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Winter was
particularly harsh this year at least as far
as relatively balmy Australia is concerned.
For us - a motley crew of middle-aged metro-sexuals
living in Sydney, that meant, it was once more
time to renew our bounds with nature; bring
out our hunter-gatherer instincts and see if
we've still got it! Our yearly rite-of-passage
is the testing ground of Blue Lake at Mount
Kosciusko National Park right in the center
of Australia's snowy mountains, or, put in more
self-gratifying dramatic terms, Down Under's
closest thing to high-altitude climbing in the
Himalayas. It is also arguably the only descent
place in Australia where you can sink a pair
of crampons into thick blue ice. Member selection
was thus of critical importance and only men
of true stature can participate: this translates
to a minimum of fatherhood with two very young
children (stress-tested), or alternatively,
two long-term relationships with the opposite
sex who have failed miserably (endurance-tested)
plus one virgin, meaning in this case somebody
who has not been to Blue Lake and needs deflowering
in that respect. After a long selection process
- a couple of beers at the pub - a crew of six
brave multi-cultural individuals were selected
and this year’s honor fell to Bryan, Chris,
Dave, Gary, Patrick and Roman. Bryan, Patrick
and Roman are the regulars with short-term memory
who very quickly can forget the disasters from
the previous years, the others simply didn't
know.
Just like any other year each
member needed to take some kind of responsibility
and the most important aspect of survival namely
food this year like every other year feel on
Bryan who graciously excepted the honor. As
a result we had enough cheese to feed Africa
for a year and more Salami then we could digest
in a year. Our time of choice after several
disastrous previous seasons - with either no
snow and lots of walking with heavy backpacks
or too much snow getting us stuck in a homemade
ice-cave for 5 days with a blizzard howling
outside and only each other to look at - we
choose smack bang in the middle of the snow
season around about Wednesday July 11. Due to
unusually cold conditions and heavy snowfall
we were certain that the ice and gullies were
waiting for us with anticipation.
Approach logistics were divided
into two teams the Wednesday relaxed approach
team (Gary, Bryan and Dave) and the Thursday
crack of dawn mad-rush team (Patrick, Chris
and Roman). Whereas the first team would wine
and dine at Jim and Claire's place overlooking
Jindabyne the second team would leave Sydney
at 5:30 AM sharp and would try to make it to
Blue Lake by late afternoon. We had put 5 days
aside for this year’s trip from Wednesday
to Monday and this year the weather gods were
going to be on our side. The approach to Blue
Lake leads from the end of the road at Guthega
down to the lake across a flying fox were Chris
took his first taste of the ice water after
slipping on one of the stepping stones and nearly
turning into flotsam. His water-logged boot
meant that he didn't have to worry about blisters
for a while. Climbing the steep hill just across
from Guthega we meandered along the Snowy River
for one hour of flat cross-country skiing until
the bridge that crosses the river. This is the
first rest and Patrick's Swiss legs got us there
in less than one hour from the start. From here
the approach route rises steadily over several
hills until the final turn into the Basin of
Blue Lake opposite Charlotte's Pass. I took
us another hour of fast paced climbing to reach
the high-point from where to access Blue Lake.
At this point my lungs were cursing Patrick's
legs because I had just recovered from a 48
hour flue infection and my body was telling
me to stop being stupid. Another 45 minutes
joined us with the first team at the mouth of
Blue Lake. Out of several trips this was the
fastest approach time yet and thankfully Bryan,
Dave and Gary had already prepared the camp
site for us. First priority was to build a descent
shelter and since the weather was promising
we decided to build a state-of-the-art kitchen
for 6 people with benches and table instead
of the usual snow-cave. After a huge day there
was not much else to do but to rest up for next
day and gorge ourselves on the masses of gourmet
food we had carried in to while away the time.
Day 2 dawned early and once
I extricated myself from the sleeping bag I
noticed the miniature icicles in Dave's single
layer Gore-tex tent no wonder I had been cold
through the night. Temperatures at night reached
minus 10 degrees and thankfully there was no
wind. After a hearty breakfast of cereals it
began to snow lightly and we decided to postpone
the ice-climbing and go for a little downhill/telemark
skiing to test our skills in the plentiful snow.
After a few short runs we decided that today
was going to be our cross-country skiing day.
The plan was to cross the frozen lake and climb
up to the Twynams for a day of skiing. The serenity
of the lake was breath-taking and once we ascended
above the lake the temperature plummet and the
wind increased. Visibility turned sour and we
had to turn around shortly before the summit
and descend into the protection of the snow
bowl behind Blue Lake. There were some steep
slopes with up to 200 meter ascents and we spent
the rest of our first day enjoying fresh downhill
powder with the sun occasionally breaking through
the clouds. Tomorrow was going to be superb.
Day 3 was heralded by a brisk
but cloudless sky and that meant that it was
time to sharpen our tools for the immaculate
columns of blue ice around the lake. To warm
up we chose a prominent large wall of gently
leaning snow covered ice which we had climbed
on last year. This ice field is located high
above the lake with a tricky rock spur shielding
the access snow ramp below the ice-fall. Some
ginger front-pointing got us past this obstacle
and onto the heavily snow laden field below
the ice. It was time to dig in and establish
a platform for six eager climbers and then the
action began. We basically hauled our aging
yet well-shaped carcasses up the immaculate
formation taking lots of steep-angle photos
to make it all that more impressive. This year
it was time to explore the ice-fall to the left
of the main field and what we termed "the
nose" - a steep and slightly overhanging
ice-fall led by Dave proved to be the discovery
of the day. We climbed all day and reached camp
watching the ever-weakening orange rays disappear
behind the three prominent gullies of Blue Lake.
Tomorrow we would conquer those gullies.
Day four was gully time and
that meant skiing some serious verticality.
A few fellow adventurists had turned up (Steve
and Megan joined us in Camp) and the race to
ski Gullies number one, two and the mother-of-them
all number three was truly on. As warming up
on gully number one commenced by Chris and Patrick,
Bryan, Dave, Gary and Roman went looking for
some more ice to sink their teeth into. While
we established a route up a steep line of three-tiers
of ice we watched breathlessly as Chris and
Patrick maneuvered carefully down between the
rocky walls of the steep and extremely narrow
snow-field of gully number two. One wrong turn
and rock would be the last thing "in"
your mind....Meanwhile Bryan, Dave and Gary
where doing laps on the tricky snow-crested
exit of our ice-fall, while taking snapshots
of the dare-devil skier right next door. It
was time for lunch and a change of priorities.
Dave didn't get enough climbing time so he and
Roman took of for yet another impressive unclimbed
ice-fall. Gary and Bryan wanted some downhill
action and went for gully number one. Then there
was Patrick who needed to exorcise a six year
old ghost. Perched high above gully number three
- the steepest of them all - his time of reckoning
finally came as he hurled himself down into
the abyss beyond. Finally the spell was broken
and the glimmer in his eye said more than a
thousand words. Chris is doomed to come back
another year. As the sun cast its last rays
on the lake Dave popped out on top of one of
the most beautiful pitches of rock solid steep
ice I have ever seen fully-formed at the lake.
What a perfect moment, but it wasn't enough
as he raced of to catch Bryan and Gary for a
last lap of gully number one, amongst the ever-lengthening
shadows of the rock buttresses. That last night
we were at once liberated and defeated; tired
and uplifted, we had done all we came for and
more but tomorrow it was time to head back home
to our families. But with the fires now burning
so bright within us it was going to be fun.......
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