Mount Kosciuzsko

A goal of ours whilst living in Australia was to hike to the top of Mount Kosciuzsko (pronounced “cause-ee-aus-ko”), the highest peak in Australia. It is only 2228 m (7,310 ft) at the summit but the base of the mountain is at 1365 m (4,478 ft) so it is a good distance up! We watched the weather and traveled from Canberra to Jindabyne, a small town near Kosciuzsko National Park, on Thursday with the hope of summiting the next day. Winds were supposed to pick up in the afternoon and so we asked the kids to prepare for an early start. As all epic mountain climbs start pre-dawn, ours began at 4:30am with the dulcet tones of a toddler yelling – she was ready to take on the mountain. We will be more careful what we ask the kids for in the future.

We loaded up Eric’s backpack: water, morning tea (snack), lunch, afternoon tea (another snack), bandaids, snake bite kit, jumpers (jackets), hats and gloves. I can’t believe we fit it all into one bag! Poor Eric had a heavy load. We did end up taking another small backpack for the kids to carry and transferred some of the hats and gloves to it. Then off to Thredbo, a ski resort in Mount Kosciuzsko National Park. As it was Good Friday, a federal holiday here, many people had the same idea. The resort was crowded already and our parking location easily added 2 km onto our daily walk total. We boarded the Kosciuszko Express chairlift for a 1.8 km ride up the first 560 m elevation gain of our journey. The weather was about 8 degrees C (46 F) at the top of the chairlift with some snow patches. Already, we were above the tree line and the views were spectacular. From here the trail was 6.5 km (4 miles) to the top along a walkway that was mesh in some places (especially over the boggy areas), metal steps in many places, flat rocks toward the end and covered in snow on the backside of the mountain. It was slow going for a while with the toddler excited to run around and the little boy wanting to start a snowball fight at every chance he could get. Just after we stopped for morning tea Maren fell asleep in the baby carrier and then we were able to make really good time. I’m very impressed with how well the older kids picked up the pace and marched up the last climb without a single complaint. We reached the summit around 11:30am. Although it was COLD and windy, there were quite a few people eating lunch and hanging around. We snapped a few pictures and then turned around to go back down – Maren was still sleeping, our runners (running shoes) were getting wet from the snow, and there were too many steep places for little boys to fall from. Maren ended up sleeping for more than 2 hours in the carrier and we made it down the mountain quickly– the 4:30am wakeup turned out to be a blessing. All in all I walked almost 28,000 steps that day! It was an incredible experience and when Eric and I talked about it afterwards, our favourite part of it was sharing it with our kids who really did a fantastic job. And now finally, some pictures:

At the top of the ski lift, ready to start the walk!

"Mum - I've got something for you!"

To the top of that cone shaped peak far off on the right is where we are headed (can you pick out the trail?):

Nearly there: the rock pathway up.

Success! And someone built a tiny snowman on the summit marker:

It was windy, cold, and bright at the top:

Maren still asleep, keep moving, no time for pictures!

The sleeping giant awoke and we had lunch at a trail junction:

Headed back down the ski lift with big smiles and awesome hat hair.

We spent the next day exploring Jindabyne, stretching our legs with a walk around town and then had an afternoon in a canoe on the lake. Or at least most of us did – Maren enjoyed the canoe for approximately 15 minutes and then she and I got dropped back at shore where we threw rocks into the water and took in the scenery. 

At night we joined the rest of the Easter break vacationers at a lighted sculpture show along the lake. There were some really neat entries that incorporated lights and smoke into the art pieces as well as some amazing metal sculptures of birds and bugs of the region. The kids got free beanies (knitted hats) and voted for their favourites for the “people’s choice” award.

We were too far from our church services on Easter Sunday so we celebrated at our cabin in Jindabyne and then took our time traveling home. I have become a huge fan of books on CD to keep the kids entertained – our favourite this trip was a book from the “How to Train your Dragon” series. The leaves were changing colour, the air was crisp, this really was a delightful holiday!