Spring Skiing, The Sentinel and Mt Carruthers

Our last big group ski for the season is becoming a bit of a tradition. A big day out followed by a night of camping with beers and stories around the fire. This year we continued the tradition. Rohan, Mark and Marcin the mad Polish man arrived at my house in Berridale late Friday. After a few beers and stories of toilet practices gone wrong while snow camping, a recurring theme it seems, we hit the hay.

Angry Wagyu bull I met on the drive to the mountains

Kind of excited too

We were up early and at the turning circle around 8:00 to meet a host of people; Belly, Rimey, Tim, Dave, Richard, Carl, Mrs Skifree and Paul the telemarking sheep farmer. After a mostly uneventful wet crossing of the Snowy River and walk/ski to the saddle above Soil Con Creek we assessed the skiing out to the Sentinel.

Multiple gear explosions as everyone gets ready for the day out

Boot packing up the Main Range Trail

Looking out to The Sentinel, the boys weigh up the options

The Sentinel, a beautiful peak

The group split with the snowboarders electing to head over to Little Austria and Carruthers while the real man decided to take on the Sentinel.

For our first run we dropped off Sentinel Ridge, the snow was pretty firm and not that great. Huge dimples, like giant golf balls, played havoc with our cool carbon layup skis.

Frame grab of me on our first run off Sentinel Ridge, the dimples were not fun

We then bush-bash contoured around to the south east face of The Sentinel. Some of us donned crampons and climbed to the peak while others experienced snowboarder-esque screw issues with their new crampons. Those of us that climbed to the peak dropped in while Rimey and Mark met us at the bottom after skiing another line off the ridge.

Mark with some classic Australian backcountry ski conditions

Stoked to finally be able to ski The Sentinel

Watsons Crags

Sentinel peak and Mt Townsend

Paul drops in

Hats off to Rimey who after surviving a nasty fall last summer, and subsequent recovery, is back to carving up lines way out in the middle of nowhere.

Classic style, Rimey drops off Sentinel Ridge

The climb out was long and hot.

Crampons on and straight up

We made our way back to Carruthers for some afternoon lines into Club Lake. I met up with some old mates, Ryan and the Snowy Mountains' own bush carpenter Dougs (and here).

Hey Dougs, where's that single malt?

The run down to Club Lake was beautiful, just the right amount of softness and steepness to really let the skis run.

Mark drops into The Elevator, a pretty nice Australian chute from Carruthers down into Club Lake

Frame grab of me skiing off Carruthers

While the fitter members of the group booted up for another run I started the climb up to Mt Lee for my preferred last run of the season. Looking back I saw some tele gold by Paul the telemarking sheep farmer.

The awesome terrain off Mt Carruthers into Club Lake

My last run down Mt Lee was fun, beautiful wide open turns all the way to Club Lake Creek then drift hopping all the way back to the Snowy River. We finished the trip with a memorable night around the campfire discussing snow camping toilet etiquette and tales of youth misspent.

Classic night

Roos around the camp site in the morning

We wet a line in the Thredbo River but no luck as usual

A glacial erratic I encountered on the way home?

Lucky to see hundreds of endangered Hoary Sunray

Thank you everyone for the good times out on the hill. Another great season with plenty of good snow and backcountry learning opportunities. Enjoy summer.

An edit by Rohan who really loves 80's rock!

Sentinel and Club Lake SD from Rohan Verco on Vimeo.

The Sentinel, Kosciuszko National Park

Like many before me, I had always imagined the Australian Alps as largely benign, flat rolling hills. Indeed, I spent years travelling the northern hemisphere in search of steep terrain to ski. Back in 2008 I walked the Main Range Trail and got my first glimpse of the western faces. The trail takes you over the Snowy River then a gradual incline to the Blue Lake lookout. From here it is a short walk to northern side of Carruthers Peak. It is at this pass that you get your first look at the western faces of the Main Range. Incredibly steep and jagged peaks. Coming from the rolling meadows of alpine flowers and streams it is all a little hard to comprehend.

Who put that there? My first look at the western faces back in 2008

Sticking out like a sore thumb is a peak in the centre of the vista, The Sentinel. Although not one of Australians highest mountain it surely has to be one of the most spectacular.

The Sentinel

It was this first glimpse of the western faces that psyched me up to get into ski touring in Australia. I have skied some of the lines in the area but had yet to ski or climb The Sentinel.

Skinning out of Avalanche Gulley, Spring 2011. Sentinel Peak is mid field on the right

With +1 away for the weekend I had an opportunity to hike out to The Sentinel, one of the walks I have been eyeing off since we moved to the mountains. I was incredibly slow getting my gear together and got to the Charlottes Pass turning circle at 1:00pm. There were cars everywhere and I had to park a long way from the trail head. Guess a few extra hundred metres walking wouldn’t hurt. Once I hit the trail I got a look at the path ahead.

The Sentinel is over the back of the range, sort of mid right of shot

The walk out on the Main Range Track was pretty uneventful. I ran into heaps of walkers coming back from Blue Lake and I can happily say I scored a 90% hit rate on my trail g’days. Eventually I made it to the pass on the northern side of Carruthers and got a look at The Sentinel.

Thar she blows

At this point I said good bye to the day trippers and took off north from the trail. I found a great campsite next to Strzelecki Creek. I set up camp lightening my pack considerably and set off to climb The Sentinel.

Not a bad spot for a tent

The walk out to the peak was pretty exciting, rock scrambles, flowers, breathtaking views and one horribly exposed full on rock climb. The climbing bit in particular was pretty scary considering how far away form help I was and that there is no tracks or phone reception on this side of the range.

Eventually, I made the peak and took some time to enjoy the view.

Every year my sunglasses get more ridiculous

I would have taken more time on the peak but I was getting attacked by march flies. I don’t understand their point? There are no large mammals that inhabit these peaks for them to attack. It’s like they just hang out on the off chance that some intrepid hiker will just turn up in their area. The only animals they could attack, wombats and maybe a wallaby, are generally nocturnal, the flies only hang around in the day, WTF?

I began the hike back up to my tent. It was actually a bit of a slog. I safely managed the exposed rock climbing bit and after another hot hour of scrambling made it back to my little campsite.

My tent was way up there somewhere

I spent the afternoon mucking around with my camera taking photos of the flowers, gnarled alpine fauna and the little creek I was pitched in next too.

I even managed to hit one of the nasty march flies. Although I had crushed its abdomen it was still trying to eat me. Eventually it flew off (with no abdomen mind), perched on some grass and died.

These things could survive a WMD

I watched the sunset from a little peak just up form my tent. There was one moment where the sun punched though illuminating Carruthers, it was spectacular.

I had some dodgy ham sandwiches for dinner and a cup of tea. I spent the evening watching Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy on my ipod. A good movie that requires your full attention. I struggled a bit with the plot as the actors looked and sounded remarkably similar on my tiny ipod screen.

I got a good sleep and woke around 7am. One of the best things about hiking is having the opportunity to sleep in my down sleeping bag. It is so comfy and warm, I am considering bringing it into rotation at home.

Good morning

It was a beautiful clear morning. I had a quick bite to eat and started to pack up as the temperature was rising fast and I didn’t want to be hiking in the heat of the day.

Last looks at The Sentinel

Once back on the Main Range Trail I had an easy walk back to the Snowy River. I didn’t see any day trippers until the Snowy crossing. It was eerie walking along the usually busy trail early in the morning with no one around. I walked up the final 200m vertical to the car, affectionately known as heartbreak hill, got in the car drove to town and ate a massive, well deserved, bacon and egg roll with a coffee.