Snowy Mountains April 2006
Computer says No! Another Epic. Yep ... not one but nearly two epics this time. One more than the last trip to the Snowy.
Let's start at the beginning. Always a great place to start.
Nice easy pickup from homes by JohnD for Yarro, JohnO and Phil Wednesday afternoon between 1.30 and 2.00 and a smooth M7 run to Liverpool and onto Cooma with a stop for McCafe outside Marulan. Sovereign Motel was nice and comfortable with dinner at Danielles'. Smooth Kilkennys and a glass of red washing down great pizza and steak before chocolate and bed.
Day 1
Graham, Peter and Richard arrived overnight and we shared breakfast at the hotel before heading for Cabramurra. hmmm - Cabrraaaaamurrraaaa. It was covered in snow when we arrived and -1 degrees Celsius.
The "original" destination for this pilgrimage to the mountains was Grey Mare Hut with a Base Camp there for 3 nights (Thursday, Friday and Saturday). This was Option A (click here to see the original route plan from Grey Mare). But with the snow cover we thought about Cabramurra as option B. Sounds great - stay at the Scout Hall - we've done that before - cool. Ride out each day should be excellent. Problem! The contractors had the Scout Hall and there was no other accommodation in Cabramurra.
Ok, ok, it's ok - what about Option C - Round Mountain Hut. JohnD had crashed there some years ago. Nice big cabin and only a short ride from Round Mountain car park and if that wasn't any good Option D would be Khancoban about 50ks on from the car park. So we headed off to the car park. Awesome drive with snow all around. Very pretty. And the car park looked great all in white - except - yep, one small, minor issue. A car was in the car park covered in snow which suggested someone was already in the hut and staying in tents in the snow was not that inviting.
Option D - Khancoban? No, let's go for Option E - Patons Hut about 2 ks in from Tooma Dam about 12ks on the road to Khancoban. Great, sound good, let's go. Back in the car and off we went. One the way Option F was formulated which was heading back to Bradleys Hut about a k before Round Mountain car park.
Tooma Dam didn't have snow and it looked quite pleasant, in fact we'd entered the park from this point some years ago. A few of the keen ones desperate to get on the bikes headed in to check out Paton Hut before loading up with the 20+ kilo packs for the 2k ride. 30 minutes later - Bugga! - the Hut was no more. Computer says No! - It was burnt down.
Ok, ok, let's think about this. Much discussion and then it was agreed. Option D was back in play with a 40k drive to Khancoban. Now called Option D2.
Khancoban had a nice little caravan park by the lake and a cabin available to fit us all. Quick checkin and then it was time to ride. Just a short ride over the spillway and up a hill, back down into the valley and across a little bridge near the airport where we meet this "nice" old man who told us about a great trail ride. In fact it was the ride JD was looking for on this little tour. It was called the "Tiger Trail". The "nice" old man explain his son did the ride in about 6 hours to the top of Mt Youngel with a trip back via Geehi Walls Trail. Little bit of up hill, then traverse, a steepish climb to the top of the mountain and downhill pretty much all the way back to Khancoban. Great, sounds good, "Computer says Yes!".
Back to the cabin, dehy dinners, couple of drinks and pool at the pub then prep for an early start. Option D2 now became D2b with the decision to stay 2 nights in Khancoban.
