Victorian Alps Alpine Crossing

Hotham to Bogong

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been studying track notes and poring over maps to come up with a plan to get on most of Victoria's Highest Mountains in one trip next winter.

Start: Diamantina Hut, Great Alpine Road, near Mount Hotham
End: Mountain Creek Campground, near Tawonga

Mountains to be Summited:
(in walking order)
Mt Feathertop (1922m)
Mt Jim (1818m)
Mt Cope (1837m)
Mt Nelse West (1893m)
Mt Nelse North (1885m)
Mt Bogong West Peak (1965m)
Mt Bogong (1986m)

THE PLAN :



Day One: Cross the exposed Razorback Trail (11km) and camp near Federation Hut. Ascend to the summit of Mt Feathertop (1922m). If it's windy or snowing heavily, get up to Federation Hut via Bungalow Spur from Harrietville instead.



Day Two: Attempt Mt Feathertop again in the morning if the weather is clear. There should be plenty of time to get up Molly Hill and Little Feathertop as well if the weather is clear. Head down the steep Diamantina Spur down to the river, make camp near Blair's Hut.

Day Three: Get up on the Bogong High Plains and climb Mt Jim and Mt Cope. Probably will camp at Cope Hut. I wonder if I'll see any brumbies on this day.

Day Four: Cross the wind swept plains past Langford Gap to reach Fitzgerald Hut. Potentially organise a food drop from Falls Creek.

Day Five
It might be very windy and icy on Day 5 walking on the exposed Quartz Ridge to the highest point of Victoria. Unfortunately there is no other way to get there. Hopefully the wind won't rip us off the mountain on the way to Mt Bogong West Peak after passing Mt Nelse and Timm's Lookout. Get on the summit of Mount Bogong, and either camp at Gorge Gap or camp at Cleve Cole Hut.

Day Six
One more crack at Mt Bogong then time to head back. Get out of the cold and descend to Mountain Creek Camping Ground via the Staircase Spur.

Note:

• We probably will allow two days for bad weather
• We will carry an EPIRB beacon, snow shovel, crampons, ice axes, 4 season alpine tents, shellite stoves, etc.

Let me know if you are interested!!! I will be doing lots and lots of training prior to the trip.

First Real Adventure in 2009

My friend and I will be heading to Mt Bogong (1986m) this weekend. It's the highest mountain in Victoria which I last visited in winter back in 2005. It's going to be tough walking 6-7 hours uphill, half of which will be in a bit of snow. But this will be a good test of my fitness three weeks before the big Overland Track in Tasmania.

Planning to test the brand new 4-season Thermarest and the new ice axe. Weather permitting, camp will be made at the base of the final climb to the summit plateau. There's an ambitious plan to pitch the tents on the very exposed summit but that will be disastrous if weather conditions suddenly change for the worse.

Hope it's going to be a fun trip!

Old Coca Cola Ads

I drove all the way to Bright (300km+) from Melbourne on Sunday to see the famous autumn leaves. Unfortunately, I was two weeks too late and most of the leaves have fallen and there wasn't much to be seen. I should have been there on Gala Day on the 2 May but I had to go overseas for a week and a half... Oh well, I'll make sure I'll return to the beautiful town earlier in autumn next year.

On the return journey back to Melbourne, I stopped at an antique store just outside Bright and spent nearly an hour there looking through several rooms of treasures. There was just so many interesting things to look at in this store. I ended up finding two old Coca Cola ads from the 50s and 60s. Not too disappointed after all!

Back in Melbourne - First Run!

After spending 10 days in Hong Kong not doing any exercise and dining out for nearly all lunches and dinners, I finally came back to Melbourne on Sunday.

Surprisingly, I still weigh the same. I was expecting to put on 2-3kg because everyday over there I was binge eating delicious but fattening food. I decided to go for a 5.2km run in the afternoon to see how terribly unfit I was.

Again surprisingly, I actually matched and arguably exceeded my pretty modest standards. I wasn't feeling too out of breath, muscles are perfectly fine and I actually sprinted the last section to get home.

Hopefully it's a sign that the "new blood" (donated blood recently) is recharged, the muscles are ready, the mind is focused to take on the upcoming winter hiking trips.

