Alpine time on the sunshine coast

31^st July - 1^st August

Sometimes you just randomly meet people and you hit it off, instantly like old friends. That’s how I felt when I met Jaime after getting the ferry as a foot passenger over to the sunshine coast for the rest of the long weekend.  I’d heard about Tetrahedron provincial park as being a great winter ski touring destination and I was keen to explore the area more.  He collected me from the ferry we made a stop for food, umm chocolate! and we were off.

The 4wd track is just that, but we had his burly sedan and it handled well despite not being able to stay in 1^st gear! I can see how in winter time this would be a difficult drive. The trails here were so simple and straight forward we were both surprised.  The short time it took to hike to the huts meant we could spend the full day exploring so went first to Batchelor Lake cabin a really cute hut but reading the log book because of its rather easy access it seems it gets lots of bogans (what’s a bogan I hear you say well I’ll try to describe, its like a person who is unkempt, rude, doesn’t care about the environment, drinks too much etc etc). 

 

So next rather than back tracking we decided to ‘bush wack’ our way up over the ridge and back down the other side to meet up with the main trail.  It was fun and a little hard work making our way through the thick bush but much more enjoyable and adventurous than the boring trail we could have taken.  We had planned to spend the night at Edwards cabin which is by the lake but were greeted by lots of mosquitoes and knowledge that a group of 5 young guys were staying there the night, hmmm serenity? unlikely… There were a few signs that said the trail wasn’t accessible to Mt Steel due to the bridge being washed away but the guys said you could still cross using the rocks, so we headed on.  

 

 The snow line started soon after but was still a fairly simple track to follow due to the signs and previous peoples foot prints,  despite Jaime forgetting in sunnies and the reflection off the snow making it not so pleasant for him, we enjoyed frequent breaks taking in the views.  We made the right choice to head on, the Steel Cabin was amazing, a small cabin set high in the alpine surrounded by snow and mountains as far as you could see, here was our mountainous home for the night.  A small group of 3 were staying there and we got chatting, good university friends they were also up just for the night.  We relaxed with a good yoga session on the balcony in the sun, lots of food (had we forgotten to stop for lunch?) and then a sunset only being out in the wilderness can bring. Ahhhh

 One of the girls had brought her harmonica along with her and Jaime being rather musical (also plays the digeredoo and guitar) picked it up and started a jam session. Everyone knows how much I love music and how it has featured heavily through my life either by playing it or just enjoying listening, I felt like I was transported to a higher place, feeling really relaxed and a balanced.  It was nice to meet someone and instantly feel like you can talk about anything, one would say that’s what good friends are made of.

The next day was even clearer and just the 2 of us headed up to summit Mt Steele. I had my yak traks with me (mini spikes) but Jaime was confident without anything. There were some steep bits though not technical and due to clear skies it was quite icy at points which made it a little harder for Jaime without traction. We both made it to the summit and had it to ourselves! Playing around with various yoga poses, including handstands (well Jaime managed and I just tried). Coming down was fun as we glissaded and slid on our bums back to the hut.

The orange roof is our hut in distance

We hiked out and passed a few people out just for the day trip as it was such a gorgeous day.  We drove and enjoyed the afternoon on the beach, chilling and playing yoga war on a log that tested our balance as well as our mind balance, just pure fun and laughter.  A great addition to the long weekend, I’d love to get out paddling with Jaime in the future when our paths cross again.