Climbing The Top Ten - Australia's Ten Highest Peaks

All of the ten highest Australian mainland peaks are located in the Kosciuszko National park.

Nearest towns: Thredbo / Charlotte Pass

Difficulty:  Challenging in one day    Date climbed:  18-03-2011    Author:   Graeme

TEN out of TEN - The ultimate day walk

We’ve done the Great 8, Overland Track, and endless training walks to beautiful parts of Australia, but there is something about the number TEN that is irresistible. Ten fingers, ten toes, the movie 10, ten out of ten for a perfect dive, the Top Ten mountains in Australia!

So, on an optimistic Thursday afternoon in March 2011, Brian and I hop into the CRV to make the trek down to Charlottes Pass to attempt the irresistible 10. We have high hopes of achieving our goal in 2 days, as our research of previous articles and Internet sites (www.aussie10.com and www.adventureprofessionals.com.au) gave us a realistic timetable.

There is however, a small unspoken hope that conditions going our way, we might achieve a perfect 10 in a single day walk. Our cumulative age was 120 years on the day, and so a certain amount of planning and a huge amount of optimism goes into all of our climbs. Seize the day!

Lake Crackenback resort provides our base, and we arrive there well after reception hours on Thursday night, happy for a light dinner and an early start the next morning. Up at 5 AM and the starry morning alluded to a, perhaps perfect day. The drive from Lake Crackenback resort to Charlottes Pass is longer than expected, as the native kangaroos congregate around and on the road, and in the morning, mountain mist a collision to the detriment of all parties seems likely. Kangas avoided we make our way past the Charlottes Pass sign and to the end of the Kosciuszko Road, where a turning circle and limited parking mark the starting point of the backbone of our attempt, the Main Range track.

At 6:15 AM we don head torches in the dark and head down the paved and somewhat irregular path towards the Snowy River. The path is well marked and at intervals there are information signs which give an insight into the formation of this beautiful landscape. I’m certain that reading about glaciation on a misty cold mountain morning increased our walking speed for some time.

Our timing is fortuitous, (often luck and skill equate to planning and practice) and we reach the Snowy River crossing at first light, the river level being low enough to enable crossing via the stepping stones without the need to remove our boots. We spend some time appreciating the crossing, as this is the only point on the walk where you cross the Snowy in its mountain stream glory. (We do however jump its headwaters later on).

Now the uphill climb begins, and we make good time in the cool early morning conditions. Again, the path is easily followed, although the use of hay bales across the track to prevent erosion makes us feel a little like steeplechasers on the uphill slog. About an hour into the walk and we reach the intersection of the main range track and Blue Lake lookout track.

The sun is rising over Blue Lake, and we stop to take photos of a magnificent sunrise, feeling a million miles away from civilisation. Our goal however is mountains, and so after a short pause we are away to our first peak, Mt. Twynam. Twynam is the 3rd highest of Australia’s peaks, and we need to divert off the main range track to the summit. There is a well-marked intersection, and we follow what appears to be an old service trail almost to the top of Twynan, needing only to cut cross country for the final 50 metres to the summit. Photos ensue of Brian and myself standing underneath an old survey rig. 8:10 AM and our first summit. No. one down.

We retrace our steps to the main range track, noticing many old posts and remnants of previous usage of the area. From the intersection, there is a short but steep climb to the summit of Mt. Carruthers, but the main range track goes virtually over the summit. The views to the west of Mt. Sentinel and Watsons Crags are sublime and from here the panorama across to Mt. Kosciuszko shows one of nature's great natural amphitheatre's. No. two down.

From Carruthers the track meanders across alpine meadows with views over Club Lake and back towards Charlottes Pass. We stop to take photos above Lake Albina, the track cut heavily into the hillside and the remoteness of this high alpine area in the morning sunshine illuminating. On to Mueller’s Pass. It has been written that there is an intersection off the main track and a path to Mt. Townsend, but we find this to be incorrect. There is a rocky cairn about 10 metres off the track to the right about 200 metres after the track winds around Mueller’s Peak, and this leads to the path. We leave some of our gear at this cairn as we know we will return this way. The “path” to Mt. Townsend is a narrow track, but has been marked along the way by previous walkers with stone Cairns at critical points, and is easy to follow. Along the way we greet two fellow walkers, the first we have seen for the day. From the end of the track, we divert north to climb Mt. Alice Rawson trying to climb the four peaks in this area without backtracking. No. 3 down.

