The snow weekend over the 6th – 8th of September had left us feeling inspired but hungry for more. Over 10 people had snowshoed out to 4 mile hut where we had practiced various snow skills such as anchor and snow cave building in a relatively protected environment.
Back at Uni on Monday I was doing my usual mix of work and procrastination and came across a post in a facebook group for the New Zealand Alpine Club’s (NZAC) Australian division. There was going to be a trip on the weekend heading to Blue Lake for some ice climbing. Yeeeeawww!
I asked around and Jenny was keen. Neither of us had been ice climbing before and my general snow experience is woefully inadequate, so I wrote an email to the trip coordinator Alex explaining this and asking if we could tag along.
“You’re in!” was the response so Friday night found us making the long drive from Sydney to Island Bend campground in the Snowy Mountains.
The next morning was an early start with porridge out of the jetboil for breakfast and some semi-rushed packing before heading to meet two other members of the group. We were snow shoeing from Guthega Ski Centre and had amazing weather. The route is a gradual uphill the whole way but is quite open so has great views.
We were camping on a flat below Mt Twynam. The walk only took 3 hours so we set up the tents and had lunch at the campsite. Then after some fruitless attempts to dig through the snow for running water we grabbed our gear and walked over to Blue Lake for some ice climbing!
A steep walk up a hill took us to a saddle. The walk down the other side turned into bum-sliding and when it got even steeper we exchanged the snow shoes for crampons. This was my first time actually walking in the dagger-shoes and I was careful not to tear my pants (the next day I wore gaiters and this was much better).
We arrived at the ice, ploncked our packs down and began putting harnesses on. It was a warm, sunny day and the ice was weeping. In a couple of weeks the ice would be largely gone, but for the time being conditions were still good and Alex began giving us some instruction as we got our gear together.
The key points of this tutorial were:
- Don’t fall on lead
- Use your legs, don’t just rely on your arms
- Keep you feet perpendicular to the wall
- Maintain feet at least shoulder width apart
- Keep the ice tools placed close together in an A shape above your head
- Try and keep your hips in quite close to the wall
- For god’s sake don’t fall on lead
With that Alex then led a route up an inclined sheet of ice, stopping every couple of meters to put an ice screw in. Part of the joy of Australian ice towards the end of the season is getting to the top only to be faced with an awkward top-out onto grass. Luckily an ice axe placed in dirt seems to hold pretty well.
With a top rope set up, the rest of us were able to have a go. We switched belays around and snacked on some fantastic liquorice chocolate. Jenny went up with confidence using the club quark ice axes before my turn rolled around. I tied in before promptly forgetting all the good technique we’d been instructed on. I went for the raw enthusiasm strategy, relying far too much on my arms and not paying any attention to my feet. The result was that I was thoroughly pumped out at the top despite it only being a 7m route.
Keen for more, we had time for another route on the same anchor before leaving. This was a steeper face of ice and was more difficult. There is something very satisfying about the thunk the ice axes make as they swing into the ice.
After the second climb the daylight was almost spent and we headed back to the campground for dinner and discussions of Brexit before bed.
The following day we climbed some steep snow slopes before walking out. THE END.