Keeping Fit in Hong Kong

It's been four days since I've been in Hong Kong to attend my sister's wedding. I have tried my best to exercise as much as I can given that the big winter trips are coming up once I get back to Melbourne. The packs are going to be heavy and the walking will be steep and difficult. I will try my best to go running, cycling and walking with a heavy pack as much as possible once I get back. This winter, there's the challenging Overland Track in Tasmania (Aug) and most likely the very difficult trip scaling Ruapehu in NZ (Sep).

Which is why I have been trying my best exercising here in HK. I've discovered that HK is really really small and it's very quick and easy to simply walk to your next destination. The other day after lunch, I walked from Sheung Wan to Causeway Bay (five MRT stations) in just over half an hour. It is all flat and paved, with plenty of shops that blast Antarctic air out to the footpath to keep me cool. Two days ago, I walked home to Upper Central from Sai Wan. None of these are more than 5km long and very easy. In fact, to walk from the western end (Sai Wan) to the eastern end (Chai Wan) is only 15km, which can't possibly take more than 3-4 hours to finish. I think if I mention that to the locals, they will think I'm insane... One thing I don't understand is why there's a mega shopping centre on Victoria Peak instead of just a quiet scenic lookout. It was an eye opener the other day walking there from home where I was met with thousands of people, cars, shops, tourists, dogs and restaurants. Oh, how I miss hiking back home in Australia!

Hiking Gear Shopping in Hong Kong

Hiking Gear

Several people promised me that I could get good quality hiking and climbing gear in Hong Kong for a fraction of the price in Australia. I held off purchasing the all important mountaineering crampons and brand new overpants in Australia just to see whether I could in deed get some good gear here.

After visiting no less than eight so-called professional hiking gear shops all around Hong Kong, I felt extremely disappointed that most of them simply stock want-to-be brands that make clothing for college students for them to look cool in campus and not in the harsh, unforgiving environments in Nepal, New Zealand or Australia. Up in the mountains, I would rather dress like an idiot and live than to be found dead dressed in designer clothing. So I gave up looking for hiking clothing and concentrated on getting a pair of crampons. In the end, the only thing remotely resembling what I wanted was a pair of dodgy looking Korean made crampons that is heavy, has the points at the wrong angles and has no anti-balling plates. I convinced myself in the end that if I use those in New Zealand this year or Nepal the next, I am most likely going to be killed. Oh well, back to the my trusted stores - REI and Backcountry - here comes my credit card! :)

Mountain Run - Tough but Fun

I'm not sure why I did it, but I participated in a Mountain Running Race last Sunday at Dandenong Ranges National Park in the worst possible weather. It was three laps of running up and down the mountain, each lap is roughly 4.2km with the first 1km section having a 200m elevation gain. I knew it was going to be pretty tough so I only had three goals for the race.

1. Finish it
2. Not finish last
3. Don't get lapped by the front runners before I finish my 2nd lap
   

I also donated blood the week prior along with extra samples taken for testings to get enlisted on the Bone Marrow Registry. I knew the "new blood" wouldn't be charged up so soon...

Initially I thought it was going to be a race with 200 odd people so it wouldn't be too bad because with that many people I probably won't be last... So I was very surprised when only 35 or so turned up and all of them seemed to be the next Olympic champion. The 3 goals suddenly became really challenging!

In the end, after huffing and puffing the entire 98 minutes, I still have a huge grin on my face despite the following:

• I ran the 1st lap up the hill in pouring rain, driving wind and 5-degree temperature;
• The officials up the summit were briefed on stopping runners suspected of having hypothermia, I thought they looked at me for a little longer than others as I went past them slowly;
  
• It was so cold and windy on the summit I thought my arms were frozen solid;
• The downhill running bits were a bit testing on the knees and ankles as well as testing my courage to sprint;
  
• The 2nd lap was all about trying to survive and focus on getting up that hill again and shutting all thoughts about the THIRD lap;
• A few front runners overtook me near the end of my second lap to finish the race so my third goal was smashed...
  
• The 3rd lap was a killer. I was really exhausted and just wanted to get to the end, knowing I'm the last one holding up the officials who were working in the rain because of me;
  
• It was pretty cold once I finished the race as the body cooled down rapidly;
  
• Ran another 100m up the hill to Upper Fentree Gully Station to catch the train, only for it to wave goodbye to us. Thankfully, it wasn't the train going back to the city;
• I've been coughing for more than 24 hours since I finished the race, hopefully I haven't got the flu or pneumonia!
  