Mt. Townsend is just to the south and so next and we arrive at the summit at 11.27 A.M. Townsend is probably my favourite climb of the day, a rocky scramble needed to reach the summit, and loose boulders on the top. I had seen the movie "127 hours" recently and the movement of some of the rocks on Townsend made us think twice. I informed Brian that the knife was sharp, but he rightly informed me that that was no use if the rock was perched on my head. Perhaps the altitude is starting to make its presence felt. Mt. Townsend is a nunatak, or rocky point that extruded above the glacier that covered this region during the ice ages of 10,000 to 2,000,000 years ago. Much more of a mountain than Mt. Kosciuszko, and some climbers apparently take rocks up in an attempt to give Townsend the 19 metres it lacks on Kosciuszko. It may take a while. It’s more likely that erosion from the thousands of feet that scramble up Kosciuszko will even the ledger but we may have to wait a million years or so. No. 4 down.

From Townsend we climb down to a col before back up to Abbots Peak. No. 5 down.

On to Byatts Camp, southwest of Abbots Peak. The mist is closing in as we summit Byatts Camp at 12.21 PM and we are presented with a beautiful view through the mist across Wilkinsons Creek to Mt. Kosciuszko. No. 6 down.

We have now climbed the six Peaks that we had set as the goal for day one of our climb and now cut back cross country to re-join the path back to Mueller’s Pass. It is still only 1.30 PM. Can we do the rest? I think at this stage neither Brian or myself really want to ask how the other is feeling, for the 10 is possibly on. We decide to climb Mt. Kosciuszko, have lunch at the summit of Australia, and see how we feel. From Mueller’s Pass to the top of Kosciuszko is obviously uphill, but not a difficult climb as the path is wide and the final ascent used to be a road. However, there is still a sense of achievement standing at the highest point of your country. We lunch at the summit, with a wonderful view of the main range track winding its way back towards Mt. Carruthers, with Mt. Townsend and the Abbot Range on the left and Charlottes Pass in the far distance. A peaceful feeling of how far we had come, and then we look to the South.

I feel like Frodo from the Lord of the Rings, looking south to the gates of Mordor, or Rams Head North in our case, and knowing we must go there and beyond. Time is on our side and remarkably we both still feel strong. No. 7 down.

After Kosciuszko the main range track heads down to Rawson’s Pass. We make the decision to attempt the remaining 3 peaks, and so divert down the Kosciuszko walk towards Thredbo. This walk is the common method of climbing Kosciuszko from Thredbo, and so is a wide walkway with mostly metal grids elevated above ground to protect the alpine flora. We follow it down to just north of where it crosses the start of the Snowy River. Rams Head North is a very obvious landmark and towers above the surrounds. We leave the pathway, and head straight up the ridge to the north side of Rams Head North. The climb appears easiest from the western side, although there are many ways up, all requiring some rock scrambling. 3.37 PM and Brian is standing on the top with 8 fingers up, albeit with some skin off from the climb. The rock is very abrasive, and gloves may be the way to go. No. 8 down.

After a careful descent we head off to Rams Head. Rams Head is a couple of peaks to the southwest, and we need to climb a false summit with a flag on top before actually seeing Rams Head itself. (No, we don’t count the unnamed peaks along the way) By this time of the day we are over 10 hours into the climb, and the pace is falling. After a final rocky scramble, the top of Rams Head is attained at 4.20 PM. The view from Rams Head is superb and there are many other smaller peaks and rocky outcrops in the area which lend themselves to exploration, but not today. No. 9 down.

We have now turned the corner and are on our way home. So back across the alpine meadows past our new friend Rams Head North, and back to the Kosciuszko walk and up to Etheridge Ridge. We also jump the headwaters of the Snowy River as we pass. The unnamed peak on Etheridge Ridge is the last of the 10 and the easiest. But for us, it is the ultimate summit. 10 out of 10 and Brian and I collectively hold up ten fingers in elation at 5.31 PM.

We have done it! Our energy levels peak with our elation at managing a walk which we were not sure was possible considering our ages, weather and just the scale of the walk. We have climbed the Top Ten in eleven hours and 15 minutes.        All Ten Down!

Now there is just a short 7 km walk down the old Charlottes Pass Road and back to the car. Early on the track we pass the historic Seaman’s Hut, built in 1929 to commemorate a young skier who died in a blizzard there. Our weather could not have been more different. We tick off the kilometre signposts and are surprised that each mark is exactly ten minutes. Tired, but happy, we arrive back at the car at 7:30 PM, a tad over 13 hours after leaving it and having walked roughly 47 kilometres. And now face tired legs on the drive back to Lake Crackenback!

On waking the following morning, the clouds are low, the mist and rain impenetrable and breakfast is superb, consumed in the knowledge that we do not need to climb today. (This was the weekend when parts of NSW copped 250 mm of rain. How lucky were we with the weather?) We checked in and out of Lake Crackenback Resort at 8.00 AM. We had been too late to check in on Thursday night, too early on Friday morning and too late again on Friday night. I’m not sure they knew what was happening! We head back to suburbia, our next trip already a whim away. (Hint - a whim away, a whim away, in the jungle, the mighty jungle, etc.)

To be continued… When our wives allow it.