Mt Bogong rescue

[walkerchris77]

I think Moondog55 is up there.(I could be wrong).
Hope hes ok if hes up there.

[bushy123]

I see on the BOM observations for Mt Buller for 2am this morning (9/7) wind gusts of 78 kph, temp -0.8 with apparent temp of -13.6; be interesting to know the forecasts for this area a few days ago when people were setting out on these trips.

[walkerchris77]

Yes. Fresh at the pass too.

Attachments

Screenshot_2014-07-09-23-18-07.png (289.66 KiB) Viewed 11398 times

[bushy123]

Very fresh!

[GPSGuided]

Lots of fresh powder I hope!

[bushy123]

Sorry if I'm over doing this, but just for the record at Thredbo for 9/7 at 4.05am BOM observations had
-2.7 deg, apparent temp -24.5 deg (!),
with wind 102 kph and 120 kph gusts.
( I could not get a 'snip' and paste to work...?)

1) I'm still wondering if anybody knows what the forecast was for a few days before the 9/7 or was this weather unexpected?

2 more generally: Where are 'safe' places to test your tent, gear etc out under harsh cold conditions? eg near buildings, car parks or near roads or obvious tracks less than say a slow hour walk to your car etc

Thanks

[madmacca]

2 more generally: Where are 'safe' places to test your tent, gear etc out under harsh cold conditions? eg near buildings, car parks or near roads or obvious tracks less than say a slow hour walk to your car etc

Thanks

Outside a hut is probably the best place. If your tent fails or gets flooded, you can retreat to the hut which is sheltered from the wind and rain, and generally has dry firewood. Also, huts generally have pit toilets which parks encourage you to use.

An hour's walk back to your car may not seem like much, but could be lethal if you are already bordering hypothermic.

[icefest]

2 more generally: Where are 'safe' places to test your tent, gear etc out under harsh cold conditions? eg near buildings, car parks or near roads or obvious tracks less than say a slow hour walk to your car etc

As madmacca has said, but I would add the suggestion to take a couple of days, with the first test in bad, but not awful conditions.

Mainly, I'd suggest to avoid a day where the winds are forecast to blow faster than 100km as standing up can get annoying. Over 120 and you start getting blown over - and that's really annoying.
Few tents will cope well with these kinds of winds - you'd be better off avoiding it.

If the wind is like this, don't go:

[Tortoise]

Good one, icefest. If that'd been in a white-out, it could be on Mt Rufus!

[icefest]

I've felt like that on the top of Alpha Morraine too. Not sure of the wind up there, but they measured 100 in Maatsuyker island the same day...

[Strider]

Only time I've felt like that was when we had the 177km/h winds in Hobart a few years ago

[Smeagle]

http://youtu.be/OrSX4EULWcM

just small clip of what the weather was like over last couple days (9/10th july) at thredbo and how i found my tent yesterday morning... wild night...

[GPSGuided]

Perfect, tenting in a snow cave with the next dump!

[walkerchris77]

I would nt have to put batteries in my daughters bubble machine thats for sure.

[bushy123]

Thanks for the videos; pity they did not film the actual reading of wind speed; loved the tent one.
I'm sorry guys I did not make myself clear earlier about where are safe places to test tent etc out: I meant in Australia in specific places eg in xxx ski village ( but they may not allow camping), or xxx carpark, where the yyy trail starts.

thanks

[icefest]

For snow and wind: next to Fed hut, next to MUMC hut, next to PV huts, next to cope saddle hut.

For extreme testing: up on Nelse East, near Ropers hut. (take whiteout nav aids)

If you just want wind practice try Mt William. But remember you can't sleep there.

[Smeagle]

ANOTHER couple fellas lost snowboarding on bogong this morning!!! maybe bogong is our everest...

[icefest]

ANOTHER couple fellas lost snowboarding on bogong this morning!!! maybe bogong is our everest...

The story looks bad.

"they had not been at the campsite since the last snow fall on Saturday evening"

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-13/c ... ng/5592932

[Strider]

Yeah definitely not looking good at all. Empty tent found, still full of gear including sleeping bags.

[Smeagle]

http://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/news/40 ... rders.html


another link

[bushy123]

Thanks Icefest for your earlier test camping suggestions; did do my first snow camping outside MUMC hut long time ago.

Hope these guys get found; odd not activated EPIRB and worse, no communications since Thursday

[Strider]

No PLB activation hopefully means they are OK and just late.

[stry]

No PLB activation hopefully means they are OK and just late.

Yep. No news is good news - usually.

[Avatar]

I see on the BOM observations for Mt Buller for 2am this morning (9/7) wind gusts of 78 kph, temp -0.8 with apparent temp of -13.6; be interesting to know the forecasts for this area a few days ago when people were setting out on these trips. bushy123

My italics.

BOM Mt Buller Forecast issued at 4:33pm Mon 7 July 2014
Forecast for the rest of Monday: A little light snow. Winds northerly 25-35kmh
Tue 8 July: Min -2 Max 2 Becoming windy. Partly cloudy. Winds northwesterly 35-55kmh
Wed 9 July: Min -3 Max -1 A few snow showers. Windy. Cloudy. Winds northerly 35-55kmh tending northwesterly 25-40kmh in the middle of the day then tending westerly 15-20kmh in the late evening.
Thu 10 July: Min -2 Max -1 Snow shower or two. Windy. Cloudy. Winds westerly 30-45kmh tending northwesterly 40-50kmh during morning.
Fri 11 July: Min -1 Max 1 Snow shower or two. Windy. Partly cloudy. A snow shower or two. Winds westerly 30-40kmh tending northwesterly 40-50kmh during morning.
Sat 12 July: Min -1 Max 1 Snow showers. Wind easing. Partly cloudy. Possible hail and thunder. Winds westerly 40-50kmh turning southwesterly 30-35kmh during morning.
Sun 13 July: Min -2 Max 0 Partly cloudy. Winds south to southwesterly 25-35kmh.

---- End of Forecast ----

A close reading of the wind directions was a clue to a possible dump hidden in this forecast...

Last edited by Avatar on Sun 13 Jul, 2014 6:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[walkerchris77]

They just said theres been a number or avalanches on mt bogong 6pm news

[Smeagle]

the boys even had avalache beacons 9news and were noted when last S&R happened, not being rude, but might be a grim outcome...

[walkerchris77]

Lets hope all is well.
I dont know much about those beacons. Are they like PLBs. How do they work.

[Smeagle]

Lets hope all is well.
I dont know much about those beacons. Are they like PLBs. How do they work.

honestly not 100% sure, i no they emit a pulse when set off but not sure if that goes to a computer or phone etc, might investigate


From avalanche.net.nz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... WGOP3Ms2pE

Last edited by Smeagle on Sun 13 Jul, 2014 8:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[NathanaelB]

AFAIK avalanche beacons are pretty short range. No satellite stuff. But pretty accurate … because digging a hole a few metres away from where they're buried is as good as a mile … you want it to put you pretty much on top of the person. Maybe a few hundred metres range?

Last edited by NathanaelB on Sun 13 Jul, 2014 8:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Strider]

Yes, short range and detected using a scanner from the "surface".