Mt Bogong

Via Staircase Spur

I was on a boys weekend in May 2011. We were up in Tawonga staying in the caravan Park. As we drove in to town towering above everything else was Mt Bogong, Victoria's highest mountain at an impressive 1986mt tall.

Saturday morning and while the other softies in the group were cracking their first beer and debating what time to hit the pub, I was lacing up my boots for a solo attempt on the summit via the famous Staircase Spur.

I was dropped off at the Mountain Creek camp ground at 8am, 550mt above sea level. There were a few groups of campers staying at Mountain Creek as I began my walk.

The short 2km walk to the start of the Staircase along the 4wd track was nice. The river was flowing, the bush was very green and small bridges made the river easy to cross.

At 8.30am at a height of 660mt I started the climb up the Staircase. The bush was very thick and the heavily walked track was well defined. It was a strenuous climb from the start but with only a day pack on it was a lot easier than Feathertops Diamintina Spur.

Still amongst the trees I arrived at Bivouac Hut at 9.45. I had climbed to 1422mt a decided to take a break. The Hut is the half way mark up the spur and would be a good spot to camp if needed. The sun was shinning and I started to get some nice views to the north and back towards Twaonga.

I left Bivouac Hut at 11am for the final climb to the summit. About 10min later small patches of snow started appearing along the sides of the track and some nice views of the summit were to be seen.

As I accended higher there were amazing views to the north east looking down on all the mountains and it wasnt long till I broke through the tree line where the temp dropped and the ground became very rocky.

The track was still well defined with snow poles leading to the top. With no trees the views were amazing and I could see clearly the Eskdale Spur to the east.


As I was nearing the top I passed a memorial cairn dedicated to a 3 lives lost in a blizzard in 1943. The snow was also becoming widespread and thick and the temperature was dropping dramatically.

The final walk to the top was through soft ankle deep snow and I probably should have zipped the legs back on my shorts but I just wanted to get to the top.

I reached the summit cairn at 11.10am and as I did the clouds rolled in. It was freezing so I put on a heap of layers and sat down, cracked a can of pepsi max and had a snack.

I could see a group of walkers in the distance heading along the ridge toward Cleve Cole Hut. The views from the top were OK but a bit obscured by the clouds. After 25min alone on the highest point in Victoria I started my journey down the mountain at 11.35am

As I got lower the layers were removed and the views returned but the overcast conditions remained. I passed 2 groups of 5 walkers on their way up who unfortunately were not going to see much from the top as the clouds were getting thicker and I could no longer see the summit.

At 12.40 I had a 10min break at the Bivouac Hut then continued down the mountain. As my knees were starting to get sore with the decent there were a few more walkers heading for the top.

At 2pm I was back on the 4wd track making my way to the camp ground where I had called through to be picked up at 2.30. I had phone reception the whole way.

Even though I was on track the entire time it was good to try out my hand held GPS. I knew exactly how far I had walked, how fast I was walking and I enjoyed knowing how high I was.

I had walked 13km in 6.5 hours and used today as recon for a bigger walk later in the year that will take in a few nights camping on the mountain.

I had a great day and enjoyed catching up with the boys around the fire at the end, even though I was very sore.