Hiro and myself took the chance to rest for awhile and to regather our strength. I asked Hiro how he was feeling. He gave me the standard response.
“Oh, very good.”
We walked on and down the far side of Marion’s Lookout towards Kitchen Hut, our next target. The track soon levelled out on a plateau with another ridge in front of us. The snow was now beginning to reach thigh deep in places and the track could only be followed by using the footprints of those who had walked there before. At the point where the track began to ascend the snow looked boggy and watery. I guessed that there might be a creek running below but I couldn’t tell where the path crossed.
I had no option but to follow the footprints and soon found water rushing through my gaiters and over the top of my boots. My feet were now soaked but I simply thought I had done well to keep them dry up to this point. After crossing I looked back to Hiro who was some ten metres back and warned him about the water. He acknowledged his thanks and continued to plough on. It became obvious after watching Hiro for a few more moments that he had one of the most unusual and depressing looking ways of walking. He would trudge head bowed with his arms crossed over his chest in Egyptian mummy fashion. I wondered how he could walk comfortably in this position.
As we headed up the ridge another walker came the other way.
“How are the conditions?” I asked.
“Much slower than normal. It’s pretty hard going back there.”
I thanked him and after giving a similar report on the track behind us, headed on. The snow was now consistently knee deep, making the walk to the top of the ridge treacherous and difficult. A few times I found myself in close facial contact with the snow, as something gave way under my footing. This began to send my mood into a disheartening spiral. I think that this was caused by a combination of the conditions and my inexperience in these types of conditions. I have made many bushwalks in Australia but never in snow!
At the top, my mood was lifted as I saw Kitchen Hut in the distance ahead of us at the bottom of a gently downward sweeping slope. As I waited for Hiro to catch up I saw two figures leave the hut and begin to walk in our direction. After a short while Hiro caught up again and we headed onwards to the hut, where we would stop for lunch.
We headed onwards, still ploughing through knee-deep snow, I kept hoping and praying that the walking would get easier from here. The particular problem that I seemed to be having with the snow was the fact that every time I stepped into a foot hole I would sink another five or six inches deeper than the previous walker. This was making the going very tough physically and very stressful mentally. I think the mental stress at this point was simply caused by my inexperience of these types of conditions but I kept plugging on. Hiro’s shambling and depressing walking style gave no more hint than normal as to how he was feeling.
Perhaps halfway between the plateau and the hut I reached the walkers coming the other way.
“Hi, how’s it going?” I asked.
“Pretty hard, but we’re nearly at the end now.”
“I bet your looking forward to a shower when you finish?”
“Shit yeah,” he replied. “What’s the track like behind you?”
“Shitty. What about behind you?”
“Shitty. But we’ve got less distance to walk than you.”
“Thanks.”
After wishing each other good luck we went our separate ways. I continued on towards the hut with Hiro trudging along behind. Kitchen Hut is an old and rather ramshackled stopover that is now only available for overnight shelter in emergencies. I’m sure that in good weather it is a charming place, reminding the walker of the pioneering nature of the Weindorfers and the others who first walked the track. In this weather I really could care what it looked like or how charming in was, I was simply relieved to be out of the snow and biting wind.
Hiro soon joined me in the hut and I asked him how he felt.
“Oh, very good.”
I was getting pretty used to his standard response by now. I certainly wasn’t feeling very good, far from it. I was though, still confident that I had enough energy left to complete the rest of the walk without difficulty. We quickly ate our lunch of energy bars before heading onwards again.
Read Part 6
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