Kiandra to Kosciuszko Ski Touring
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands through which this journey travels—from the alpine country around Kiandra and Kosciuszko National Park to the rivers, valleys, and high plains beyond. We pay our respects to Elders past and present of the Ngarigo people, whose deep connection to this Country continues today.
These mountains and waterways hold stories, pathways, and gathering places that long predate our journey here. As we travel through this landscape, we do so with gratitude, humility, and respect for the people who have cared for and moved through this Country for countless generations.
Dates: 14-26 August 2022
Length: 13 Days
Start: Kiandra
Finish: Thredbo
Total Distance: 115km
Type: Group of 5, a mix of hut and camping, one food drop
Kiandra to Kosciuszko is a classic long distance ski touring trip in Australia. It was first traversed by Schlink in 1927. It starts near the old settlement of Kiandra, the route winds through the open alpine terrain of Kosciuszko National Park. Snow gums, sculpted by years of harsh weather, dot the plains, while rolling hills and frozen creeks stretch out in every direction. The terrain is deceptively gentle, but the exposure to wind and changing weather keeps you constantly aware of the environment around you. As you make your way south toward Main Range and Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest peak, the landscape opens up even more—wide, treeless expanses that feel remote and untouched.
It is a serious alpine expedition in winter, requiring advanced preparation and navigation skills in the snow. It normally takes around 10 days, but we preferred a slower journey, allowing for sitting out bad weather days in the huts. It was my first extended ski touring trip and I got to ski on some of the best ski touring terrains in Australia with four of my good friends - Justine, Craig, Magnolia and Matt.
Itinerary
Day 1: Kiandra → Broken Dam Hut
10km · 10:30–17:00
We drove from Melbourne the day before and shared a motel room in Nimmitabel. We drove 1.5 hours to Kiandra before our journey started. It was sideway rain mixed with sleet when we got to the trailhead. There was no snow on the ground, so we carried our skis on our back for the first couple of kilometres. Carrying a park half of my body weight was tough. Soon we could put our skis on and had lunch in a relatively sheltered spot. We made our way towards Broken Dam Hut in the afternoon.
Day 2: Broken Dam Hut → Ascenic Ridge
12km · 09:30–16:45
There were patches of wind affected snow solid underfoot and fresh softer snow. Skiing with a full pack on variable snow conditions was hard but fun. We made camp on Ascenic Ridge for the night.
Day 3: Ascenic Ridge → Boobee Hut (via Happy Jack Plains)
10km · 10:20–15:45
We tried to stay on the snow as much as possible. Eventually we were at lower the elevation and we had to switch to walking mode on the Happy Jack Road. We then put our skis back on heading up to Boobee’s Hut.
Day 4: Boobee Hut → O’Keeffe Hut (via Doubtful Gap)
10km · 09:30–16:30
It was a clear evening and the snow was very firm in the morning. It was cosy to sleep in the hut and made our packing up a lot more pleasant. There was no toilet at Boobee Hut, so we used the snow shovel and a trowel to dig beneath the snow and the ground for toileting. It was a beautiful day. The snow was patchy to start with but we could always stay on our skis. The main obstacle of the day was to cross the Doubtful River. We found a suitable spot and tested it out without our heavy packs first. The water was freezing cold and I couldn’t imagine doing this on an overcast or snowy day. There were a couple of more river crossings before O’Keefes Hut, but nothing to difficult. Some had a snow bridge over it. Once we arrived at O’Keefes Hut, we dropped our packs and skied neaby without the weight. The fireplace was switched out to a new one since the last time I visited (April 2021). The old one produced a lot smoke and the new one worked really well to keep us warm and dry our gear without making us cry…
Day 5: O’Keeffe Hut → Cesjacks Hut (via Jagungal Saddle)
7km · 09:40–15:00
The visibility was quite low and we made our way up Jagungal Saddle. We wanted to summit Mt Jagungal, but it was not the day for it. We planned to come back for another trip to ski to the top of Mt Jagungal in 2023. We huddled up inside our bothy for lunch and checked out the map. It gave us good protection from the weather. The sun came out when we arrived at Cesjack Hut and we met other ski tours there.
Day 6: Rest Day at Cesjacks Hut (food drop)
2.5km
It snowed overnight and into the morning. We had a rest day at Cesjacks Hut. We collected our food drop barrels nearby and organised into our packs. We went for a short ski to drop off the empty food barrels near the gate, so we would be able to collect them easily in summer by car. We collected some firewood on the way back. Craig made us delicious gnocchi for dinner and cheesecake for dessert!
Day 7: Cesjacks Hut → Mawsons Hut (via Macalister Saddle)
10km · 10:00–15:00
It was another low visibility day and Craig led us towards Mawson Hut. He somehow knows every knoll, every snow gum, every hut, every land feature in the high country! We call him our human GPX.
