Introduction
What do you get when you sign up with an accomplished mountaineer? And the first Australian and Commonwealth citizen to have climbed all 14 x 8000ers – without oxygen? Well, with Andrew Lock, you get the full gambit. There is nothing that this guy doesn’t know. We would trust him with our lives if it depended on it. So with that, we signed up with Andrew to undertake an essential alpine skills course.
Alpine Skills
The three day course is designed to teach you the necessary skills to enjoy Australia’s alpine regions, responsibly and safely. Coupled with an option of an ascent of Australia’s tallest peak, Mt Kosciuszko (2,228m).
A fascinating fact of Mt Kosciuszko. While it’s about one quarter of the size of Mt Everest at 8848m, Everest is only a baby. Everest at 60 million years old is younger than Kosciuszko, at 440 million years old!
Setting off from Thredbo in great conditions carrying a 18kg pack, we snow shoed up towards the main range located in the Snowy Mountains. We took turns to tow a pulk behind us which was loaded up with more of our camping gear.
The first thing you learn when you are exposed to alpine conditions, is to select your tent site carefully, having checked the prevailing wind direction. Followed then by protecting your site by building a snow wall to protect your tent from the elements. This proved very beneficial as we encountered some 70kmh winds which made for some interesting navigation skills in white out conditions.
Having hiked up Australia’s tallest peak, Mt Kosciuszko in summer, the alpine winter conditions encountered were naturally, very different. We managed to summit not only ‘Kosci’ (as we locals call it) but also two of Australia’s other tallest peaks in Rams Head North and Etheridge Ridge.
A recent film made in conjunction with the North Face, titled ‘Western Faces‘ mentions that Australia’s alpine conditions are of a similar and challenging terrain as found in Chamonix, France, with lots of powder snow and steep terrain. Which just goes to prove, you don’t need to travel all the way overseas to encounter great snow conditions and to have fun.
Onwards and upwards!
Trevor
Insights
- you can find this Essential Alpine Skills Course, along with others that Andrew provides, on his website.
- Skills learnt on the course ranged from clothing and equipment selection, emergency shelters, snow craft, route selection, navigation, weather assessment, group management, hypothermia prevention and leave no trace skills and ethics.
- Other useful skills learnt covered avalanche awareness. Despite Australia being relatively flat when compared to other countries, the alpine regions do encounter avalanches.
- Make sure you check various weather forecast sites before you set off – Bureau of Meteorology and Mountain Forecast.
- Check out Andrew’s book ‘Summit 8000’ for more inspirational stories of Andrew’s 14 x 8,000er summits https://www.andrewlockadventures.com/.
- Read more of our posts about adventures in the Kosciuszko region here.
