Had a quick trip to the Crosscut Saw via Lake Cobbler. Started walking a 430am, got to the end of the Speculation road by 830am and quickly set up camp. Organized the day pack, then headed on my way.
View to Bogong/Hotham from Speculation.
The way ahead along the Crosscut.
Cobbler, Koonika, and Speculation.
Crosscut and Howitt West Peak.
Looking towards Speculation.
About 30 years ago I saw a poster of the Crosscut Saw in a National Parks building. The poster displayed a fantastic looking gully. I cannot believe it has taken me so long to get out here in winter.
Crosscut looking South.
The final climb back up to Speculation nearly destroyed me, but I got a nice sunset out of it.
After the sunset I ripped the skins off my skis for what I thought would be the last time of the day. Put my headlamp on and got some nice turns down Speculation towards camp. At this stage I was completely tired and stupid. In the morning I deliberately set the tent up on the Speculation Road so that I could easily find it if I got back after dark. I thought that I had over-skied the road, so I got out the gps. The waypoint I marked for the camp had an elevation higher that what I currently was. So the climbing skins went back on. Ten more minutes later of walking around in circles I realized that perhaps the waypoint height was not correct. This ended up being the case, so I continued down hill and hit my camp site on the road. Crawled into my tent and enjoyed my few nips of Vodka. The only other unnecessary item I brought along was the camera. At that stage I would have had no problem swapping that for a cold beer.
The wind was forecast to pick up, so the following morning I made my way back to Lake Cobbler to hopefully drive out before any tree falls.
It would have been much nicer to do this trip over several nights instead of just one, but unfortunately any time I have allocated time off to do this trip the weather or amount of snow has been no good.
View to Bogong/Hotham from Speculation.
The way ahead along the Crosscut.
Cobbler, Koonika, and Speculation.
Crosscut and Howitt West Peak.
Looking towards Speculation.
About 30 years ago I saw a poster of the Crosscut Saw in a National Parks building. The poster displayed a fantastic looking gully. I cannot believe it has taken me so long to get out here in winter.
Crosscut looking South.
The final climb back up to Speculation nearly destroyed me, but I got a nice sunset out of it.
After the sunset I ripped the skins off my skis for what I thought would be the last time of the day. Put my headlamp on and got some nice turns down Speculation towards camp. At this stage I was completely tired and stupid. In the morning I deliberately set the tent up on the Speculation Road so that I could easily find it if I got back after dark. I thought that I had over-skied the road, so I got out the gps. The waypoint I marked for the camp had an elevation higher that what I currently was. So the climbing skins went back on. Ten more minutes later of walking around in circles I realized that perhaps the waypoint height was not correct. This ended up being the case, so I continued down hill and hit my camp site on the road. Crawled into my tent and enjoyed my few nips of Vodka. The only other unnecessary item I brought along was the camera. At that stage I would have had no problem swapping that for a cold beer.
The wind was forecast to pick up, so the following morning I made my way back to Lake Cobbler to hopefully drive out before any tree falls.
It would have been much nicer to do this trip over several nights instead of just one, but unfortunately any time I have allocated time off to do this trip the weather or amount of snow has been no good.
