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Ice Climbing - Oz Style 3-Sep-2003 At 3:02:58 PM V

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On 3/09/2003 jono wrote:
>the best way to get in there would be
>from guthega 'cause it's free to park and you can walk in from there.

Some of my experience:

As far as I know, you need a Kozzy national park permit to park at Guthega. A bit like any mountain area, they need to collect a levy to cover the cost of maintaining roads and facilities. If you're staying for more than a few days, it's more economical to buy a 1 year pass. In fact if you time it right, you can make two trips on the pass (go a week or two earlier next season).

I was parked at Dead Horse Gap, then Guthega for a week all up last winter, and paid $80 for a 1 year pass. From memory we left Guthega around 4pm, camped outside a little hut at about 6pm(??), then crossed the Snowy and up towards Mt Twynam the next day, which took about 4 hours (YMMV, depends on conditions really). You can't actually camp in Blue Lake as it is a catchment area, so we camped a couple of K's away at the top of Little Twynam Creek (I think that's what it's called).

Also the ranger told me that parking at Guthega is difficult on weekends due to the crowds, so you probably want to get there on a weekday. Don't try and get to Blue Lake from Dead Horse Gap with a week's worth of supplies -- it's just too far. And leave the telemark gear or snowboard at home, too heavy. We had to solo because we couldn't carry a rope and pro with the truckload of gear we were carrying!