The journey from Canberra to the Mount Franklin car park was 60 km, at least half of this was on dirt road - the road from Uriarra up to the Piccadilly Circus turnoff was bouncy at times - but the Mount Franklin Road, which follows the ridge, is quite good (blind corners! drive slow!). From the car park to the site of the old chalet is only 300m - there now stands a new picnic shelter (totally useless when a snowy south wester is blowing).
Mt Franklin Hut
The old toilet block still survives, and is quite serviceable. The parks service still maintain it as a public convenience. It would also be quite useful as a storm shelter as there is plenty of space inside - at least you wouldn't have to go far if nature called!!
The Mt Franklin Conveniences
I put my skis on (my old Fischer Crown light tourers - perfect for rock scraping) and headed off up the track to the top of Mt Franklin, which was only about a kilometre away. The track had a useable cover of snow - the trees on the western side act like a snow fence and cause a snow drift along the path. The only problem is that the parks service has been throwing logs and branches all along the sides of the path in an attempt to reclaim the old ski run that the path follows - this made it really dicy on the way down as you have to stick to a narrow path and side step down any steep bits.
Mt Franklin Track
It was great to be out on the skis again, working out the rusty bits in my technique. The weather was quite blizzardy too - alternating between fluffly snow and chittering ice which bounced noisily off the hood of my Mammut soft shell. I love being out solo in this sort of weather - it gives me time to think about what I am doing and how my gear is performing - situational awareness - confidence - character building!!.
The climb to the top of the hill, and then on to the trig station didn't take too long - I took my time though as with so much fresh uneven snow on the track it was difficult to know what laid under the lumpy bits. Once on top of the hill it is fine though - an open alpine meadow with scattered trees.
Mt Franklin Trig Station
I had a bit of a look around the trig station, though the fresh lumpy snow (lots of grass tussocks underneath) didn't inspire me to attempt any downhill runs. I took some photos of the icy Snow Gums (no koala bears here!!) and headed back down the hill.
It very icy version of Eucalyptus pauciflora ssp. niphophila
The journey back down was slow as I had to side step on my skis most of the way - there was way too much potential for broken legs with all the snow covered logs next to the track. As I got back to the car there was a couple of guys there with shovels trying to pack as much snow as they could into the tray of their pickup truck - a surprise for the kids at home I suppose - though it would make a great party esky - you could chill a lot of beer with their pile of snow.
The journey up Mt Franklin got me thinking again about the rest of the Brindabellas. I've had plans for about five years to venture further down the mountain range, though again access is difficult if the road access has been cut. I'd been toying with the idea of walking in to Pryor's Hut, which is at the base of Mount Gingera (1857m), another eight kilometres down the road. The plan was to walk up from the carpark at Corin Dam - I'd read as much information about it that I could find and was confident that I could do it solo.
Pryor's Hut is a lovely old mountain hut that was built about fifty years ago for staff of the botanic gardens, who were planting arboretums along the top of the Brindabellas to trial cool climate tree species. It has a couple of rooms, benches, and two lovely stone fireplaces. It is now maintained by the Kosciuszko Huts Association. It is a great place to base yourself for a bit of remote backcountry skiing - the area holds the snow quite well over winter, especially if it's a good snow year.
I've been planning to do a weekend at Pryor's Hut when the snow is good, so I wanted to walk in on the proposed route before it snowed so that I was up to speed on what the access would be like. I'd looked at the map many times, but refrained from working out what the climb out of the valley from Corin Dam was going to be like. I could see that it was steep.
I drove to Corin Dam on Saturday 2nd of May and got to the car park just before dawn. I scouted around a bit and found the path "right behind the toilet block" as had been reported by others. I took a well loaded day pack, as going solo you have to be prepared for anything, and I wanted to know what it was like climbing that hill with a decent weight on my back. The track, though not heavily used, is quite obvious and is marked with pink tape tied to the trees. I started off just as there was enough light to see where I was going.
It was steep to start with. Very steep. I climbed the first hundred metres or so as if I was climbing a granite slab - up on the toes of my shoes, leaning forward, and heading straight up. The slope then backed off a bit, but it was still steep and sustained. Towards the top I was having to rest every 50m or so - all I could think of was how hard it must be doing the final stages of high Himalayan peaks.
Walk up this - for an hour...
When I reached about half-way up the slope, the sun came over the far hill and lit the path up. I was really starting to heat up now, so it was a good excuse to stop, unzip my jacket and take a photo.
The Sunlit Climb to Stockyard Spur
The morning was beautiful and peaceful, with only an occasional bird call. I kept my head down and pushed on. It was a hard slog, but the hill started to level out. I came upon a bushwalking cairn and then noticed a lightly used vehicle track heading off along Stockyard Spur towards my destination. I'd made it to the top of the hill! 600 metre climb, 1.5 kilometres, 1 hour.
The Road Along Stockyard Spur
The walk along Stockyard Spur to the Mt Franklin Road is about four kilometres. There is a bit of up and down, with a couple of small hills to take slowly after all that climbing, but it was easy walking in a sub-alpine bush setting. It would be great for skiing after a good snow fall. Before I knew it I was at the Mt Franklin Road - I turned left and walked for about ten minutes along the well maintained dirt road, and there was Pryor's Hut - a very welcome site. And even better - I'd made the walk in 2 hours.
Pryor's Hut
The hut inside was a clean as a mountain hut can be - with a good fire going in the stone fireplace, a couple of friends, and some good cheer, it would be very cosy. I set up my MSR Whisperlite stove and put some chilli noodles on to cook - even though the sky was clear and blue it was still quite early and it was about 2 degrees Celsius outside (the weather station is on the next hill - Mt Ginini - and all the weather data is published to the web every half an hour - very convenient - Mt Ginini weather station observatons).
I went for a walk around the area after a quick recarb of noodles. There is a clean pit toilet outside (with paper!) and there is a small arboretum of exotic Pines planted nearby. I walked up the road a bit and looked up at Mount Gingera, which is about another 200m higher than the hut. The hill had plenty of treeless slopes, which would be perfect for carving up after good fall of snow. The last of the summer Paper Daisies were flowering, adding some bright colour to the cold mountain.
Australian Paper Daisy
I didn't want to waste too much time or energy, as this was merely a scouting mission, so I went back to the hut, grabbed my gear, and headed back from whence I came. I stopped at one of the small tors (granite outcrops) along Stockyard Spur and snapped a shot of the mountains to the west. There's plenty more hills to be climbed out there!
Looking West From Stockyard Spur
The walk back down the hill was no piece of cake either - because it was so steep it had to be done slowly with a lot of side-stepping. I tried to clear the track a bit as I went, and build more track marking cairns as an excuse for a break. I made it back to the car park in two hours.
This trip, though tiring and highlight the fact that I will be requiring a bit more training, established the fact that it is possible to climb to Pryor's Hut and back for the weekend. I want to do a couple of ski tours up there this winter - if I can con a couple of other masochists to climb the hill with me. I think that climbing the hill, then skiing for the day, then walking out, would be not just too tiring, but not much fun either if done as a day tour. You really need to plan to bed down in the hut for the night, then head out the next day. This place has great potential - especially with rising fuel prices - for a quick last minute local ski tour after a good fall of snow.
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