Day 8: Mawsons Hut → Schlink Hilton (via The Kerries)
8km · 10:00–15:50
It was a beautiful and clear day. It also meant that the snow was icy in the morning. We gradually climbed up onto the Kerries. We dropped our packs at lunch and skied up and down some hills nearby. Schlink Hilton was a very spacious hut.
Day 9: Rest Day at Schlink Hilton
The weather was miserable all day outside. We enjoyed playing cards inside the hut all day.
Day 10: Schlink Hilton → Whites River Hut / Return
6km
There was a layer of 10-15cm of fresh snow. We made our own tracks towards Schlink Pass. We dropped off our packs and skied up and down on nearby hills. The snow was forgiving and it was great fun! Unfortunately Magnolia’s binding broke and she wasn’t feeling well, we decided to turn back to Schlink Hilton for another night. Also we were not in a rush as the weather wasn’t improving and we wanted to have good weather on the Main Range. Craig managed to replace/fix her binding with a volie strap and cable tie. It worked really well for the rest of the trip!
Day 11: Schlink Hilton → Consett Stephen Pass (via The Rolling Ground)
10km · 08:30–16:00
The weather cleared in the morning and we left the comfort of Schlink Hilton Hut behind. The visibility was dropping when we got to the Rolling Ground. The snow was very wind affected and icy in sections. The condition was completely whiteout near Consett Stephen Pass. With a GPS in our hand, we were not making much progress. We couldn’t see anything but our ski tips. Craig noticed a hairline crack in the snow and he dropped 2-3m down. We couldn’t see anything else and we followed him. We made the call to find a sheltered spot to make camp. We made a snow wall to shelter us from the wind.
Day 12: Consett Stephen Pass → Twynam Saddle (via Carruthers Peak)
12km · 10:30–16:30
A slow pack up in the morning to thaw our bones and gear. It was one of the best days skiing on the trip. The views were spectacular and we were becoming ski fit. It was gentle rolling terrain and we knew that we would have good weather for the rest of the trip.
Day 13: Twynam Saddle → Thredbo (via Mt Kosciuszko)
16km · 10:30–18:30
The Grand Finale. It was epic. After 13 days, we made it to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko on skis. The views were absolutely stunning. (I often show these photos to people overseas who don’t believe that there is skiing/snow in Australia).
We had another day of food with us and had the option to stay out for another night. We decided to ski down all the way to Thredbo instead of staying at Seaman’s Hut. We had been carrying our poop for the past 2-3 days as the snow was too deep to reach the ground. We were not too keen to carry another day worth of poop. At that time, there was no toilet at Seaman’s Hut (now there is) and Rawson Pass toilets were completely buried. We were so close to the finish, so we made our final descent down Thredbo ski resort. It was so much fun skiing down in an empty ski resort. We missed our bus to Jindaybne by 2 minutes as it was confusing to find the bus stop in the village. We called a Maxi Taxi and it was $125 to get to Jindaybne. it was resonable price after split between 5 of us.
Logistics
We drove in one car to Kiandra with our backpacks in the boot and skis on the roof racks. My car was parked in Kiandra for the whole time. Once we got to Jindabyne, we borrowed Craig’s friend’s car to retrieve my car in Kiandra after the trip. Then we drove back to Melbourne in one car.
It wasn’t until the second last day of the trip on the Main Range where I had reception, I found out that the police was trying to contact me as they were quite worried about the car left in Kiandra. At first I thought it must be a spam message/call telling me to check out a message left by the police station. NSW Police contacted VIC Police and they made a visit to my home in Melbourne and asked my neighbour about me. In the end, my neighbour called to ask me if i was okay and told me what happened. The police became concerned about my car left in Kiandra for an extended period and if we were missing. It was good to know that they are people out there looking out for you. Since that trip, I now leave a note on the dashboard of my car when I’m out on overnight trips.
As it is a two-week long trip, a food drop was needed. We prepared our food well before winter came, so we could drop it off near Cesjack Hut before June Long weekend when the winter gate closes. We originally planned this trip for 2021 winter, but due to Covid travel restrictions, we pushed back for a year. We even dropped out the food barrels in June 2021, then we had to collect them back in October 2021. We did the same again for 2022 and hoped that there would be no more Covid travel restrictions interstate. There were some serious river crossings towards the gate near Cesjack Hut. A proper 4WD is required, ideally with a snorkel.
Craig has done the Australian Alpine Walking Track (AAWT) solo in winter and summer. He was organising the logistics for this trip and made it happen for us. Thank you!
