Northern Razorback walking track to Mt FT

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Hi
I am interested in sussing out the Northern Razorback walking track to Mt Feathertop .

It would be a great route to snow shoe trek in winter. One would imagine that snow camping on that side would be less of a conveyor belt than the Bungalow spur and Federation hut on a weekend in July and August
I have a jap. 2 wd hatchback. How close to the trail head/s can I get in that vehicle?.I know that PV closes the road about 14 kms back from the main trail head in white season.
Can I safely get my jalopy up to Dungey's gap at 1300 M ?
I drove up the Howitt Road to the Mac. Springs car park in March 2015 . The rocky dirt road was barely suitable for my poor little car.

I have the topographical map of the area. However please humour me and excuse my ignorance. From whence does one commence the approach? If one had to do most of it on foot with a big pack on your back because my car is unsuitable for the roads, then is there somewhere 1/2 decent to camp along the way? What about water ? I would be carrying in 4 litres of extra water in green season.
Any information would be appreciated.
Also has anyone been up or down champion spur lately?. It was cleared in 2006 and possibly not since then has it been looked at by anyone with any track clearing designs.
I have heard that is overgrown and a grim slog either way , be it straight up or straight down.

[jdeks]

Yeah I can answer this one.

Access is by Snowy Creek road, turning off the Alpine Road to the east, just after Tawonga Gap road. You're right to follow that down to Dungey Track in your car, and then keep on Dungey (a bit more slowly) until the turnoff to Stony Top Track, at about 700m ASL. This then goes up to to Dungey Gap at 1300m , about another 10km down the road. Your info about the seasonal closure was off - it's not 14km back from the trail head, but rather at Dungey Gap itself. Another 3km or so after this, the Stony Top Rd ends at the trailhead, and you have a further 4km to Feathertop Summit

Now, stony Top Track is the main (ie only) vehicle access track, and while it's open to Dungey Gap year-round, you're gonna need to be preeeetty brave to get your hatchback to there. Which leaves you a good 17km or so to walk from Dungey/Stony Track junction to get to the Summit, summer or winter. To add to that, the only (semi) reliable water is at Dungey Gap too, in the form of a teeny little creek and a fire water tank.

The last k or so up to the feathertop summit is steep, too. Not quite MUMC/West Face steep. But don't go trying to do it in July with sneakers on, and allot some extra time for it.

As for champion spur, yeah - it's a slog. or an adventure, depending on your attitude. It's basically an exercise in off-track orienteering these days. Not hard mind you - head west, go downhill. But in snowshoes it could be...tedious. Especially if you've just walked 17km up Feathertop. Oh, and the bottom of the track puts you into a river valley with some crossings, so be prepared to get yer feet wet.


My advice, given that you have to park at the bottom of Stony Top Tk?

Doing it in summer - go hard and go light. Ditch the tent, take a tarp and a tin stove in case you need it, and get walking up Stony Creek Track before dawn on day one. If youre fit, you can be over the summit after lunch and down in Federation hut for the night. Then you have the whole day to flounder down Champion Spur and hate yourself the next day.

Doing it in winter? Allow 3 days. Snowshoeing 15km uphill then having to summit kindof takes the fun out of summiting, and late and tired is when people make mistakes. Go for a tumble off the northern approach at dusk, and nobody's gonna see you do it. Camp at Dungey Gap, or further along if you can find a flat spot (there's a few here and there, more above the treeline as you get close to the final approach). Then do the summit at your leisure in the morning on nice re-frozen pack, and either lounge around in Federation for the rest of the day, or walk a few more k's and camp at the head of Champion Spur. Then you have the whole of day 3, to flounder down Champion Spur and hate yourself.

If you want to do it in two days in winter, you're gonna need to get drop-off further up Stony Top Tk than your hatchback can take you. Bribe a mate with a fourby.

Oh and lemme know if you do decide to do this in winter. If you're after a hiking buddy, I'm keen (no 4wd though )

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Hi
Thanks for the info.
I would be thinking about giving Champion spur a miss altogether and just going up the Northern Razorback track. Yes my 2 wd isn't going to cope with a 4 wd track so in green season walking some of the 17km up the road would be the plan and carrying 4 L extra water so one could camp near the trail head in the tree line . Then the next day one would plan to go over the summit to Fed. hut . In green season this could happen with the full pack and camp at Fed. hut and/or just descend by the conveyor belt a.k.a The Bungalow spur. One could leave one car at the bottom of the Bungalow spur and the other at the start of the vehicular approach of the Northern Razorback .
Otherwise in white season , the plan would be the same with walking up to the trail head and snow camping near there. The next morning it would be with wearing goretex and merino everything, waxed up hiking boots ,an ice axe, soft boot suitable crampons just in case, ,a self arrest ski pole , MSR lightning ascent snow shoes and a day pack containing a PLB, food , water, space blanket, ski goggles , water and a camera , etc.. The plan would be to descend via the same northern Razorback route. Esp. if the summit was unsafe for a summit mission because of very icy conditions and bad weather and poor visibility.

