Ascent of Mount Twynam on 2009-03-29| Date: | Sunday, March 29, 2009 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Peak: | Mount Twynam | | Location: | Australia-New South Wales | | Elevation: | 7201 ft / 2194 m |
Ascent Trip ReportThe idea for this trip materialized only a few weeks before doing it. It seemed as if this was a good time for travel -- and the seasons in Australia are the reverse of ours, so winter was coming. The weather was mostly beautiful, except for a couple of drizzly mornings. My original plan was to spend most nights camping out -- it turned out I spent most nights in motels. Partly, this was because there aren't a lot of good campsites in this part of Kosciuszko National Park that are legal (away from the lakes and trails), near some water, not in a very wet or rocky area, and near somewhere I actually wanted to be.
Anyway -- my trip out took from noon Thursday New Hampshire time to early Saturday morning Australia time. I picked up my rental car in Sydney and drove out to Jindabyne, stopping enroute to pick up alcohol for fuel (for the stove not me!) as well as food. After reading up on the stringent rules about bringing food into Australia, I had decided to buy everything there. The only thing I couldn't find in Australia that I really wanted was instant oatmeal -- I could only find the "quick" kind. I was concerned I might scorch the pan with my little alcohol stove, but it turned out to be no trouble. When I reached Jindabyne I was really tired and glad to stay in a motel for that night.
The next morning I had a takeout sandwich and coffee for breakfast and drove out to the parking area at Charlotte Pass. Leaving there, the first part of the trail is paved or car-ready gravel -- down to the Snowy River then up towards Blue Lake. After the river crossing, I met up with two Australian guys a bit younger than myself. They were heading for some of the same peaks I was and we decided to hike together for awhile. Their names were John and Ben -- they were just two of the many friendly people I met in Australia. They were good company and we spent most of the next day or so together.
We reached Blue Lake and passed a few other hikers stopped there -- just beyond Blue Lake we found a very definite track heading up to Mt. Twynam from the prominent trail we were on. (Since this area was all grassland with just some low shrubbery, the track wasn't all that necessary.) We followed the track up towards the mountain top, and reached it directly. After photographs at the top, we split up for awhile. I headed over to "NW Twynam" which was in plain sight from the summit. (Peakbagger.com has designated this as "Watson Crag Dome" -- the prerogative of the webmaster.) My new Australian friends weren't interested in this summit, so they headed directly back to the main track over Mount Carruthers. We agreed we would look for each other in the Wilkinson Creek valley, which seemed to be the best campground in the area towards which we were heading. |
| Summary Total Data | | Route Conditions: | Maintained Trail, Unmaintained Trail | Ascent Part of Trip: kosci1 (1 nights total away from roads)
Complete Trip Sequence:
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