Mt Bogong Early Season Skitouring

An early season skitouring/splitboarding trip on the crown of Victorian mountains, Mount Bogong. Cairn Gully run from the South side of the summit usually gets the earliest ski-able snow for the season.

Everyone who wants to join on the trip (if you're on the waitlist too) needs to get in contact with me or our snow sports officer Jacob during the lead up to this season so we can make sure it's the trip for you, and if not, we can make an effort to get you on a more suitable trip for you on your backcountry journey! It looks like it's very popular so we might end up running a second trip if needed.

Trip Itinerary

Depending on conditions and participant availability, and abilities this trip will take one of the following options:

* A 2 day trip, camping overnight at Michell Hut on Eskdale Spur.
* A 3 day trip (Friday or Monday extra), camping for 2 nights up at Cleve Col Hut.
* 2 separate day trips (camping in the valley), one day up on Mt Bogong and another elsewhere, perhaps Feathertop, or side country near Falls Creek or Mt Hotham.

We will depart Melbourne the night before the trip starts, and camp at Mountain Creek Campsite at the base of Mount Bogong.

If the snow arrives earlier, in June or early July, we may re-schedule the trip to take advantage of that, provided there is enough availability to justify doing so.

Participant Requirements

* You need to be a competent downhill skier or snowboarder, able to safely descend a black run on piste.
* You need to have been on some overnight hikes before, and be comfortable packing and carrying an overnight backpack.
* You need to have the fitness to be able to comfortably ascend 1000 vertical meters in a day with a day pack while hiking.
* This trip sort of sits somewhere between the intermediate and advanced classifications in the participant guidelines https://www.mumc.org.au/files/documents/Participant%20Guidelines%20-%20Skiing.pdf partly depending on what trip option we take.

Touring Gear

The club has back-country skis and avalanche kits available for rent. If you would like to join on a snow board you have a couple of options, you can BYO snowboard and rent some club snow shoes (please ensure your backpack is capable of carrying the snowboard strapped to the back), or you can BYO splitboard.

For those joining on touring skis or a splitboard, ski/split crampons are highly recommended.

A full list of equipment for the trip will be distributed to those who sign up.

Leaders

I'm volunteering to lead this trip, but as I live in Mt Beauty, and will be unlikely to be able to join for the pre-trip meeting on the Tuesday before the trip, I'll need some other experience club member to put up their hand and help me with the pre-trip meeting, gear check and ski rentals.

Photos

Some photos and videos of skiing on Bogong taken on various club and other trips I've been on over the years, to help you get excited: https://lukefrisken.com/guiding/Mount-Bogong-Australia-1abc5744d9a2805590c1f26aaec6aec1