This year I'm hitting things closer to home, but perhaps a little more challenging. You see Australia only has 5 glacial lakes, and none so spectacular as those in Canada. They are nonetheless still glacial lakes and cradled in the beautiful surrounds of the snowy mountains. The goal as I set out was to take the trusty N1SCO inflato from Naish and hike to each of these lakes in the one day. To my knowledge nobody has ever taken a SUP on all 5 lakes, so I figured it was about time someone did.
This trip was inspired by a good friend and companion on this adventure, the ever conquering Kyle Williams adventurer.
With a big day planned and some great opportunities for picturesque landscapes, we decided that 4:15am was the time to get on the trail.
Some of the challenges we were anticipating:
1. Only 1 of these lakes has relatively unimpeded access.
2. 30-40km of steep terrain with a 20kg pack
3. There are no cafes in the mountains
4. Mountain weather can change quickly.
5. Did I mention 30-40km of steep terrain with a 20kg pack??
Hitting the trail pretty much on schedule we were pumped and ready for adventure, with at least a little trepidation on my part.
a short way in as we prepared to rock hop across the freezing snowy river, I took an unscheduled rest, slipping on some wet rocks, but catching myself with an arm which meant that all was good, nothing broken, just a mere flesh wound.
First light in the mountains was magnificent as we ascended the main trail from Charlotte Pass toward Blue Lake.
A tough walk up, but so far mostly on trails we were in good spirits and the N1SCO pumped up with relative ease.
On the water it was spectacular, as the sun rose over the eastern edge of the glacial cirque which is Blue Lake. The winds were fun, they blew in 3 distinct directions, depending on where on the lake you were. 1 down, 4 to go.
Our next Lake was Hedly Tarn. There were no mapped tracks to this one, so we relied on Kyle's skills of looking at his GPS, then simply making shit up.
this proved a winner and in no time at all we had the Tarn in our sights.
It was here that I had the opportunity to relive the fun of white water SUPing from the Colorado River last year as I saw the quietly winding Blue Lake Creek feed into Hedley Tarn.
Hedley Tarn whilst not deep has a beautiful vista as it looks out over the valley toward Charlotte Pass. 2 down and the day is yet young!
Heading back up past Blue Lake, our next stop was the Main Range Track sign which is an iconic photo point, and an opportunity to give the SUP a rest from the tough ride on my back. On my two previous visits to this point, I have had to encounter Kyle's bare buttocks as we engineered running repairs for his feats of craziness Fortunately this time my tape stayed in my bag and Kyle's pants stayed around his waist.
Carruther's Peak saw us get our first glimpse of Club Lake. Nestled at the base of Carruther's, its hue of clear mountain green is lovely. The steep decent to get to it... not so.
After considering the quick way down, we opted for the somewhat longer and slower decent that was less likely to end in an emergency evacuation and missing the other 2 lakes.
getting down there it was time for a snack and paddling out and across. The walls up to Carruther's peak looked awesome from on the lake and made for a tough lake to leave, but this was number 3 and there were still 2 to go before we could head for home.
As it turns out, leaving the water wasn't the tough part. The much anticipated walk up out of the cirque was the tough bit. with every step feeling like someone had put the resistance on to elephant mode on the stepper, I heaved myself and the trusty inflato out of there up onto the ridge. It was welcome relief to get that climb out of the way, knowing that it would be the toughest off trail one of the day.
Shortly afterwards we were treated to the view of Lake Albina. Lake 4 lay before us in all its splendour.
A well timed emptying water bottle as we approached the source of Australia's purest water. The 4th time you pump up an inflato in a day it's starting to lose some of its charm, but kicking into a rhythm meant that it was soon done and I was on the water again. Around the edges of Albina you see reds and browns in the rock beneath the clear water merge into green as the water deepens. Albina also provided the only lake thus far to provide a wind blowing in only 1 direction, and in the direction that I needed. So after a skirt around the northern edge of Albina I took advantage of a little mountain downwinder to take me to the other end as Kyle did the hard yards on foot.
Drenched in sunshine, out of the wind now and carpeted by the lush alpine grass, it was tempting to lay back and have a rest. Whilst we were now 4 lakes down, there was still a lot of ground to cover between here and beer, so with the SUP loaded up again, it was back to the climb out from the lake back up to the track to then head around Kosciuszko.
Here some cramping set in as the day started to take its toll and the stairs around Kosciuszko laid claim to my tiring legs. Not wanting this to spread, a timely stop was made, some salts taken on board and we continued on. The nice part of this time of year is that the lakes have thawed, but there is still snow about. It's crisp whiteness accenting the scenery majestically, but still a challenge to walk through.
Gotta love the Vivobarefoot Trailfreaks! a great shoe to make this trip in.
Skirting around Kosci we took view of Lake Cootapatamba. The 5th of our Glacial lakes and the highest lake in Australia sitting at around 2010m above sea level. You've gotta love finishing on a high!
Macrobar consumed and it was time to get my feet wet for the last time. Lake Cootapatamba whilst not very deep, is cool because it looks like an infinity pool at some points and just disappears over the horizon.
Cootapatamba conquered, it was time to hit the road.It seemed as though the closer we got to Charlotte Pass, the heavier the SUP on my back became. In the end we made it with food, water and high spirits to spare. It was a welcome relief seeing the Enhance Mobile and the opportunity to put the pack down for the last time.
In the end we covered just over 33km on foot with a total elapsed time of 11:34.
Our elevation gain throughout the day was 1935m with our highest altitude of 2130m and highest paddling altitude of 2010m.
My thanks to Kyle Williams for taking the time to plan this out, take time out of work and fly up from Melbourne for this lunacy and for the inspiration to do it in the first place.
Also Wetspot Watersports who support me in all of my paddling endeavours, Scotty and the team are second to none when it comes to product knowledge and putting your interests as a paddler first.
