 10 Aug, 2021 6:47 pm

Just looking for info on when do the locals/experts think the snow will recede on the high-plains/mountains in that region?
I don't mean snow-free, just walkable without special snow shoes/spikes/stuff?
I got a bit tired of regularly getting up to the knees, so that would be probably a bit less snow that that.
I'm guessing end of September/early October?
They don't open closed roads in the high-country until end of October, but that might just be to allow for a long winter...
Anyway, nothing planned, but would love to get up there again if it's walkable and we're not in lockdown in Spring.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Xplora » Wed 11 Aug, 2021 6:37 am

Baeng72 wrote:I'm guessing end of September/early October?
They don't open closed roads in the high-country until end of October, but that might just be to allow for a long winter...
Anyway, nothing planned, but would love to get up there again if it's walkable and we're not in lockdown in Spring.


A good question and with good reasoning. It does vary according to the season so it is like answering how long the bit of string is. I have been there in mid September when snow was almost gone but generally, with an average season, you can expect September to hold snow enough to make it uncomfortable. BHP road doesn't open until Novemeber most years now but other tracks may open earlier. To be sure I would be waiting to mid October and maybe ask again a week or so before. I have also ridden my bike on BHP road in mid October and it is mostly clear but head to the aqueduct and it holds some snow in the shade. There is a good cover at the moment but not much forecast for the rest of the month. Warm and wet today for the most part and not much more snow predicted for the next couple of weeks. Cover on Bogong is excellent so it will hold snow longer but you only need a good drop of rain to fix that.

Snowline (base) at present is about 1450m but that will vary depending on aspect.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby north-north-west » Wed 11 Aug, 2021 7:18 am

The top of the Bogong Rd is usually kept closed well after the bulk of the snow has gone because there's one spot in the Cope/Langfords area that gets massive drifts that take ages to thaw enough to be ploughable. You can usually walk in up the road from Trapyard Gap in September.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Wed 11 Aug, 2021 9:00 am

Xplora wrote:
A good question and with good reasoning.

Even a broken clock is right some of the time. :)
To be sure I would be waiting to mid October and maybe ask again a week or so before

Good to know.
Gives me time to do a hike or two (Gramps/Prom/somewhere) to get the legs working again (lockdown permitting).
I'll check in when it looks like I'm able to go in the week or so leading up.
Thanks!
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Wed 11 Aug, 2021 9:01 am

north-north-west wrote:The top of the Bogong Rd is usually kept closed well after the bulk of the snow has gone because there's one spot in the Cope/Langfords area that gets massive drifts that take ages to thaw enough to be ploughable. You can usually walk in up the road from Trapyard Gap in September.

Thanks, so walking south-west (say from Hotham to Pole 333 then down to Westons) could be easier? SImilarly for Nelse/Spion Kopje area?
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby north-north-west » Wed 11 Aug, 2021 9:21 am

There are other areas off the road where drifts will linger, but you can usually avoid them. Creeks and rivers will be running higher so keep an eye out for that.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Wed 11 Aug, 2021 9:43 am

The Roper 's Hut/ Mt. Nelse/ Spion Kopje area should still be good for BC XC ski touring in September. I am hoping we will be let out for a week in early Sept. I will then hike up / ski/ skin up Timm' s
spur , camp and XC ski based at Roper's hut.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Wed 11 Aug, 2021 9:58 am

north-north-west wrote:There are other areas off the road where drifts will linger, but you can usually avoid them. Creeks and rivers will be running higher so keep an eye out for that.

Makes sense.
To a certain extent, it depends on how much 'cabin fever' I have in September/early October that will decide if I'm up for dodging or sinking into snow. Or getting water up to my nether end crossing streams.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Baeng72 » Wed 11 Aug, 2021 9:59 am

paidal_chalne_vala wrote:The Roper 's Hut/ Mt. Nelse/ Spion Kopje area should still be good for BC XC ski touring in September. I am hoping we will be let out for a week in early Sept. I will then hike up / ski/ skin up Timm' spur , camp and XC ski based at Roper's hut.

Yeah, must suck to know there's good snow and you can't access it.
I reckon we'll stay in lockdown a bit longer this time, so they can be sure there are no cases in the wild.
Late August/early September is probably when we'll be given a good behaviour pass.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Wed 11 Aug, 2021 2:24 pm

2021 is the second XC ski season in a row that has been thrown in the bin by CV19. I would be a Tele mark ski GOD by now if I could free heel ski as much as I would like to . One can only hope that 2022 will offer a better chance to
XC ski.
I came to XC skiing from Bushwalking. I think I prefer it to Bushwalking in many ways. It is faster and more efficient in terms of being a way to travel through the mountains.
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Re: Bogong High Plains region tracks

Postby Xplora » Thu 12 Aug, 2021 8:13 am

There is still plenty of season and plenty of snow. Lost a bit last night though. Bogong will be skiable for another two months and there are nursery slopes to learn your telemark skills near CC hut. Spring skiing on the 'corn' is also the best for learning.
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