Blue Lake ice climbing – Weekend 11-13th Sept

Thanks to the introduction of the UNSWOC beanie grant, snow and ice have made a come back to the club – get excited!! Jeffrey, Henry, Brendon and I (Maria) will be leading an ice climbing trip to Blue lake next weekend 11-13th September. You’ll need to be free from Thursday evening to Sunday evening to come on this trip.

The plan is:

1. Drive down to Guthega (~6 h) stopping at Cooma to rent snowshoes on either Thursday evening OR early Friday morning (TBD). If we go down on Thursday, we will camp at Island Bend campground.
2. Snowshoe or ski from Guthega to the campground near Mt Twynam on Friday and set up camp.
3. Spend Saturday whole day and possibly Sunday morning ice climbing on top rope at Blue lake.
4. On Sunday, hike out to Guthega and drive back to Sydney.

The previous experience you NEED is:

1. Hiking with a heavy backpack for several hours uphill. Which means being FIT.
2. Outdoors camping (i.e. know how to set up the tent, cook your food on the stove, boil water, wear appropriate clothing, etc.)
3. Snow experience is preferred.
4. Climbing experience (with a MINIMUM of top rope experience) is needed.

The gear you NEED is:

1. For climbing (can be rented from the club)
   • Harness
   • Helmet
   • ATC and locking biner
   • Crampons (limited supply)
   • Ice tools (limited supply)
2. For hiking in:
   • Mountaineering boots compatible with crampons OR crampon compatible ski touring boots
   • Snowshoes OR skis (can be hired in Cooma)
   • Trekking poles may help
3. For clothing:
   • Proper warm socks
   • Gaiters
   • Hiking pants
   • Waterproof over-trousers
   • Thermal leggings
   • Thermal top
   • Long sleeve, breathable top
   • Warm fleece
   • Down jacket
   • Waterproof jacket
   • Sunglasses (min cat. 3)
   • Buff/balaclava
   • Beanie
   • Thick, waterproof gloves
4. For sleeping:
   • 4 season tent, with snow pegs (limited club supply)
   • Sleeping bag rated for negative temperatures (limited club supply)
   • Warm sleeping mat (not cheap foam, preferably inflatable)
5. Other:
   • Sunscreen
   • Lip balm
   • Stove
   • Food for the weekend
   • Hand sanitizer
   • Head torch AND spare batteries (YES you must bring a headtorch)
   • Poo bag
   • Personal toiletries/first aid kit
   • Pack to carry all of the above (as well as the shared gear not listed here such as ropes*, trad rad*, ice screws*, ice tools*, snow shovels* so pack must be 50-70 L)

And finally, the comments you NEED to leave below are:

• • What’s your climbing experience + snow experience + hiking experience?
  • Have you attended the Intro to Snow workshops last month? Y/N
  • Is there any gear on the list that you DON’T have?
  • Do you have a car that you can bring? How many people can you take?

Any questions, send me a message (Maria LC) on facebook! Super keeeeeeeeeeen let’s rock (ice?) some climbs!