Yesterday wasn't a day for the faint hearted in the mountains with 70kph winds, -4.2c temps, -15.5c wind chill & snowing. However Scotish Alpinist Richard Hamilton on his Seven Summits Quest was on a mission with limited time & Kosciuszko was in his sights!
He was expecting Sunnies & shorts but not to be underestimated the Australian Alps whipped up an Autumn storm to treat the Scotish hard man. He relished in it! From St Andrews the home of golf Richard was quick to comment on the snow covered links of the Berridale Golf Course enroute for Jindabyne.
May the 8th & the route was snowshoes all the way from Charlotte Pass. We actually had to take our snowshoes off & kick in to get past the Rawson's Cutting drift which has blown in meters deep. We tagged the summit & scooted back to Charlotte to complete a 4.5hr return Summit dash.
Richard has only Mt Everest to finish his quest & he reported that his hardest Summit so far was undoubtedly Denali in Alaska due to the difficult & constant very cold conditions but his most surprising to date is Mt Kosciuszko. He constantly remarked how alike our two countries are in regard to the countryside, alps & the people. We took a detour on the way back to Jindabyne so Richard could check out the ubiquitous Island Bend Kangaroo's & they didn't dissapoint!
After a bite to eat in town Richard did us the proud honour of playing a round at our four hole Cobbin Creek Chipping Course in our front yard. What a great day in the mountains with a great guy. After a quick business meeting this morning in Sydney Richard climbed the Harbour Bridge because you can & reported a fantastic afternoon sight seeing in Sydney.
Good luck Richard on your quest & lovely to have met you.
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