Most of my friends and colleagues said, "What a miserable weekend Tom!"

It's hard to explain, but it was quite a challenge, something that I wouldn't normally do and it was quite an experience I actually enjoyed in the end! That even surprised me! I learned a bit from it, especially how to deal with internal voices telling me, "This is absolutely ridiculous! What's wrong with sitting at home and watching TV? Give up now! Walk don't run anymore! It's cold!!!!!" It kind of reminded me how not to give up walking on 9 August 2007 in Tasmania when my body was telling me to give up.

Hopefully next time I can do better! (Internal voice: Do it in warmer weather at least!).

Post Blood Donation Test

I got nothing better to do today so I donated 470cc of my rare AB+ blood to the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. I was told that only 2% of the general population in Australia has this particular type of blood so they always love seeing me back. My haemoglobin level is always reasonably high so that half a litre will help a few people in need. Before I left, I picked up a form from the front desk to enrol on the Australian Bone Marrow Registry after reading about it on its website. If you don't have much to do, visit the website and register too! There's also the Organ Donor Register if you are interested. If you really like to help people, get onboard all three like I have!

Anyway, last time I donated blood, I wanted to see how running performance deteriorates within an hour. True to what they said (and recommend never ever do), I didn't even finish the run... Today, I tested cycling after donation and I'm surprised that for a short, medium level ride, it didn't make much difference. Will report next time around September for another stupid test. This time, a hill climb bike ride! The 12-week full recovery time will be just before the big winter trips so probably will only have time to go back to the donation centre in September...

Overland Track Part III

I'm almost certain to visit Tasmania for the third consecutive winter to do the Overland Track. The core group remains the same as the last two years but this year, we are more determined than ever to ascend to the majestic summits of Cradle Mountain and Mount Ossa. The plan is to stay in the northern section and we will have to wait patiently for the weather window to open to sneak up to the summits. The northern section is substantially higher than the southern end with lower temperature, higher winds and heavier snowfalls which means I probably need to carry some more food...

This will most probably be the last time I'll do this track in winter (for a while at least), so hopefully this year's mission will be a success. After experiencing the horrific weather in 2007, 2008 was relatively easy going but without one single mountain summited due to bad weather. Hopefully Overland Track Part III - The Final Act will be triumphant!

Weekend Ride

Went out cycling yet again on Saturday as I continue to wait patiently for the best time to go hiking. The good news is Wilsons Prom has just been reopened to Day Visitors, with the longer walking tracks to be reopened shortly after. The fire threat has diminished to more sensible levels and the recent rain hopefully have re-filled the major water collection points along popular walking trails in Victoria.

Did the usual bike ride from home to Nunawading/Ringwood and back. Unfortunately, when I was riding back at a moderate speed of 25km/h, the bike chain snapped and literally flew off the bike into the bush. Somehow, my good luck didn't seem like ending. I didn't lose control or worse fall off the bike and crash into a tree. Unfortunately, it was a pretty sunny day and poor Tom walked all the way back to Kew from Nunawading (20km). * Sigh *, a 2 hour bike ride turned into a 4 hour trip, mostly walking in the sun pushing a bike...

Got the bike fixed 2 hours after in a bike shop and rode again on Sunday morning. I can't wait till the first hiking trip which is tentatively scheduled to take place this Easter. There's no better way of starting this year's hiking trips than visiting the highest peaks in Australia --- Kosciuszko National Park!

The Himalayan Challenge - Deferred

I've been thinking about an email I received from the New Zealand today. It's from the New Zealand based adventure company whom I did the mountaineering instruction course with last year. The email is an invitation to join the "Three Peaks" trip in Nepal this year. The three peaks are: Island Peak (6189m), Lobuche East (6119m) and Mt Parchamo (6273m). None of these involve any serious vertical climbing but the altitude and the remoteness of these mountains make the three of them combined into one trip a fairly difficult Himalayan adventure. The main risks are: avalanche, crevasses and of course the altitude. As attractive (or not?) as it sounds, I had to reply to say no to this trip. Well...."not this year". Perhaps I can do something like that in 2010 or 2011. I'd rather do a bit more training now and have a better chance of getting to the top of all three. I still think someday Alpamayo is achievable!!! (picture below) This photo is now stuck in my bedroom and my workplace!

I have nearly worked out this year's big trips in winter, which are usually the harder ones for the year:

July - August

• Mt Bogong - Highest mountain in Victoria. Last time I visited in winter was in 2005.
• Mt Buller - Missed the trip up this mountain via the West Ridge last winter. Hopefully will be back in 2009!
  
• Mt Feathertop via the NW Spur. More challenging than going up the usual Bungalow Spur. Steep, exposed and takes a bit longer. More fun though! Or perhaps try to get there via the Razorback?
  

September - Going up a volcano (can't remember which one) in New Zealand. I was told to get some 12-point crampons... Hmmm... Good to have done all the training trips in Australia first!

More Gear!

I got myself a small, basic digital camcorder today. It's a Samsung MX20 - simple, lightweight and nothing fancy. You can call it a cheap and nasty digicam. I reckon it's perfect for bringing on an extended hiking trip when weight minimisation is of paramount importance. It's one of the lightest digicams around. I'll probably get to test it in the field in Easter, when I plan to start my first camping trip. If everything goes well, I'll take it on all the snow camping trips this winter. Hopefully I can bring back videos of the ascents, the campsites as well as the usual sill photographs.

I think I really need to get fitter with all these camera gear. My Digital SLR, its heavy lens (TWO lenses on some trips), extra batteries, memory cards, tripod and now a digicam! Easily 3-4kg worth of photography gear. No wonder sometimes people say I look like a one-man film crew... :)

Running on a Hot Day

After finishing work today, I participated in a charity fun run to raise money for the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal. It was a 4km run that started from Federation Square and went along both sides of the Yarra River before getting back to Fed Square. Although the 38 degree heat didn't materialise as expected, it was about 33 degrees by the time the race started.

My normal running shorts just got washed so I had to put on my basketball shorts which are terrible for running. Rubs on the knees and traps a lot of heat. PLUS I was the odd one out!



The first two kms were relatively easy but by this time my T-shirt was fully soaked with sweat. The final leg was a test of perseverance. I could feel that my throat and my lungs were drying out in the hot dry air, pace was dropping constantly as the finishing line neared. I saw the time blinking "19:55" at the finish line and tried my very best to beat the clock before reaching 20 minutes. Missed it by 5 seconds... Doh! Collapsed at the finish line exhausted and dehydrated. I rested for at least five minutes to let my breathing to return to normal.

After having some water, collected a bottle of "Emma & Tom's" Fresh Apple Juice. LOL! Tom's Life Juice for Tom!

Night Ride

I had a really busy day at work today, started work at 7:00 and finished at 19:30. With travel time included, 15 hours in total. I was fairly disappointed to have missed my weekly indoor rock climbing session at Hardrock.

Instead of watching TV as planned, I arrived home at 20:30 and decided to put on my helmet, brought out the camera and tripod and went for a night ride around home. I have discovered that riding at night is very different from doing it in the day. There's hardly anyone around on the bike trails except for one or two people walking their dogs. Yet, because of the darkness, it is impossible to ride fast as visibility is nowhere as good as it is during the day. Every corner and every stretch of path without street lights require the most careful and delicate manoeuvring. On the other hand, the other senses are greatly heightened: I can smell the freshly mowed lawn (and what my friendly neighbours are having for dinner!), hear the water running down the tiny streams and feel the most gentle of breeze in the air.

I took the above photograph on the Belford Street Bridge over the Eastern Freeway. 6s exposure.

Fun Run this Friday!

It's going to be hot (38 degrees predicted) this Friday but if all you are going to do is to go to the pub after work, why not come for a fun run??? This Friday 27th Feb at 7pm, I will be joining a 4km fun run which starts from Federation Square and goes along the Yarra River to raise money for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. Details can be found here. $30 entry fee and all proceeds go to helping the bushfire victims. See you there!

Cycling - Making it Interesting

It has been nearly two months since I started cycling regularly to improve my fitness. Lately, I haven't been able to do much hiking due to the bushfires, the extreme temperatures in Victoria and just too many things to ponder. In fact, I haven't hiked since my trip to New Zealand late last year.

