Page 16 - 2021 AMA Summer

EXPEDITIONNEWS
EXERCISE BLUE ICE
A UK EXCHANGE OFFICER’S PERSPECTIVE
Alex Sweet
There’s ice climbing in Australia! Australia is perhaps not the first destination that springs to mind when thinking about ice climbing, more likely images of Uluru and the Sydney Opera House, but what is on offer at Blue Lake in the Kosciuszko National Park should not be underestimated. With inter- national travel restrictions, the ice at Blue Lake is likely the only ice many of us will see for a while, so when I was invited to attend the exercise by the President of the Army Alpine Association (AAA), I jumped at the chance.
After some equipment and gear checks, 14 intrepid explorers drawn from across the three services of the Australian Defence Force (and a UK Exchange Officer), ranging from Private to Wing Commander with various levels of experience, set off for the beautiful Snowy Mountains in New South Wales. The stepping off point was at Guthega, near the Guthega Power Station which is part of the huge Snowy Mountains Hydro scheme. After a quick introduction to snowshoes (our means of travel for the next four days) we saddled up the three pulk sleds with group stores, shouldered our backpacks full of personal kit and began the 7.5km snow shoe insertion to base camp. Despite the uphill gradient and the creek crossings, it was a magical walk-through history following in the footsteps of the early pioneers, passing Illawong Lodge built in the early 1920s and crossing the Snowy River, made famous by the Banjo Paterson poem. We reached the base camp
Al Sweet and Blue Lake Crags
location just before last light after a final uphill slog that the pulks were intent on dragging us back down. With tent spaces dug out in the snow, and tents and shelter walls erected, we fired up the stoves as we watched the Snow Groomers working on the distant slopes of Perisher and Charlotte’s Pass ski areas before turning in for a frosty night in the tents (for some, the first-time snow camping).
We woke to cold, perfect conditions as the sun was slowly rising over Mt Perisher and the first fingers of morning sun began to reach into our campsite with a warming glow. After a quick breakfast and kit sort out, we donned the snowshoes again to
Dave Stephens and Ben Southey descending the ice
The Group at Blue Lake
begin the 2.5km walk from the campsite to Blue Lake. It was an incredible walk with blue skies, sun shining and plenty of snow cover, such that there were times I had to remind myself I was in Australia and not the French or Swiss Alps. Blue Lake sits at 1890m and in summer provides an amphitheatre of rock climbing areas but in winter, with the lake frozen over, there are a number of areas for winter ice climbing. The freezing level had been below 900m for the previous week, so the conditions were perfect. As the instructors went to set up two top ropes, the remainder of the group got used to fitting and walking in crampons, and practicing front pointing. After a period of instruction on how to ice climb and how to belay, the first two climbers set off up the ice. The routes were in good condition with some good ice to sink front points and ice axes into, approximately 10m in length and Water Ice 2/3 in grade. Some of the group took to the techniques quickly and gracefully ascended the ice whilst others looked more like Bambi on ice! As a background activity to the ice climbing, we practised
16 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER