Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve: Mt Domain (3)

General Information

Grading: medium

Distance:  12.5 kilometers 

Total climb:  698 meters 

Time taken:  5 hours 45 minutes 

Map:  Tidbinbilla 8627-2S, 1:25 000 

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  50 kilometers 

Start point map grid reference:  55H FA 72311 71964 

Destination map grid reference:  55H FA 69661 72739 

End point:  same as start

Route

http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/

Description

This was my third climb of Mt Domain, but it was slightly different to those completed back in August of 2016 and 2017. First, the track from Fishing Gap to the summit of Mt Domain is now much clearer on the ground after three years of hiker traffic. Second, it had snowed recently and there was a fair bit still around on south facing slopes above 1200 meters elevation. Third, I lost the track down from the summit and headed off in the wrong direction for while, providing an opportunity to tramp through thick snow, explore some tough terrain south of the summit and use our navigation skills (severely compromised by going the wrong way in the first place) to get back to the track.

From the Fishing Gap carpark we managed to climb up the fire trail to Fishing Gap in a very quick 45 minutes and took a break for morning tea. We then started the climb up the walking track towards the summit of Mt Domain, which was much clearer than it was the last time I climbed in 2017. One thing I did notice was that the pink marker ribbons had disappeared from the trees, making it more difficult to reacquire the track. As we climbed the snow on the ground became thicker.

After reaching the open saddle just below the final climb to the summit we paused to take in the view of the main Brindabella Range and the looming Mt Domain a short distance away.

We also paused about halfway up the final track to the summit to take in the views over the Tidbinbilla Valley.

Finally reaching the summit we paused for lunch before heading back down. Unfortunately I almost immediately lost the track due to lack of concentration and we realised after a while that we were heading down a ridge well west of where we wanted to be. Since we encountered thick bush, fairly heavy snow and a steep slope, we decided to traverse the slope almost directly east back to the open saddle, aiming to stay at the same altitude as the saddle (about 1380 meters). This was very hard going, but the area was very spectacular. We eventually came to the saddle right on target, although by that time we had lost maybe as much as 45 minutes on our return journey. The rest of the walk was straightforward, however, and we made very good time going back the way we came up.