Mt Torlesse

Sunday, 19 July 2020

It was overcast again in town, but the five of us knew the high country forecast was good. No one had turned up for Kerry’s Bobs Knob trip so Kerry was happy to be our no 5. We emerged from the cloud at Sheffield, with Mt Torlesse glistening in bright sun and blue sky up ahead. We also knew that with the lack of any substantial southerly, there would still be limited snow up there. So it was no surprise to find the snow both high and mostly light, then firm crampon snow on the higher slopes. The wind also got up to 30km/h+ higher up, as forecast.

Peter was surprised when I put my crampons on early while still in boney snow. He was right; I bent both of them on the rocks and got left well behind. When I arrived on top at 1.30pm for lunch they were nearly ready to leave, so it was a short stop. We agreed to go down the eastern spur and that was a good option. A little more sheltered from the westerly and a nice gentle circuit in reasonable snow past 1723m. That didn’t last once on to the steeper slope dropping to the saddle before 1152m. Normally a good plug in snow, the boney snow made it a slow descent on bigger rocks.

Once on the saddle we crossed the spur to drop into the southern leg of the stream and continued down the stream itself. I think previously we would have climbed out a little to travel down the true left over that upper section. But on a nice afternoon it was still pleasant going in the stream, although maybe I’m recalling some No 2 fun.

Dropping down to the hut by 4.15pm, we left there at 4.30pm+ timing it nicely arriving back at the car at 5.30pm, just on dark.

We were: Mafi Gehrig, Merv Meredith (leader), Milomir Mojsilovic, Kerry Moore and Peter Umbers. (MM)