So cycling has become the next activity on the list. I've set myself a very modest target of roughly 50-60km a week which I have been able to meet and exceed every week. I still don't understand how my friends can ride 210km in one day around the Bay! I keep my riding interesting by listening to classical music, taking rest stops and doing photography as well as geocaching. I personally think there's nothing more relaxing than riding with the breeze, taking in the different fragrances of the surrounding gardens, saying hello to the fellow users of the bike trails (4 legged ones included!) and listening to my favourite tunes. Reminds me of the tragically beautiful scene in the movie City of Angels when Meg Ryan's character was riding her bike, eyes closed, hands off the handlebars... (and no, I don't intend to repeat the next bit in the movie!) If you regularly use the exercise bike in a gym, you don't know what you're missing!

The dream of Alpamayo is still alive. Someday, someday when I'm ready.

Dangerous Dogs

I have been working in a construction site away from Head Office in Melbourne CBD for the last few days. It's located in a very isolated place in the industrial Western suburbs of Melbourne. The site compound has a number of site huts which are basically container styled temporary offices. The first thing I noticed after arriving here was that the compound is supposed to be guarded by this "dangerous dog" at night. During the day, this poor lonely, aging dog stays in his kennel, bored and nobody to play with being locked up in a small wired enclosure. I tried to get him to come out of its kennel and come towards me at the fence a few times. Every time I walked past to visit the toilets, kitchen or out for lunch, I would go near his kennel ,say hello to him and practise my canine language with him behind the fence. Conversation (only one way!) revolved around food, the weather, politics, etc. Ever so slowly, each time he came out closer and closer towards me, wondering what this strange human was crapping on about before turning back and hiding. He must have figured lunatics don't have intentions on stealing anything! Yesterday I threw a ball over the fence but he wasn't interested either. I guess he must have been a swimmer in its younger days!



But today, after three more visits, he finally came all the way to where I was standing behind the fence. One of my colleagues held her breath and looked in sheer horror as I reached through the wire fence and pat him on the head. She was convinced that I won't be typing next week with one of my hands missing. I'm not sure why but I felt like I've achieved something today. I waved goodbye to him before I left and hoped that he will enjoy his evening walks with the guard...

I reckon it was a good training exercise to help deal with dogs on my future trip overseas. *chuckle* I remember before departing for Nepal in 2006, the doctor gave me vaccinations for polio, Hepatitis A&B, typhoid and tetanus. I asked him for rabies vaccination as well which but he simply said, "Do yourself a favour: Stay well away from dogs and monkeys and save yourself $200."

I forgot everything he said once I got there. They were a lot of dogs (some strays ) in Kathmandu and on the trail. They weren't your purebred, clean, well looked after dogs back home. Rather, most of the ones I encountered were filthy, flea infested, smelly and wild. But for me, it is simply too hard not to pat every single dog I come across. It would be like walking past a friend without saying hello. So I was the only silly trekker running around patting dogs after all the western tourists gave them all a wide berth. I was also silly enough to pat monkeys, cats, ponies and yaks! LOL!! Hopefully the first dog that gets me won't be from my beloved Dobermann breed...

Walking Poles

I just bought a new hiking pole (left) to replace the Leki pole
I snapped in Tasmania back in the winter of 2007 (middle). I don't normally carry one except on long trips with steep descents or some trips in the snow. Also shown in this shot is a wooden one (right) a friend of mine found and later presented to me complete with artistic carvings. HAHA

Someone asked me about Overland Winter 2007 the other day. Here's Day 1's Diary Entry (explaining how I managed to snap my brand new Leki pole) for those who are interested:

3 August 2007 Friday

Preliminaries

Shortly after entering into the World Heritage listed Cradle Mountain Lake St. Clair National Park, I could see from inside the comfort of the minibus that it was dumping snow outside with a gusty wind. It seemed peculiar to be isolated from the appalling conditions outside, knowing very well that sooner or later we had to get out and brace for the weather.

We arrived at the parks office early in the afternoon where we got out into the horrible weather, bought our park passes and gas canisters and registered our trip intention. I minimized weight as much as possible by depositing all my coins into the donation box in the parks office.

The mini bus managed to negotiate through the continuing snow and dropped us off at the Cradle Mountain Visitor car park at Dove Lake. Two years ago I was greeted with the sight of the majestic Cradle Mountain casting a perfect reflection on the lake under a clear blue sky. This time, visibility was down to 20m in heavy snow and the temperature hovering near 0 degree.

It was decided that with worsening conditions and fading light, it would be suicidal to get to Waterfall Valley Hut via the exposed Marions Lookout. It would be near impossible to stand up there, let alone trek! We would instead take the more sheltered route via Lake Rodway to Scott Kilbert Memorial Hut.

Drama getting to Scott Kilvert

After putting on the full snow weather gear, we started our journey towards the first night’s hut. I got off to the worst possible start while going up the first gentle climb out of Dove Lake. It was not a hard climb on soft snow but I managed to lose my footing and fell backwards after only five minutes of walking. Instinctively, I used my walking pole to break the heavy fall. The brand new Leki pole bore the full load of my weight and my 25kg pack and it snapped at the weakest point near the tip. It was heart breaking at first to see my $90 pole rendered useless after 5 minutes. Keen not to litter, I had to carry the dreaded thing for the next 8 days! Later on, I cheered myself up by thinking I would prefer the pole snapping rather than any of my limbs!

I put the pole snapping incident behind me and concentrated on following the party. The pack was at its heaviest for the trip and fortunately the terrain was not too steep to make the walk too strenuous. The unrelenting snowfall slowed us down considerably and it got dark just after 5pm. I switched on my head torch and put all my faith on Bruce to be able to lead us to Scott Kilvert.

While we were dashing through the quickly disappearing trail in the dark, I kept a constant look at my watch. Time was ticking fast and I wondered whether the first night of this adventure will be spent in the tent.

Bruce ignored one of the signs at one point and relied on his experience in the area to guide us closer to the hut. The snowfall was continuing and visibility was getting worse by the minute. I had little time to think about anything else other than to keep focused and to stay alert on where I placed my feet.

Thankfully, Bruce finally managed to guide the team into Scott Kilvert shortly after 7pm.

Paul had arrived earlier than the rest of us and had started the coal heater. Unlike the other huts in the National Park, this hut has two floors connected by a flight of wooden stairs. The ground floor has the benches and seats with the fireplace. Upstairs is the sleeping area with enough room to fit about 15 people sleeping side by side.

The hut was bursting with activities in no time as all of us started arranging our gear and cooking our first dinner for the trip. It was quickly infused with the different fragrances as the dinners were heated. It was amazing that all these were done under torch light in a crowded hut.

Bruce went out and located the path to the pit toilet through the snow covered forest. It turned out he had to dig out the thick layer of snow that was blocking the door. Later at night when I visited the toilet, I thought it would be impossible for me to find such a tiny structure blanketed in snow in the dark.

I was very excited that night about the trip but I knew I had to get some sleep for tomorrow’s struggle in the snow.

Ten Things They Shouldn't Know

For people who like climbing mountains or venturing to the snow, here are the 10 words/names that your friends and family members don't need to know. Unfortunately, the meaning of all of these can be found in Wikipedia. Sigh.... Don't you just hate Google, Wikipedia and maybe the internet sometimes??
:)

crevasse
serac
cornice
icefall
HAPE
HACE
hypothermia
Touching the Void
Into Thin Air
Vertical Limit

0.5km/h short

Today' s 50km training ride was a long-ish trip by my crappy standards. Unlike my friends who can easily ride 100km within the same time, this is probably the furthest I can manage at this stage. The ride was from Kew to Ringwood (return) along the Eastern Freeway and Eastlink Bike Trails.














The max speed recorded for today's training session summarised my only disappointment. I've missed 50km/h by just 0.5km/h!!!! I was sprinting downhill on high gear, peddling as quickly as I could while keeping a constant watch for the path in front of me. 30, 40, 45, 46, 48, 49....just a bit more..... Crap! Oh well, maybe next time. :)
Looking at the bike trails on Google Earth, the next target will be from Melbourne CBD to Frankston (one way) via the Yarra, Eastern Freeway and Eastlink Trails. Not fit enough to do it yet but hopefully will be able to do it in a month.

Lindt Dark Chocolate with 85% cocoa and half strength Gatorade are the essential fuel for my long bike rides or difficult hiking trips. I don't normally eat chocolate (not really a dessert person) except when I need to "re-fuel" on hikes or rides. It's the fastest and most concentrated form of energy that I know of. Most of my friends hate the bitter taste of 85% but I like it because it's not too sweet. I still can't find the 99% version though.... Let me know if you know where to get it.

Hiking Trip Diaries

I started keeping travel diaries around the year 2000. I didn't write much in the first few years but really picked up on the writing a few years ago. Sometimes I might be writing in the comfort of a mountain hut, away from the elements outside. In other times, I find myself wrapped in my down sleeping bag in the tent, jotting down notes with the light from my head-torch.