Gear
Skis We all used pattern-based skis with cable bindings for this trip as the terrain was mostly undulating. We had kicker skins or full length skins and used them on the icy stretches on the Main Range. My skis were 78mm underfoot, others had wider and narrow skis. My bindings were very stiff and it was difficult to lift my heels more than 5cm (no matter how much I adjust them). I pretty much shuffled my feet or lifted up the skis the whole way. I switched to Voile Switchback Bindings (what Craig had) after the trip. It has a touring mode which makes long tours more efficient.
Tents We all had Hilleberg tents, 2 x Nallo 2 GT and 1 x Akto. They are true four season tents for any alpine winter condition.
Shoes I took a pair of shoes with me for the walk on Happy Jack Road. I also used them for river crossings. My friends didn’t take a pair of shoes and walked in ski boots.
Cooking We had 2 × MSR WhisperLite and 1 x gas stove between us. We were able to cook together or separately in our tent vestibules.
Avalanche Gear We were not planning to adventure into avalanche prone terrain. We didn’t have the skiing ability to. We skiied on low angle terrain. Also we didn’t have the knowledge or training to do so back then. We didn’t carry a beacon or probe.
Toileting We made kits for carrying our waste out when the snow was too deep to dig. We used baking paper to hold our solid waste while draining out the liquid before putting into plastic bag then another one. You can also buy a WAG bag from outdoor shops.
Group Gear We had 2 snow shovels, 1 bothy and a few bottles of Shellite in between us. Craig also carried a ski repair kit and a handheld GPS (rareluy used as he was our human GPS).
| Ski and Pack | Sleep | Clothing - Max Wearing | Clothing - Carrying | Others |
| Madshus Annum 165m | Hilleberg Akto | OR Refuge Jacket | Kokatat Onsie | Thermo Flask |
| Leashes | Snow Pegs 10 | Macpac Fleece | Merino Boxer | Nalgene 500ml |
| Black Diamond Kicker Skins | Tent Footprint | Ice Breaker Thermal Top | 3 x Socks | Snow Peak 900ml Titanium Pot |
| Garmont Excursion Boots | Exped Down Mat | Ice Breaker Bra | S2S 8L dry bag | Pot Cosie |
| Black Diamond Tranverse Poles | Exped Pump Bag | Merino Boxer | Mont Icicle Jacket | Soto Windmaster Stove |
| Include Chilli Cable Bindings | Exped Ultra Pillow | Ice Breaker Thermal Pants | Thin Fleece Gloves | 2 x 1L Bladder |
| Osprey Aura AG 62L | EE Quilt -12c | Ice Breaker Socks | Exped Down Socks | 2 230g fuel |
| Osprey Rain Cover | Sea to Summit Liner | Kathmandu GTX Overpants | Exped Booty Bivvy | 1L Shellite |
| Exped Pack Liner 50L | S2S Ultra Sil 13L | Fleece Bavaclava | Osprey 3L dry bag | Chopsticks, spork |
| Rab Fingerless Gloves | S2S Ultra Sil 2L dry bag | Toiletries | ||
| OR GTX Modular Mitts | Foam Mat 80cmx50cm | |||
| OR Hat | Headtorch | |||
| Powerbank | ||||
| Cables | ||||
| First Aid Kit | ||||
| Toilet Paper |
There were minor changes after I took this picture. I didn’t take the Anker solar panel or GoPro. I took my smaller monkey and crocodile with me.
Food
We prepared 8 shared meals and 4 individual meals to allow the flexibility of sharing a meal in the hut together or in our tent vestibule in bad weather condition. We went with the rule that shared dinners need to be 950g minimum (dried weight) for 5 people. Craig carried a giant GSI 3.7L pot to rehydrate our group meals.
Food for the first half of the trip, carried from the start
Food drop for the second half of the trip. Some heavier or bulkier items like soups, chips were for our rest day at Cesjack Hut.
Our group meals consisted of pesto pasta, pumpkin and chickpeak yelllow curry with rice, mushroom and pea risotto, gnocchi, chilli con carne (TVP) with rice, spag bol, miso tufo ramen, and chana masala with rice.
Summary
This 13-day ski touring expedition from Kiandra to Thredbo via Mount Kosciuszko covers 115km through the remote alpine terrain of Kosciuszko National Park, combining rolling plains, snow gum forests, alpine huts, and the exposed Main Range. This was my first extended ski tour, and it came with everything—variable snow, river crossings, whiteouts, and long, steady days moving through the alpine. Slowing the trip down allowed us to wait out bad weather, enjoy time in the huts, and fully experience the rhythm of life on tour. More than just reaching the finish, it was about the shared experience, the challenges along the way, and the quiet moments that made it all worthwhile.
“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” - Mark Twain