[jdeks]

How many days have you got to play with for this trip?

I wouldn't write off Champion Spur, good chance to rack up some man-points.

Also dont forget there are a buttload of bus services that do runs to Melbourne from the nearby towns, which can make it easier to avoid just doing loops. Last winter I did a run across the plains from Razorback to Falls Creek. Good stuff.

Lastly, don't go too crazy with the Feathetop gear. It's just a snowy hill, really - kitting out like youre heading up Everest will just make it harder. That list of gear has a buttload of redundancies - ice axe *and* arrest pole?? Crampons, iceaxe and a parka is all you really need. Camera if you need proof you got there

[paidal_chalne_vala]

HI, I was just listing some serious gear for white season to show you I am not noobie or a hapless fool on two legs. I think the self arrest pole or the ice axe but not both would suffice. Those light weight soft boot crampons with the chains and small spikes seem like the likely choice for a morning ascent on a frozen pack of snow and ice.

I have a lot of VNPA hikes set this Green season that I have put in the gazette as a trip leader, so I am not sure when I will get to scout this hike out .I always take a camera. Some people will never see this or do this. I like to have proof!

If /When I do get time I would be looking at 2 or 3 nights of walking and camping. Not too rushed.

Early April might be better for avoiding heat, flies and finding a drop of water somewhere.

[jdeks]

Nah man, I know you're no newbie More for the sake of reference for anyone else who googles it and finds this thread one day.

If you can get yourself some Tubbs snowshoes, or anything with a removable articulated base, then you can usually just remove the foot bindings/cleats from the snowshoes and use them as makeshift crampons. More than adequate, and saves having to lug both snowshoes and crampons.

I say do it in August, but that's just me. I hardly ever go hiking unless there's snow on the ground these days.

[Kinsayder]

Just on the North Razorback access. I got to the start of it last year in my little Mazda 3 hatch and I emphatically do not recommend it. Sometimes the maps will list a road as 4WD only but you can still have a crack at it. This is not an example of that. It's an actual 4WD track. I ripped something off the bottom of my car, a guard or something (I have little interest in cars, so excuse me there) and feel that it probably took a few years off the vehicle overall. It was insanely muddy, steep, covered in huge branches and large rocks. It was a really rough ride. There weren't many points to turn about though, so I kept going right up to the clearing with the (I'm assuming) permanently locked gate. I partly put my terrible judgement down to being sick, which sadly impeded my capacity to get far into the hike due to throwing up repeatedly. As I don't get a great many leave passes, I thought I'd push on regardless before realising that I had to turn around. Next year I'm tackling the North from the other side, making my way to where I had to turn about and then turning the decent into an ascent.

Good luck with it though, PCV!

[paidal_chalne_vala]

I have MSR revo explore snow shoes which are good for icy conditions and have the heel lift. IMO they are better than TUBBS snow shoes.
I am NOT taking my 2 WD up there at all. If I have to hike as far as the trail head gate and then camp there and continue the next day then so be it. I will take 4 L. extra water if I am scouting this route out in green season.
I must admit the flies and the heat in summer can make hiking up hill or anywhere a real fr*cking chore and a test of one's patience .Whereas in white season there are no flies and slogging it up a spur actually warms you up rather than cooks your brain , makes you dehydrated and heat stressed.

[jdeks]

Ugh, Revo's are definitely not a snowshoe I would take up feathertop...they don't really do so well on steep slopes.

As for the trail in, it's not so much the 2/4WD issue, more ground clearance that'll get you stuck.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

I am aware of most snow shoes' limitations on steep slopes that are icy. The snow shoes are for stopping you sinking into deep snow. They are not for walking on sheet ice down steep hills. That is what crampons are for.
The ground clearance is what I am looking at when it comes to buying a 4 WD.

[Kinsayder]

Absolutely with you on summer versus winter hiking, PCV. If I were to ever hike when a hint of warmth was about I'd either die or cry like a baby. In winter, I am in my element and able to hike with purpose. It feels purer to me, although I can see how people might find warmer times are more congruent with being at one with nature.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

I hike all year round. The hiking trails and campsites are less populated in the cooler weather .

[north-north-west]

... although I can see how people might find warmer times are more congruent with being at one with nature.

Yeah, yesterday was almost enough to make me permanently one with nature.

[Kinsayder]

I'm happy enough to leave snakes, flies, bitey things and people to the summer time. Give me brutal cold any day.

Um, nice avatar, NNW.

[north-north-west]

Um, nice avatar, NNW.

Thought it was time to have something that showed my true personality. Anyway, the sentiment at the time was directed as much at the scrub we were trying to get through as at the photographer.