We started out from Charlotte’s Pass at 9am on Monday, the 1st of May with a decent weather forecast and a high level of excitement and energy to complete one of Australia’s 15 highest peaks route. All our gear (25kg packs) was packed and we had planned to be back before dusk on Wednesday the 3rd.

That morning we set off and made it to our first camp (20kms) early that afternoon.

Visibility had become poor and conditions started to worsen. Unfazed by this, we had our Mont 4 season tent, multiple layers of clothing including wet weather and thermal gear and -10 sleeping bags. 

Waking up the 2nd day to reasonably strong winds and cold conditions. We had some breakfast, layered up with clothing, packed our pockets with snacks for the day walk we had planned ahead, loaded our packs into the tent and trekked off into the fog with nothing but what we had on our backs.

Initially, we hiked out to multiple mountains through back country bush, intending to summit 4 mountains in a loop and return to camp well before dark. Little did we know smartphones do not operate in below freezing conditions for long. We had maps downloaded on said smartphone which died and caused us our first major problem.  

Then we hiked with urgency, attempting to locate a marker or outline of a track. After hours of searching, we were unable to locate our way back and we began searching for shelter. We found a tight rock formation at nightfall where the two of us were able to huddle in, kneel down and tough out for what would be one of the toughest nights of our lives. 

We exited the rocks just before sunrise as the sky was just getting slightly brighter. Disoriented and numb in our hands and feet, we faced horrendous visibility, strong winds, snow, and ice.

We kept stumbling on, still searching for a track, climbing up and down mountains. Finally, we found a sign, markers, and a track—pointing 9km back the way we came. Smashing the 9km out through blizzard like conditions ensuring we kept an eye on a track marker at all times.

We came across our tent in the early afternoon, almost completely buried in snow. Despite the blizzard, we tried to set it up but failed. We crawled back into the tent, zipped our sleeping bags together, wrapped in the thermal blanket, and cuddled. Our gear soaked through, we had no dry clothes, and the blizzard dumped ice onto the tent.

We set off the ACR ResQLink 400 at 4:30PM, as we were later told. The rescue paramedics, SES and police rescue arrived at 11.30pm in a timely and professional manner they gave us warm clothes, water and helped us pack up.

We hiked out together up to their over snow rescue vehicle (50min up mount Rawson).

They took us back to Perisher ambulance station, assessed us for mild hypothermia and frost nip, and eventually arranged accommodation for us by 3:30am.

Simply put if it wasn’t for our ACR PLB the outcome of this story would have been very different.