Snow in December

Shanti reports…

Mum and I had been on a recce to Camp Saddle late in November. It was a pretty misty day and Mum had hoped that the mist would lift, but by the time we reached the saddle it was lower than ever and we had limited visibility, so Mum said it was time to turn tail - but not before a soup and treat stop.

Here I am at Camp Saddle. Not much to see.

Hhhmmm. Mum’s soup smells way better than my water.

But before we go - a quick back scratch on the rocks. Perfect! No idea why Mum was having a meltdown. It was on a slope, not the edge of a cliff!

And…

A few weeks later we were back, this time with my pal Maisy.

Here is Maisy with her Mum, Liz, enjoy the view as we head up to Camp Saddle. Pretty cool views, huh?

Here I am, back at Camp Saddle, but with views this time. Awesome!

Our route goes up there... there isn't a formed track so we have to find our own way. Exciting!

Successfully at the summit of that first hill up from Camp Saddle. How cool is this?

We followed our noses and the curved ridge and found snow. Not a lot of it, but snow is still snow. Pretty rare for a December trip and probably the closest I’ll get to a white Christmas. Towards the end of the ridge we stated to go down again.

Just look at those views! The bump on the left is Helicopter Hill. I've been up there a few times too.

Then we were off down a long steep slope covered with loose stones and rocks which is apparently called scree. The stones slide under your paws when you walk. It’s a little scary and I had my brakes on - but also my brave face because Maisy was running around as though scree was all in a day’s good fun.

Here's the scree slope for reference. Pretty impressive. I'm sure glad I didn't have to walk up that. Bet Mum's glad about that too. I know she prefers then downhills.

After that it was a short forest section and we had a water stop at Lyndon Saddle before heading down the Luge track. It was our second trip down that and it flew past. We hit the road and had a bit of a steep uphill. We passed the place where we had lunched and turned when we did the Dracophyllum Flat track and continued, on an undulating level to the car.

What a cool adventure this was! Snow, scree, track finding - nearly as good as a game of frisbee (my favourite).