10 February 2023

Kosci Odyssey

As opportunities grow for young skiers and snowboarders in the Australian backcountry, so does their willingness to learn and to get out there to put their skills to the test. This is exactly what local skier Theo Lansbury did when he joined Huw Kingston on his Alpine Odyssey traverse of the Australian Alps. Theo recounts the journey.

Words by Theo Lansbury.

In the mind of most teenage skiers, the backcountry just seems like a lot of walking and effort before you get to ski anything at all. For me, as a 14-year-old, I’ve been learning that the backcountry is all about exploring new lines, getting to the top of peaks, and discovering places where few people have even been. Those who do know this part of the country will tell you how beautiful it is to skin through the snow, looking out across the amazing views, while taking in the peace and seclusion with just a few friends by your side.

At the start of September 2022, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to tag along for a couple of days with Huw Kingston, one of Australia’s most famous solo adventurers. Huw was in the middle of his Alpine Odyssey expedition where he was ski touring 700km from the southernmost snow in Victoria to the last patches near Canberra.

I met up with Huw and The North Face photographer, Mark ‘Watto’ Watson, in Thredbo with the goal of summiting Mt Kosciuszko, Snowcamping above Lake Albina and then skiing through to Charlottes Pass, from where Huw would continue his long journey north. This was an adventure I couldn’t turn down!

At the start of our journey along the Kosci skin track, we were accompanied by Alex Parsons, the head guide from Thredbo Backcountry Tours. While she and her guests were doing a quick day trip, we were carrying all the gear we needed for snow camping, so our packs weighed about 20kgs.

We had to individually get on a chairlift to create space for our packs, getting on and off was the easy part. It was the first kilometre up to the Kosciuszko lookout that really made me get a feel for what the day ahead was looking like. The first hour adjusting the straps and trying to bear with the pain in my hips wasn't exactly easy, but taking frequent rests made it manageable. Mentally, it’s much easier to break a big day into little chunks, thinking about the small peaks ahead instead of the six-hour day in front of you. Once I got into the rhythm, I forgot I was even wearing a pack.

While we were taking our first break to enjoy the view towards Kosciuszko, Watto pointed to a steep chute hidden between some of the huge granite rocks poking out of the snow along the route.

“Do you want to ski that?” asked Watto.

Of course I did!

It looked really steep, but I was confident I could get at least one good turn in for the camera. This was the first time I had ever worked with a professional photographer, so I was a bit nervous about getting it right for the camera, but Watto told me to not worry and talked me through how he was going to shoot it.

Huw and I quickly skinned to the peak and sussed the line out as we went up. Huw watched from the side and told me what to watch out for as I dropped in. I initially got a bit of a shock at how steep it actually was, but remembered I needed to get a turn in for the camera. I jammed my edges in for one hard carve before straight lining back to Watto who said, “I think I got a good shot!”.

We got back on the skin track and pushed on for another hour to get to the summit of Mt. Kosciuszko. Over a quick lunch, Huw talked about some of the other days he’d had on his journey so far - in particular the two weeks he’d been completely alone between Mt Baw Baw and Mt Buller. It got me thinking whether I could do something like that myself one day, but I probably need a lot more experience first! I think the biggest challenge would be being by yourself in the middle of nowhere, missing my family and friends.

We had been a bit worried about the snow quality for the trip since it had been freezing up overnight, but we found beautiful soft snow for the long ski down from Kosci summit towards Lake Albina. It was pretty cool being the highest kid in Australia for a moment and then having completely fresh tracks the whole way down. From there, we did a short skin to the summit of Mueller’s Peak to a spot Watto had camped earlier in the season. This was perched near the edge of a cornice above Lake Albina with sweeping views across the Western Faces to the north and all the way back to Mt Bogong in the south - more or less the route Huw had already taken and was yet to complete.

Once camp was set up and we were cooking dinner, I learned a lot from Huw about his life and adventures. Huw was explaining how he still likes to do things the old-fashioned way and that being able to use a compass can be one of your most important skills, “because when your fancy GPS dies and you can’t see in a white out, you can just pull out your trusty map and compass and find your way”. I also loved the fact that Huw has taken the same plastic mug on every trip since the late 70s', although it is looking a bit worse for wear these days.

After a cosy night in the tent, we woke to find the cloud had closed in and flattened the light. Watto explained to me how the light can affect the entire shot, which we quickly learned the hard way. We’d seen a nice run just off the back of the campsite, but we had to wait for the weather to open up before we could give it a go for the camera.

It was another steep slope and if we got it right, I could do a turn with the full view of the Western Faces laid out behind it. We could see some gaps in the clouds coming towards us, so I stepped into my bindings and got ready for Watto’s call to drop. There was literally two seconds of sun to get the turn in, but as I carved across the slope, I already knew I was going to miss it. I got the turn in regardless and was pretty disappointed as I made my way to the safe spot to begin the boot pack back out. Had Watto got the shot we were after?

I never had really done any boot packing but had seen what you need to do if you ski any of the really big stuff on the Western Faces. Watto got on the radio and told me not to worry and just focus on getting my skis off safely, putting them on my pack and then working my way back up the slope. Luckily, I had a whippet pole with a small ice axe for some grip, but the snow was still hard, and I needed to focus all my attention on every step. I tried to keep my mind on getting up the slope but there were the occasional thoughts of looking back down and thinking that if I slip, I'm gonna hit those big rocks at the bottom.

While I was pretty scared, I knew there was only one way out, so I just kept my focus on each step until I finally came over the ridge to find Watto and Huw having a bit of a chuckle. “Nice work Theo”, said Huw, “It was good to see you kept your nerves under control”.

The weather had gone back to cloudy, and Huw was starting to worry about it raining before we made it back to Charlottes Pass, so we quickly packed up camp and pushed up to the summit of Mt Northcote for the run back to the Snowy River. Huw told me the story about how there used to be a hut at the bottom of the run that had been demolished by an avalanche in the 1950s that killed two women. It was a good reminder of how careful we need to be when skiing slopes like this in the backcountry. Thankfully on this occasion, the run down was amazing.

The snow had softened, and we could all do some faster carves the whole way down into the valley below Mt Carruthers and then across the flats to the Snowy River. We managed to find a spot to get across without taking our boots off before reaching the famous steppingstones and the final slog back up the hill and into Charlottes Pass resort.

I bid farewell to Huw as I jumped on the snowcat back to Perisher and the Ski Tube home to my family, knowing that he still had three weeks of touring ahead of him to complete his journey.

The time with Huw taught me so much about navigating and staying safe in the backcountry and gave me a glimpse of how much more there is to explore out there. While a lot of backcountry skiing is hard work, you control where you want to go and what you want to do, which to me is the definition of freedom.

Find Theo on Instagram.