Climbing Mount Kosciuszko

This was taken from lower down not long after we first hopped on the chairlift. The big wide open grassy areas are the ski runs in the winter and the tracks criss crossing the field are downhill mountain bike tracks and hiking tracks. You can choose to hike up and down the mountain to the start of the Mount Kosciuszko trail, but we chose the easier option.

The start of this track is paved for the first kilometre or so until you cross a spectacular creek crossing. This is a good spot to pause and sit by the stream that is the headwaters of the mighty Snowy River.

A warm Beanie is handy too in this type of climate. I started out wearing a bucket hat to keep the sun off my head but the wind kept wanting to blow it off my haed and it was not warm enough. So out came the beanie.

My 9 year old son struggled initially and needed the support of his 11 year old sister along the way a few times. He seemed to get more energy the closer we got to the top and was actually the first one of us to reach the summit after he ran off ahead!

The path at times seemed endless with it disappearing into the distant horizon much of the time. But eventually the summit was in sight which gave us something to aim towards. We played games with the kids jumping onto these rocks and then back on to the path to keep them from getting bored.

Lake Cootapatamba is located 800 metres south of the summit of Mount Kosciuszko and is the highest altitude lake in Australia. This is the view from the Thredbo to Rawson Pass trail.

The start of the return journey after playing in the snow just above Rawson Pass.

We all suddenly found a burst of energy once we could see the buildings of Thredbo. Our trek was nearly over. The whole return journey seemed a lot easier than the walk to Mount Kosciuszko though. We had less stops and the kids seemed happier to be walking. Perhaps it was the joy in knowing that they had achieved a great feat that spurred them on.

It was immensely rewarding knowing that we had done this 13 kilometre walk as a family. Together we had all supported each other when we were tired and struggled on through to the end. It was mainly my 9 year old son who struggled mostly, but we all found it challenging on some level. We all slept very well that night indeed and woke feeling a little tired and a bit sore the next day. But we returned to Thredbo the day after this climb for some mountain biking and then checked out some other parts of Kosciuszko National Park. It was the following day when it really hit and we had to have a rest day!