I find that by writing as much as I can, I am able to capture all the excitement, laughter and drama from each trip. Nowadays, I often find myself reading my old trip diaries in the evening after work, imaging I am back in the Himalayas in Nepal or heading up the steep ridges in the Alpine National Park in deep snow. Of course, how can I forget the Overland Track Expedition in the Winter of 2007.

An added benefit that I hadn't thought of previously is to publish edited versions online. After the epic Overland Track walk in the winter of 2007, the editor of YHA Bushwalking Club's magazine asked me to write a 2-page article on the trip upon hearing what happened. Here is a link to the archived magazine: Yeti Issue 30. My article is somewhere in the middle. Second contribution was published last year, an interview published in Yeti Issue 31.

I intent to keep writing and share all the magical experience with my friends and people with similar interests in exploring the wilderness.

10-Day Mountaineering Course in New Zealand

In December 2008, I joined a commercial mountaineering instruction course in New Zealand, organised by a Wanaka based adventure company. (and Yes – without doing advertising for them, it is the one that lead the ill-fated 1996 Everest Expedition featured in the best selling book – “Into Thin Air”) Let me start by saying I have got absolutely no ambition to climb Everest or the like. However, my goal is to do a few much easier peaks with a guide or a group of friends experienced in mountaineering once I acquired the necessary skills. I enjoy landscape photography and I hope one day I can get on top of a 5000-6000m peak, taking panoramic photos of snow-capped mountains above the clouds as the morning sun slowly rises above the horizon.

We had five students and two guides on the course, all students are from Australia. I have prepared the shortened form of my trip diary to give you a taste of what it was like. You can find more photos taken on the trip on my pbase gallery here.

Day 1 and 2: Rain Rain Rain!

We spent two days in the tiny town of Fox Glacier while waiting for the notorious weather in the West Coast to clear up. The area gets 7 metres of rain per year and by the end of Day 2 I was wondering if we should just build a pipe from Melbourne to Fox Glacier instead of the Desalination Plant in Wonthaggi. More reliable, less impact on the environment and possibly cheaper! We learned a bit of theory, different knots, rope-work and even did some Prusik-ing up a rope indoors in the community hall! It felt strange trying to imagine the roof of the community hall were the lip of this huge crevasse I desperately need to get to…

Day 3: Lift Off



The weather window finally opened early in the morning. It was a truly amazing experience sitting in a chopper for the first time, flying over the majestic Fox Glacier, catching glimpses of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman, before landing on a tiny icy ledge just above Centennial Hut. Moved all provisions inside and learned how to build different snow anchors for the rest of the day. It was a lot of fun learning the different ways of self-arresting. (Using an ice axe to halt a slide down an icy slope) The hardest technique to master was to dive head first, face up, down a steep icy slope and try to self-arrest to halt the slide. It was hard to concentrate on where to plant the axe when I all I could see was the sky above as I was zooming down the hill at high speed on my back. Practised a number of times but the best I could manage was to slow the fall, not arresting it. Well, hopefully I won’t be falling face up, head down first during any stage of this course!

We had to melt snow/ice for dinner as the water tank was broken by a climber last week who decided the easiest way to loosen the ice in the tank was to kick the tank with his crampons on… Sigh…

Day 4: Trapped indoors



The wind speed exceeded 100km/h and it rained/hailed/snowed heavily for 24 hours non-stop. If you want to know how bad this was: consider these two facts: (1) Nobody got out of the hut to the toilet hut which was a mere 5 metres away for fear of being ripped off the mountain by the ferocious storm. We used the super high-tech Bucket Method™ instead. (2) I felt the wall of the hut moving during the night, the steel frame gently swaying with the wind.

Just after I convinced myself there was nothing to worry about, the guides informed me another hut nearby was blown away a few years ago in a similar storm, along with all 4 or 5 occupants down the sheer cliff …

Day 5: Fantastic day of sunshine



Learned crevasse rescue, more anchoring and rope-work. The views were absolutely stunning, well worth the price of the course alone. I kept re-applying sun-screen every hour to combat the blazing sun reflected off all the snow around me. Believe me, I felt just as warm during the 43° heat-wave in Melbourne as the kind of heat/sun I experienced in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Unfortunately I only brought along 2L of water for the outing and I paid dearly for it near the end of the exercise as I was very dehydrated and slightly dizzy by the time I returned back to Centennial Hut. The worst thing was having to wait for the snow to melt to get a drink!

