I first visited Australia's highest point, the summit of Mt Kosciuszko, over 40 years ago, shortly after arriving in the country. That visit involved a ride up the chairlift from Thredbo, and a pretty easy stroll from there, so I felt it never really counted.
The other day I finally returned, and did it properly by way of a decent sized bushwalk.
From Charlotte Pass it's a two or three hour easy 9km walk each way along the Summit Track. I did the longer and more interesting loop walk, returning via the Main Range track. It made for a good leg stretch and a nice day out.
You start at about 1800m altitude, still below the tree line, and pass some very attractive mountain gums.
Up above the tree line now, and crossing the Snowy River near to its source.
At the summit lots of people are having their lunch and admiring the 360 degree views. It's funny though, you get little sense that you're on a higher peak than any of the other numerous ones all around. It's a gently rounded sort of peak. The nearby Mt Townsend is less rounded, and for a long time it was thought that that one was the highest. It had been called Kosciuszko and Kosciuszko had been called Townsend, so they just swapped the names over so that Kosciuszko could continue to be the highest peak in the land!
There's quite a lot of snow around still at this time of year, and some of the visitors found these bits a bit tough going.
Returning now via the Main Range Track, looking back towards Kosciuszko (the right hand one of the two rounded peaks near the centre).
Below: the view to the south west, across the Victorian Alps.
No comments:
Post a Comment