Above the Snow Line on the High Plains
Published in The Herald, Tuesday 18th August 1936, page 6
At this time of year only experienced and organised parties dare venture from Hotham to the wind-blown Bogong High Plains and the Big River Valley country. Somewhere in this chilled waste of snow and fog two members of the Ski Club of Victoria are lost, without food.
Those who know the country only in summer cannot appreciate the hazards of winter in those lonely altitudes. In summer the cattlemen drive their cattle on to the High Plains, mustering them in autumn for the return below the snow-line. The open country is magnificent before the snow comes; but an early fall can make it treacherous and perilous. Two seasons ago an Easter fall caught the cattlemen unawares, and in the wild winds blowing over the tops the cattle struggled to safety, wild-eyed and terrified.
In good winter weather the High Plains offer a pleasant challenge to experienced skiers, and on a calm day when the sun makes a pale yellow pattern on the white landscape the billowy top of the great plateau is comparatively safe. From Hotham to Fitzgerald’s Hut runs a line of snow poles, each three chains apart and numbered consecutively, so that travellers may calculate the distance to the nearest shelter.
The shelters are musterers’ huts, and about a dozen of them dot the High Plains like frontier posts. Used by the cattlemen before the snow comes, they have often provided a timely refuge for adventurous skiers, seeking refuge from the gales which screech across the plateau.
Always in winter this difficult country of ghostly snow gums is dangerous for the inexperienced skier; and It would be folly for any but well-organised and experienced parties to explore it. For when the fog comes down to the snow there Is no horizon left and no landmarks.
Although the Big River Valley is below the snow-line, it must be remembered that the lost men are without food; and food is one of the most important items on the snowfields. Skiers who plan to tour the High Plains must make their food preparations well ahead. Up to the High Plains’ huts provisions are taken in April and May by friendly cattlemen, so that the skiers will not starve if a forced bivouac engulfs them In a grey world of rain and fog.
It is only in recent years that Bogong has been developed as a ski resort and Mr Cole, one of the missing men, has played a large part in its development. Until 1934, not more than seven skiers had reached the cairn at the summit of Mt. Bogong, which is the highest of Victoria’s snow mountains, and may well be called the roof of the State. But the run from the Eastern Peak down to Camp Valley is one of the finest in Victoria.
Staircase Hut, for which the lost skiers were originally making, is within two hours of the cairn at a height of 4900 feet; and the route of the skiers would have been from Fitzgerald’s Hut on the High Plains, down into the Big River Valley, and over the top of Mount Bogong to Staircase Hut, two miles on the other side of the mountain.
Skiers before this have been lost or isolated on the High Plains’ blind world of rain and fog; and the brief history of that territory holds its stories of peril and rescue. One must remember that 10 years ago the trail had not been blazed; and it is hard country to open in winter. There are tops where even the hardy snowgum cannot survive, and above the snow-line there is little life of any kind. Occasionally a dingo may be heard to howl, but the few inhabitants of the tops are wedge-tailed eagles which sometimes may be seen hovering above the peaks.
The lost men are experienced skiers; indeed, Bogong pioneers. In a blizzard experience may count for something; but without food, even where the taller timber of the Big River Valley disputes the snowline, the dangers are incalculable.
