I’d never been up to Mt. Ichankoppe in winter before, but the approach looked straight forward enough. So we made it a leisurely start from the trailhead, finally getting away from the lookout carpark by about 11am. Our group consisted of two skiers and two on snowshoes.

It felt like proper spring weather, and we were all in single layers.

The lack of snow right at the trailhead was a concern for us skiers. This meant that the gorge to the west of the summer trailhead looked much more inviting, so the group split up. The snowshoers up the summer trail, and us on skis up the gorge (marked on the map above as the return down-track.

I had decided that a nice contained campfire would be nice, and considering it would only be about 1 hour to our campsite, I had strapped two 5kg Swedish torches to my pack. I don’t think I’ve carried a pack as heavy as that before. Leg day every day.

Besides the lack of snow, the beginning of the trip was also punctuated by another unexpected turn – I slipped while trying to clamber up the roadside to the gorge, and got a relatively deep cut to my little finger. Had it not been for a well-stocked first-aid kit, the trip would have been over before it had started.

With that excitement contained, we were on our way.