My heart was pounding, I was over heating, I couldn’t breathe and I had just taken a few steps after getting off the chairlift. How was I possibly going to make it to the summit?
On Friday 22 April 2011, my husband, my two brothers and I took up the challenge of the walk to the highest point in Australia, 2228 metres above sea level, the summit of Mt Kosciuszko.
We climbed aboard the Kosciuszko Express Chairlift. Sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the ride to the Eagles Nest Restaurant situated at1937 metres above sea level.
The first part of this walk was the most challenging, as we acclimatised to the clean, fresh mountain air. Once we had settled into a leisurely pace, the gradual incline along the mesh path became fascinating and exciting. As the clouds rolled in and around, we discovered glimpses of the remarkable views and amazing terrain.
We were also in search of striking yellow and black Corroboree Frogs. We kept our eyes peeled as the oxidized mesh path approached areas alongside the crystal clear shallow pools within sphagnum bogs, wet tussock grasslands, and wet heath. But these Australian icons were too elusive.
At the 5.5km mark, we encountered the busy traffic cross roads at Rawson's Pass (2100m). There were other walkers, runners and cyclists, most of them either heading to or from the ‘Hybrid Toilets’. Why Hybrid? Because they’re up ‘hy’ (high) and they make you ‘brid’ (breathe) in very quickly when that rush of freezing cold air hits your tepid toosh.
The last 1.67km to the top via the Summit Walking Track was in sub-zero temperatures, with a wind chill factor of -6 degrees. Just a bit chillier than expected, we stayed at the peak for about 20 minutes and took in the wonderment of being on top of the world, well, Australia anyway. The sign at the summit led us to the thoughts of a Polish explorer, Paul Edmund Strzelecki, who named this mountain after its similarity to a tumulus elevated in Krakow over the tome of the patriot Kosciuszko.
