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Snow Camping

kosciuszko national park

By Altaaf Khan

Having done the Everest Base Camp trek in September 2014, I had been looking at doing similar activities. This year I decided to go somewhere closer to home. So I looked up guided tours to summit Mount Kosciuszko - highest peak in Australia at 2228m. That’s when I came across a photographer, Mike Edmondson. He runs photography workshops, camping and walking tours in the Kosciuszko National Park area. After a few weeks of talking to him, I decided on a two night snow camping/photography workshop, with a shot at trying to summit Mount Kosciuszko (weather permitting). Met up with Mike at Jindabyne and we sorted out the gear to take with us. His son Thomas, a budding photographer himself joined us for the trip. After a short drive to Thredbo, we took the chair lift to Eagles Nest. Put snow shoes on and trekked up towards North Rams Head

Mike picked a spot near North Rams Head to set up camp. We had great views of Mount Kosciuszko, Etheridge and Mount Stillwell looking towards Charlottes Pass.

We were half way through setting camp when the lights from sunset were projecting some pretty cool colours off the snow to miss taking pictures of. We probably got a little too carried away as it was dark by the time we finished taking pictures and had to finish setting up camp with our head torches on.

Then the stars came out to play and brought the milky way along with it. I didn’t quite have my camera setup properly for star shots so my images didn’t come out well. Below are some Paul Zizka inspired photos taken by Thomas of me under the milky way

Although freezing, waking up to snow covered peaks above the clouds with the sun slowly rising was something special.

After breaky, we packed waterproof gear and a few extra layers before heading out towards Mount Kosciuszko. Weather was pretty good with hardly any wind or clouds in the sky, stopping every so often to snap some pictures. But weather does change in these parts very quickly. Before we reached the base of Mount Kosciuszko, mist rolled in. I was hoping it would clear up by the time we reach the summit but that didn’t happen. Just my luck. Same thing happened when we had reached Everest Base Camp. Either way, was still pretty stoked to summit the highest mountain in Australia (2,228m) at around 1.00pm. While we were having lunch at the summit, a guy rides up on his bicycle.

Summit of Mount Kosciuszko - highest peak in Australia at 2228m

It was pretty cloudy with patches of sunshine every so often. Mike took a chance and got us to walk out of camp so we can see the setting sun. After a few failed attempts at trying to capture sunset, the clouds did clear up a bit which gave us the opportunity to get some good shots.

I was woken up a few times at night from the strong winds flapping the sides of the tent. Getting up in the morning and looking out the tent, we were met with a whiteout. So back into the warm sleeping bags for a sleep in. When we finally got up, visibility was still poor. So we decided to slowly pack up camp and head back to Thredbo. Mike gave me a crash course in navigating, then got me to lead us back to Thredbo. Mist kept rolling in and out. We did manage to get some cool shots of ice covered rocks in the mist. Chairlift back down to Thredo.