Solo Tour on the Perisher Range

It’s been a great start to the 2007 snow season in Kosciuszko National Park. By the end of June there was a good cover and hard pack. Rain in the last week of June caused a good dump from earlier in that week to go hard and icy, but it was followed by decent falls of dry powder. The wind blown higher areas had patches of sheet ice, but the displaced powder was deposited into thick drifts on the east facing slopes.


On Saturday 30th June I headed off on a solo tour, intending to cross the Perisher Range between Mount Perisher and The Paralyser, then head north toward Illawong Hut and scout the route up to Mount Twynam for a future ski tour. I started off at the National Parks facilities in Perisher after seeing my wife off on a lesson with a group from the ski club. I collared Noel Mungovan, one of the instructors, before I went and showed him on the map where I was going. I explained if my wife flagged me as lost that night, that’s where I’d be. The weather was marginal, with a full overcast sky, gusty winds and snow showers.

I started off by heading up the Kosciuszko Road towards Betts Camp. The road had a good cover of snow, and the oversnow transport that operates between Perisher and Charlotte Pass had packed it down nicely and added some tracks that I slotted into. As I came over the Perisher Gap I realised the southerly wind was quite strong and persistent. When I tried to get off the road and onto the seemingly thick fresh snow along the side I found out that it was actually wind-blown ice. The rain a few days earlier had turned the previous dump into ice and the wind had blown it clean of the latest falls of powder.

Looking from the pass down to Betts Camp area

I headed down the road to about a kilometre past the Gap, and just before where Guthrie Creek passes under the road I went to the north side of the road and started heading in a northerly direction up the valley between The Paralyser and Mount Perisher. I kept to the eastern side of the valley and tried to follow the contour as much as possible, with the intention of climbing up the head of the valley. By then the snow was coming down continuously and I decided I should put on my Gore-Tex overpants, so I pulled in behind a large granite boulder that provided some protection from the weather. Getting gaiters and plastic ski boots off and back on again is an interesting process in thick snow, but having a small tree next to you to grab for balance and to hang things on certainly makes it easier. I was fully rugged up after that. Full Gore-Tex jacket and pants, light woollen balaclava, beanie, jacket hood over the top and goggles. As long as I kept moving I was quite warm and comfortable.

Kitted out, including iPod

I reached the head of the valley and started the climb up the hill to the pass at the top. I managed to do it in two long climbing traverses as the snow cover was thick enough to cover most small obstacles and the head of the valley is mostly treeless. The climb was not too much of an effort, and the pass between Mount Perisher and The Paralyser is wide, fairly flat and also treeless, so after reaching the crest of the hill you descend into a wide, flatish, open bowl of snow. The ground to the north dropped gently into various valleys, dotted with small peaks between them, and looked like a great spot to investigate. If you follow any of the creek lines here you end up in Guthega, so getting lost is not a problem. My main worry was that the weather was not letting up, and it was making progress slow and a bit painful as my goggles were constantly fogging up. Oh for a sunny day in t-shirt and sunglasses – but then two weeks ago we were praying for snow, so I couldn’t complain. I put plan B into action, which was to stay closer to the resort area in case the weather turned really nasty.

I decided to turn east and try and get on top of a hill where I could get mobile phone coverage so as to call my wife and find out when her lesson was going to finish. I followed the contours around the hill, aiming for the pass between Mount Perisher and Back Perisher Mountain. As I worked my way closer to the pass I noticed a snow pole line heading from the pass down into Farm Creek. As I found out later, this is an old pole line that takes you down into Guthega. At least I have plenty of places to investigate later when the weather gets better.

Iced up Snow Gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora)

As I moved closer to the pass I started to encounter more patches of ice. This section of the hill (northern spur of Mount Perisher) was much more exposed to the wind and was therefore being blown clean of the new snow. I climbed too high on the spur, and although I managed to get into mobile range, I was surrounded by boulders and icy snow. I attempted to pick my way down to the pass, but discretion being the better part of valour, I took my skis of and stomped a hundred metres down, digging my heals into the icy crust as I went.

The wind was howling through the pass, and had blown all the new snow off the icy under surface, leaving only sheet ice to ski on. I put my skis on and let the wind blow me up the gentle slope, the ice having next to no friction. I then descended into Sun Valley, traversing and kick-turning the really steep sections, getting in runs and a few turns on the easier bits. Before long I was back amongst the crowds of the resort, though glad to be heading for shelter where I could site down and relax out of the weather. Oh, and didn’t the supermarket above the ski-tube station have a sign indicating they sold beer?

A little later I was sitting in the National Parks facility, waiting for my wife to return from the lesson, having a pain relieving bevvy and chatting to a couple of guys who were going snow camping. National Parks has put up some information boards there, and one had the history of the naming of The Paralyser and Mount Perisher. James Spencer, a pioneer in Kosciuszko, was herding cattle and had experienced two blizzards in the area; one he said was a paralyser and the other a perisher, hence the naming of the hills. After poking around up there for the day with all my nice modern gear in marginal weather, I could sympathise with him.