Your correspondent in the field made the best of some fine weather on the weekend and guided three bushwalking friends out from the Mt. St. Gwinear car park in the Baw Baw N.P. ,out to the Rock Shelter where the XC ski snow pole line ( that joins the Baw Baw ski resort with Mt. St. Gwinear ) meets the AAWT( Aust. Alps walking trail). We then headed South East and reached our pleasant campsite near the Talbot Hut ruins in the Mt. Erica region of the Baw Baw plateau. After a cool and starry night we packed up the next day and walked along the AAWT to Mt. St. Phillack saddle and took lunch there. The views of the Baw Baw resort ridge were clear and unimpeded. The off track walking options in green season were / are restricted by head high heath and scrub which are usually totally buried by snow in early September.That is when I usually ski in the Back country of The Baw Baws. Visiting Mustering flat will have to wait until I can XC ski tour out there. It will be faster and easier then. More details and many photos are coming soon.
Mt.St. Gwinear with the redoubtable TP and the unstoppable one, the G man on their first visit to this lovely unspoiled sub alpine location. Reliable International trekker (and snow avoider) Ms. M. was also present. We saw many people enjoying the unburnt splendour of a squillion snow gums on the Baw Baw Plateau. They included trail runners, day walkers, a gaggle of noisy post menopausal female overnight hikers and some school groups. The Talbot Hut ruins camp site was busy on Sat. night.
Mr.T. at the Mt.St.Gwinear summit . It is weird without snow!!. BC XC Ski touring with a day pack is an easier way to travel but @chriscross recommended I take the guitar to Mt. Erica and I did.
The Rock shelter and the AAWT heading for Mt. Erica. 29.2.20 The walking track was in generally good order. Bits of it would be tricky to XC ski on what with narrow steep rocky chutes that drop off and descend suddenly or for long sections with no room to turn to cook off speed or elsewhere the undulating track ascends rapidly over rocks. The innumerable unburnt snow gums and the sunny weather were all very soothing . The Yellow AAWT signs were all being consumed/deformed by the trees they had been nailed to ,all in unique ways.
Day 2. AAWT . March 1st 2020.A mild morning with a nice sunrise. No frost or dew on the tents at all.The water in the stream was flowing well near the Talbot Hut ruins. The night before some older female hikers at the Hut ruins camp site were getting pissed on their goon sack juice and making an exceedingly large amount of noise. I told them what I thought of their disturbance of the peace . I tend to do that kind of thing.
March 1st 2020 . Baw Baw N.P. I have become a member of the "Friends of Baw Baw". This is a fine place for bushwalking, camping and Nordic skiing. It is only 3 hours away from Melbourne and has not been burnt. As @beefa skiing has remarked , in a good snow season you can BC XC ski anywhere on the plateau. Only one's own skills and one's limitations as a XC skier are the limits. Last season in 2019 the snow cover was better in September at BB than at Perisher.
That's because Baw Baw is so far south that it often catches the weather systems that affect Tasmanian ski resorts like Ben Lomond and which miss the other Victorian resorts. Oh... and it has lots of picturesque beech trees which not only give it a slightly Tasmanian feel, they also relieve the monotony of snow gums you get elsewhere in sub-alpine regions.
These photos are from the Mt. St. Phillack area. In August 2019 the summit cairn was buried by snow. That is well over 1.5 metres high! I will walk out to camp near Mt. Whitelaw next time I do a green season hike out there.
1.3.20 Heading back to MSG car park in fine weather. Once the Stronach's camp to Phillack saddle track has been recut in April it will hopefully make for better walking and better XC skiing. The AAWT markers are better situated on trees. In snow the knee high posts with yellow arrows would not be visible.
