Mt Skene Snow Run, VHC

For years, I've been itching to go look at some damn snow. The last time I saw it up close I was 5 years old, which may as well be a different lifetime. So when Club 4x4 announced their snow trip up Mt Skene, I booked immediately.

Mt Skene scenic reserve is off limits to the public in Winter, but Parks Victoria grant permits to approved clubs. A pretty cool membership perk! Though of course, no guarantee there'd actually be snow on Skene. Victoria's snow seasons are temperamental at best.

But this year was looking good.

I finished work early and headed off to meet the crew at Skipworth campground, just outside Kevington. The campground is on the Goulburn river, but a very different part of the Goulburn than I'm accustomed to at my usual kayaking haunts. Here it's crystal clear, shallow and rocky. Skipworth is a nice campground too, spacious with drop-loos.

I cooked-up a single pan dinner of giant field mushrooms and canned potatoes with a soy marinade that Corinna made me (hi Coco). Super filling and a dinner that I'll have to remember for next time.

After a suitable amount of whiskey with the guys, that was it for the night.

Morning saw the campground attract all sorts of aussie birdlife in search of a free meal. I was surprised to see Bowerbirds in the mix, I'm not sure I've ever come across bowerbirds at a campground. The Rosellas were particularly fiesty, not hesitating to pull the breakfast from my hand.

Hitting the road to Mt Skene, feelings were mixed about whether we were gonna cop any snow. Conditions for the last few days hadn't been snow-favourable.

But as we rolled through ~1300m elevation along Jamieson-Licola Rd, patches of white snow suddenly appeared among the vegetation. Before I could get excited about it, things escalated, and the snow coverage with it. By the 1570m summit, We were pushing through at least 50cm of snow - this was far more than any of us were expecting!

On the summit, the wind was howling and visibility was reduced. People with temp gauges in their cars reported figures around -10! If it wasnt for the Aussie snow gums everywhere, I'd have felt we were somewhere else.

I'd brought 4 cameras to play with, which is a fair bit of cognitive load when overwhelmed by snow-excitement (and extreme cold). But I ran around like an idiot taking photos and videos, and trying to make my drone fly without being blown away. There were snowball fights and shenanigans and good times.

Back on the road, we bumped into another 4x4 club, this one from Warrnambool. The bloke we were talking to, and his daughter, were both wearing shorts! Absolute madness.

Our club leaders ended up helping some other travellers who were bogged, but all of us continued down the mountain to Connors Plain campground without incident.

There's nothing much to see around Connors Plain, the bush is fairly young and unfortunately completely over-run by blackberries. Although I did find a frozen lagoon that was kinda cool. But since we had a few hours of daylight to kill, me and one of the other guys jumped in our cars and went in search of fun tracks.

For future reference, the unnamed black track that comes out the back of Connors Plain is completely overgrown. We had to back out. Lots of fresh scratches on Moira 🙁

Our luck changed with McMillan Spur track though, that was a fun track. Classic VHC steep descent, nothing too hairy, but enough to have me sweating. At the bottom is a really nice camp site on Mount Skene Creek.

A big campfire and plenty of drink saw a few sore heads the next morning. I didn't sleep very well, I was too hyped from an awesome day. But I was stoked to awake to a clear and still morning. So i took the drone up at sunrise.

The plan for day 3 was to head back over the mountain and have another look. Given the stunning morning, I was glad that was a case. It turned out to be a stark contrast to the previous day, clear blue skies, warm sun, the sound of melting ice slipping and trickling off the snow gums. So awesome. Despite the sore heads, everyone was all smiles.

We'd hoped to finish the weekend with lunch at the iconic Kevington Hotel, but unfortunately it was closed. I wasn't leaving without my photo though. 😁