Hi All
I could never understand what the excitement of driving in sand could be, until I drove in fresh snow!
This was our first trip with our club - Victorian Four Wheel Drive Club, certainly one not to be forgotten in a hurry. 5 cars headed off friday night and we caught up ealry Saturday morning. We camped at 12 mile reserve, well, 12 miles east of Jamieson. Facilities: grass, trees, dirty river, clean drop toilet and an abundance of firewood. Out of a group of 6, we were the only ones to arrive Saturday morning after a 4hr drive. We left the campsite at 10:10am and headed for Mt Skene, via Jamieson as the Goulburn River crossing was too fast flowing to attempt. Mt Skene, usually a 1.5hr or so drive, ended up taking just over 4.5hrs with all cars requiring snatching back into line at some stage, including the double locked Simex equipped cars.
The snow arrived at 880m above sea level which exceeded everybody's expectations, Mt Skene is at 1570m!
We stopped to air down in 20cm deep snow, at this stage i was getting nervous as I still had the front hubs unlocked. The usual snowball fights etc took place. We ventured further up the mountain to the stage where most cars required some assistance, this was the biggest delay, but certainly heaps of fun!
Especially for the Secretary's son - Rob who ripped out the tobbogan and made use of the car tracks in the fresh snow.
We finally arrived just short of the summit and had to move off the road to let an oncoming car pass. We made this our lunch stop as some had dropped down in the snow and had to be snatched out. This was the coldest Donna and I have EVER been! Looking at comparative mountains temps, it was -4C!
Lunch near the summit of Mt Skene.
Most cars picked up neat wheel covers from the snow.
Yours truly and Mrs J under a snow tree near the summit.
The trip down was quite and almost uneventful. We arrived back at camp just on dusk and Donna and I had to setup the tent, due to our late arrival. Dinner was pasta and bolognase sauce (courtesy of 2 x SPC cans), some beer and a night cap of muscat. Dawn broke after a chilly night sleep, the traditional farm fresh eggs and bacon were served with fresh Earl Grey tea. 2 cars had departed the night before and out of the 4 cars left, 2 cars went via Mansfield and us 2 left went via Woods Point/Mt Matlock. Well nearly Woods Point anyway. A well equipped GQ Patrol and myself departed around 10.
A nice waterfall just out of A1 Mine Settlement. This area was ravished by the great Victorian bushfires in summer 06/07.
We turned right at Freshman's Track just before Woods Point and headed up towards 1300m.
The trek up followed other vehicle tracks, until the tyre tracks dissappeared. They must have reversed out as we couldn't see where they turned around. This part of the track required 4000rpm+ in low 2nd just to keep moving!
As the rear of the Pathy slipped out the the right, this was Donna's cue "I wanna get out for a smoke" as the Pathy succumbed to the soft conditions. It was not through lack of trying tho!
After a few further attempts, I was within snatching distance of the Patrol and we were suddenly at the top, with no real visible tracks!
This is the path that greeted us at the top!
And one just short of the plateau
I think they call this a camel toe!
The Pathy in pursuit of the Patrol
We took a 10min walk to check out what was around the next corner. It was another incline, but nowhere near as steep as what we had just come up. We ventured on slowly through the fresh snow following what we could make of the snow covered track to another plateau, before beginning the descent, we took another walk, only to find something with at least 12 inch wide Simexs had tried his hardest to get up where we were heading down, but didn't succeed.
The Patrol prior to descent
The view up from here.
From here, we could see muddy tracks so we knew we were not far away from hardish ground. This was a welcome sight as the bad weather was beginning to set in and we didn't want to get stuck. The rear of the Patrol looked precariously off line on the way down, but it looked worse than it really was. We were now heading towards the base of Mt Matlock, a familiar destination for some on this forum - Justin.. We turned right just before the base as we were done for the day. This brought us to the road to Warburton which was gravel but still covered in snow. We ventured along here when we came across a steep incline on the left. It looked like many had attempted it, but few had succeeded! Steve in the Patrol gave it a go and got to the top ok, enduring the slippery skid back down backwards. I was less successful and got only 1/2 way up.
After coming back down, I tried reversing up, better to come down forwards than backwards!
This took us along the snow covered road to 9 Mile rd, the Noojee turnoff. Still snow on the road here!!
We drove the 50 or so kms to Noojee and stopped to air up and say our goodbyes.
Anyone for a drive to the snow on Sunday 20th July???
We plan to do a casual day trip - snow permitting, to Woods Point area . More so a playtime for the kids, probably not too much 4wding, but you never know.
Nick and Donna
Trip report VFWDC annual snow trip 12-13 July
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Awesome report... Looks like heaps of fun, i have never been to the snow, but it suure loos fun to 4x4 on... 
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