The Details:
- Location: Kosciuszko National Park (Starting from Thredbo)
- Duration: 3 Days / 2 Nights
- Experience: Snowshoeing & Snow Camping
- Conditions: From -7°C whiteout to bluebird skies
- Guide: Mike Edmondson (Highly recommended!)
Having never ventured beyond the safety of the marked runs on ski fields, I had a mix of pure excitement but also a healthy dose of nerves for this adventure. The alpine environment is breathtakingly beautiful, but it’s also unforgiving. If you go in underprepared, it doesn’t just become uncomfortable—it can become dangerous very quickly. This 3-day snow camping adventure was a test of tenacity and a lesson in patience, but more than anything, it was my first real step into the wild, white silence of Australia’s highest peaks.
Day 1 was all about the approach. We set off from Thredbo, catching the Kosi chairlift partway up the mountain, then did a quick demo of walking in snowshoes before setting off into the backcountry to find the perfect spot to call home for the next two nights. Setting up camp in the snow is an art form in itself - there’s a lot of shoveling and leveling involved to make sure you don’t spend the night sliding into your neighbour. It’s also very helpful to create a snow wall around your tent to protect against prevailing winds. 10 points if you can spot the photo of me with my very sad looking “brick” of snow - it’s definitely a learning curve (my curve was just a little bigger than others…)
Day 2 decided to show us the “real” mountains. We woke up to blizzard conditions, with temperatures dropping to -7°C overnight. While it wasn’t exactly bluebird weather, we made the most of it by building an igloo - and by “we” I mean the two other group members (with a smaller learning curve) - check out the photos below! It’s surprisingly peaceful inside a wall of ice when the wind is howling outside.
Day 3 gave us our bluebird day. Viewing the sun rise over snow capped peaks while at the top of Australia - it is hard to convey how special it was. Something i’ll never forget. We also got to summit Mt Kosciuszko!! The hike from our camp to the summit was roughly an hour away. We then trekked back to camp, packed up, and headed back toward civilzation. From some of the photos below, it looks like we are super remote with no one for miles. And in reality it actually does feel this way too - as soon as you start walking past the groomed trails, it gets very quiet, very quickly. But it goes to show that you don’t have to go that far off the beaten path to feel like you’re truly in the wild. We were only a couple of kilometres from the top of the chairlift.
As mentioned in the title of this trip, we were guided the whole way. I booked through K7 Adventures (not sponsored). We had Mike Edmondson lead our trip, and even though it’s advertised as a small group trip, it ended up just being myself and 1 other person! I learned a lot from Mike about safety in the backcountry and he tailored the trip around what we wanted out of it. I would not go out and attempt a backcountry adventure without first gaining the necessary skills and knowledge for survival, and this trip helped so much with that, so thanks Mike! Also, as you will recognise, all the photos below are by Mike, he is a gun photographer and all of the photos he takes are included in the price of the trip, which I thought was pretty cool.
Something to note about gear - I own a lot of my own gear for 3 season backpacking, but this trip required 4 season gear, so I ended up having to rent some things like my tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag. It’s an added expense, but can be organised through Mike, which was very convenient.
