Mount Feathertop overnight backpack - Winter: Jul 2 2023
Since moving back from the PNW to Australia, I knew Victoria had an alpine area, and that we could do winter backpacking with an iconic view of Mount Feathertop in Winter.
I had seen a few pics of these mainly from skiers, and did not have anyone in my circle who would want to backpack in winter in AU.
Hence, when my hiking and climbing partner came to visit from the PNW, this was a must do trip, along with a few others.
I had spoken to various folks, some from my bushwalking club, and a few friends who backpack, but in summer, and they all had a similar message "Feathertop can be dangerous - due to cornices formed by high winds"
Taking this into account, I looked up options for getting there:
Option1: Bungalow Spur: Length13.1 mi / 21 km Elevation gain 4,524 ft / 1379meters
Shorter in length but Waay more elevation gain! Especially with a 18kg backpack!
Option2: Razor backs: Length 14.1 mi / 22.7 km Elevation gain 2,903 ft / 884 meters
Longer length but much less elevation gain! Much Easier!
Other options: in summer or non winter months where most roads are open you can approach in various ways from the north.
Looking at the parking fees for starting at the Razor backs from Diamantina hut would be quite expensive.
Hotham heights entry fee needs to be paid, and repeated for 3 nights, ( 3 because we wanted to stay that long) whether you ski or not. This is very different to places I am used to in the US.
Hence we chose to start from Harrietville, and go the
Bungalow Spur route. - the much harder, steeper route!
https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/sites/bungalow-spur-walk
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/australia/victoria/mount-feathertop-via-bungalow-spur
Gear:
We carried a proper 3 season tent, which has seen many snow storms and high winds.
The sleeping bag is rated at -35C extreme, and -1c comfort, along with good base layers and rain jackets.
We also carried snow shoes, as we were thought we may need to break trail, and not "post hole" through soft snow.
https://lighterpack.com/r/wae9cs
Trip
We drove up to Wangaratta and stayed the night at a local motel, all motels were very expensive closer to Harrietville, I guess due to skiers heading up to the resort.
It took us just over an hour in the morning to get to the Bungalow Spur trailhead, note, you cannot park at the trailhead itself, instead drop your gear and people at the trailhead, and park about 300m, downhill where there is a small gravel parking lot.
We found lots of camper vans here, it was an uphill walk to the trailhead!
There no restrooms at the trailhead, hence stop before you get here! Lesson learnt!
The trail starts to climb immediately!
You will pass lush streams, and very green vegetation,
After a short switchback climbs you will get to Picture point, this is a great spot to reorganize layers, get refreshed, as the climbs has just begun!
After a few kms, you will get to Tobias Gap, depending on how you stand you can see the razorbacks, and the valley, its a good spot to get some water, and a snack.
FYI: this was not Feathertop, just a view of the razor backs with snow!
The next section is taking you more inside the forest and around 1350meters elevation you will encounter snow ( winter ) some sections were a bit icy, so we put on microspikes, which made the walk very easy from a grip perspective, the climb still goes on :)
Eventually, it will start to flatten out just before you spot Federation Hut, which is very very welcoming after carrying a heavy backpack for a few hours.
When we arrived, there were a few tents setup around the hut, and as one group was leaving we took their spot beside a nice tree.
After setting up the tent, and using the restrooms, yes there are 2 drop toilets, and a water tank.
In winter only one of these is opened, and the tank freezes, so get water during the day, or you can of course melt snow...not the yellow snow :)
The Hut
Federation hut has a stove, benches, and what used to be a cellphone booster ( not sure if this still works ) but standing around the hut you can get 4G, so cell reception is easily available.
Ideally, replace any wood used at the hut, this is standard good practice, and clean up after yourself.
We found someone had left old cheese and their garbage there, this is NOT ideal!
It was a great spot to warm up, as someone had a fire going, after chatting to a few folks, and checking the weather, we decided to head to the summit of Feathertop, using microspikes and an ice axe, we set off with our 10 essentials, and an extra puffy in the backpack.
Its a short walk to get past Little Feathertop, although be careful there are some steep sections just before the saddle, here the true beauty of the snow gums covered with ice and snow come alive!
Now when we were hiking this, these trees appeared to be just waiting to stake you if you fall towards them, in reality they are point downwards! but at the time I called them evil looking! :)
You will also pass the intersection to get to the MMUC Hut, keep going forward to Feathertop, and you can see the cornices. Be aware that many people have fallen due to a cornice breaking off, hence keep away from that. These cornices are very prevalent once on top, as you do not see the over hang unless you are looking towards yourself!
I highly recommend Crampons as its very icy, some folks did use snow shoes, which is fine if there is a softer snowpack, but with the windblown ice, I would recommend knowing how to self arrest, and crampons, and not snow shoes. This is my opinion, and I am very risk averse!
Getting back to the hut, we quickly made dinner, and decided to head up to Little Feathertop to watch the sunset, this was treat!
I highly recommend it, the views of Mt Buffalo and Feathertop from here are pretty cool!
I tried to get some night pics, but we had a full moon, so no astro..but the moonlight made everything look really cool at night.
Early Morning:
I got my partner up at 5am to head up to Little Feathertop for the sunrise, after much discussion, she agreed..lol
This was totally worth it, we carried the Windburner to make some coffee on top, I gotta warn you, it gets crazy windy! so we just had old coffee and snacks while watching an amazing sunrise.
A few other folks joined a little later.
We made our way back tot the Hut, made breakfast, and lazily packed our gear, we did not need the snowshoes, due to many people who flattened the trail for us :)
It was a long walk back to the car, quite boring actually, but we knew we had a great adventure, and was now looking forward to Hungry Jacks / Burger king :)
Enjoy, and stay safe!
Cheers
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