The next backcountry trip was planned for today. It was a circumnavigation of the Guthega Dam - first climbing Guthega Trig, dropping down and crossing Guthega River before climbing up to Gills Knob, skiing down to Pounds Creek then crossing at the suspension bridge at Illawong and returning to the lodge. The group this time included - Al, Cath, Max, Tom, Andy and myself. Unfortunately Rob had injured himself yesterday and was confined to his bed.
Leaving the lodge just after 9am, we climbed Guthega trip. After taking skins off we began the scary and at times uncontrolled descent towards the creek. Several crashes later we made it to the bottom crossing the creek on a snow bridge and pausing for morning tea.
With skins back on, the route was clear up to Gills Knob. Halfway up, we crossed paths with the couple whom we’d seen first thing at the dam. They were heading up Mt Tate on a more direct route.The wind picked up significantly the higher we ascended. On top it was roaring. All chatter had stopped! With chins tucked in we skinned along the top finding refuge behind a few boulders. Here we regrouped then as quickly as possible skins were taken off with everyone holding on to their belongings as tightly as possible! With such force I'm sure we'd never seen anything again if it blew away! Our sweaty bodies were cooling quickly and we were keen to get off the top.
Aiming to ski on the northern slopes of the Gills Knob or East Tate Ridge, we scooted helped nicely along by the strong wind gusts coming from behind and then dropped off the edge out of the wind and into a fantastic bowl! Unbeknownst to us, Emily and a few others were able to see us from the lodge, tracking our progress as dots crossing the slope.
The skiing here was what we'd come for! Long easy traverses as we made our way to Pounds Creek. Carefully crossing again, we stopped on the banks of the river for lunch and a rest. The shapes the water and snow had made around us were intriguing.
We were only a stone's throw away from Illawong but it involved negotiating a small spur. Discussions were had with pros and cons to putting on skins...the 'lets not put skins on' group won and we trudged up the hill initially to gain a little height before contouring around and walking up the final part. Another lovely gentle slope greeted us on the other side taking us straight to the suspension bridge.
From Illawong it is a bit of a slog and Andy was very much resistant to putting on skins. However I was pretty tired by this point with very little energy and strength left and was going nowhere fast so I cracked and stopped to put on my skins. My progress was better after that and I caught the group up again when they stopped to put on their skins for the traverse through the snow gums towards the flying fox. As we all retreated into our own world focussing on getting the final km's done, a yell was heard from the front - two wombats had been spotted playing chasey in the snow!! They didn't hang around too long before disappearing back into their burrow - but the glimpses we saw made us all smile.
The slope down to the flying fox was tackled differently by everyone - some skied, some walked and some did a bit of both! On the other side the hill to the lodge was also negotiated in various ways - straight up, a bit less straight and a bit more contouring!! We all arrived back at the lodge in a staggered fashion and began swapping our tales of adventures with those inside! A great and challenging day out!