Day 6: The Walk-out/Fly-Out day


With the weather window closing on Day 7, we had to get back down to the village in order to avoid being trapped for days up the mountain. Quite often, there are people who get stuck high up in the mountain huts for more than a week because they missed their opportunity to get out while the weather window was open. We walked along Fox Glacier to get to Chancellor Hut for our chopper ride, making full use of our newly learned glacier travel technique. We climbed our first New Zealand Peak - Von Barlow after making a couple of pitches under supervision. We even practised our summit poses on top!

It was another blazing hot day in the Southern Alps. The snow was softening at an alarming rate, making glacier travel more dangerous as the snow bridges got weaker and weaker. Near the end of the day, I punched straight through a severely weakened snow-bridge across a crevasse. There is nothing more terrifying than seeing the snow crumpled and a bottomless crevasse appear right in front of my eyes! I must have done something right as the chest harness I tied in the morning held! Understandably, my guide didn’t want me to practise my Prusik-ing skills to get out while he was on the other end of the rope attached to a novice climber dangling above a crevasse. I was dragged out instead…

We got to see the beautiful Fox Glacier one more time as we flew back on a helicopter from Chancellor Hut.

Day 7: Franz Josef Glacier



We visited the nearby Franz Josef Glacier to learn ice-climbing. Once the ropes were set up, we were like the circus monkeys performing tricks for the hundreds of tourists visiting the Glacier as they stopped, watched and photographed us playing around. I must say the ice-climbing session was one of the highlights of the trip.

Day 8: Another rainy day in South Island

Travel Day from West Coast back to base in Wanaka. Boring apart from travelling on all those one-lane bridges on the 100km/h highway, wondering if the NZ traffic engineers got all the sight distances correctly worked out for vehicles coming from the other end…

Day 9 & 10 Rock Climbing

We practised our outdoor rock climbing skills, which included setting up rock anchors and trying to climb on rock wearing rigid mountaineering boots. We learned a bit of abseiling as well near the end. All the students got issued with certificates on the last day. A couple of them climbed Mt Cook a week later with the guides!

After the course - Coming to terms with the dangers of mountaineering

Around the time I was in New Zealand, four people died in three separate accidents visiting similar places I went to during the course. Even though I won’t be doing anything extreme like climbing Mt Cook without a guide, these events really highlighted the dangers that are associated with the sport.

When we were staying at Centennial Hut, two Japanese climbers were attempting the nearby Mt Cook. On the day we were trapped in the hut by the 100km/h+ raging wind, they were struggling to survive in their snow cave on Mt Cook. Details of what happened are still sketchy and might never be known. Their snow cave was hastily excavated with a ball point pen as hell descended fast upon them. Rescuers could not get to them for days due to the appalling weather. Somehow the rescuers managed to drop a pack of supplies & radio 2m away from their tent and yet the climbers could not hear or see the pack in the ferocious weather. The Japanese guide died a couple of days later due to prolonged exposure. The client was rescued relatively unharmed, suffering hypothermia. It was a real shock when we got out and read it on the newspaper.

Three other Australians died in Mt Cook and Fox Glacier within a couple of weeks later.

Old Video of my tent withstanding the strong wind

Taken on 1 January 2006 in Kosciuszko National Park

Strong winds at our campsite near the summit of Mt Townsend, one of the highest mountains in Australia standing at 2209m. The wind was hammering my 3 season tent from about 3am and at times I thought it was going to rip away. It was hard to get any sleep as I kept seeing the tent poles bending and twisting. Probably one of the windiest day I've experienced on my trips.

Cycling Training Saturday 31 Jan 09

The welcoming cool change finally came on Saturday after three successive days of over 40 degrees in Melbourne. It was a milder 24 degrees at 6pm so I decided to ride on the Eastern Freeway Bike Trail from Chandler Highway all the way to Springvale Road. The trip there took 65 minutes and I had a small break at Springvale Road. The GPS was telling me the sun will be setting soon so I raced all the way back home, shaving 5 minutes off the trip! The total distance for the day was 40km, top speed 48.5km/h. I felt a lot stronger than last week doing the same trip. Hopefully this is a sign that I'm improving my fitness!