Thursday, Jun 06, 2013 at 22:32
Hi Berylvt
There are a lot of road closures across the mountains.
Check with the national parks before making plans.
The
Snowy Mountains Hwy between Tumut and
Adaminaby is open unless they have received a good dump of snow closing it temporarily.
There are some
places to
camp along this road and last time I looked the road out to Tantangara was open for 4WDs in winter.
Boboyan Road is a good dirt option between Tharwa and
Cooma but not "alpine".
Roads between Jindy and
Khancoban, Cootamundra and Tumbarumba/Tooma, Suggan Buggan and
Limestone Creek are all closed.
Check with
Kosciuszko National Park about Barry Way
Above
Falls Creek across
Bogong High Plains is closed in winter.
There are still plenty of
places to
camp near the snowline and in the parks but not enroute for a drive through.
Some ideas for testing out your new rig are
Island Bend camp ground near Guthega, Ngarigo and
Thredbo Diggings on the Alpine Way,
Tantangara Dam. If the Barry Way is open down to the River past Ingebyra there are some good spots by the water. On Lake Eucumbene you have
Anglers Reach and they often get snow blowing down from
Kiandra.
Hope you have good gear for subzero. You need to be prepared if you want to stay out of trouble. I used to
camp whole winter seasons on and above the snowline and often went to bed in -10C without windchill, coldest winter night camped on the snow was -27 windchill. I had a good 2 man Macpac tent with a snow floor, top quality sleeping mat and the best Mont alpine down sleeping bag on the market at the time (it has since been stolen) as
well as thermal bag liner, 2 layers of merino thermals inside the bag and a shot of chilli schnapps.
If you have the right gear for snow camping I'd suggest
Island Bend, this is the most likely to get snow blow down from the mainrange. There is a pit
toilet and lots of
camp sites. Don't be tempted to
camp to close to the river as they may need to release water from the dams upstream or pump through from another
dam and I've watched it rise about a metre in about 30 minutes while camped there. There is wildlife, in fact the roos sometimes lick your tyres because they have salt from the roads. It is close to Guthega where you can buy passes to Perisher Blue or, if backcountry is more your style, the Guthega -
Kiandra section of the AAWT starts just up the road at the Pump Station.
Enjoy
AnswerID:
512677
Follow Up By: Member - Berylvt - Friday, Jun 07, 2013 at 20:31
Friday, Jun 07, 2013 at 20:31
Thank you. That is the kind of info we need. We do not yet know how
well the insulation in the vehicle will work. Will we be too warm or too cold with our Doona and the diesel heater? Will the diesel turn to gel? We are not planning to go bravely off road in the snow and get stranded. But we do want to experience it in the real cold. Trying this for the first time in Tibet or Mongolia would not be very sensible either. We have bought ski gear such as jackets, warm trousers, gloves, scarves, boots etc. but the night time is really what we don't know about. That's why we want to give it a go. But we will be sure to be where we can retreat if it is too cold.
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791258