The Aussie 10 is not an official walk as such, in the sense that there are no signs to point you in the right direction towards peak one, peak two, etc. Because of this unofficial nature, navigation skills are needed. When I was doing research in the days leading up to it there wasn’t a lot of information online and so I printed some track notes from Aussie 10 and Wildwalks, bought a couple of maps and borrowed a compass. In hindsight, I’d recommend getting a GPS so that you can plug in peak co-ordinates and easily navigate to them. However, the map and compass should be the main way to navigate, with a GPS as backup to confirm a position or the right way to go. When every mountain looks the same or in bad weather it's somewhat challenging to decipher what’s what. Generally though, the walk follows the Main Range Track, with detours so that you can climb the 10 peaks. Of course, all of this is in Kosciuszko National Park, Australia’s not so elevated alpine region. It is a beautiful part of Australia, and if multi-day walking is not for you there is still an abundance of day walks scattered throughout the national park.

After driving from Brisbane and staying in Jindabyne we drove to Charlotte Pass to begin the three day walk. Walking down to the Snowy River from Charlotte Pass meant that the final day would be mainly downhill from Rawson Pass and a slightly shorter distance. It was beautiful weather, barely a cloud in the sky and lots of snow drifts about made for an excellent time.

It is true that Australia is by no means an alpinist's dream, with a few peaks nothing more that big grassy hills. But it was still a spectacular sight nonetheless, with rocky outcrops, steep slopes and a handful of glacial lakes. Our first peak to tackle was Mount Twynam (pronounced like the tea Twinings I would later learn after mispronouncing it 8000 times). Twynam is 2196 metres high, and is one of the easier ones to get to. After crossing the Snowy River, and winding our way up towards the Main Range, we had views of the majestic Blue Lake and eventually reached the Twynam turn off. We dumped our packs and very gradually ascended a few kilometres to Twynam, which is easy to spot. Some of the other peaks were harder to identify, causing much confusion.

After bagging our first peak we returned to our packs then headed towards Carruthers Peak. Here we came across a couple of back-country skiers, grasping on to what little winter there was left.

We tramped along the Main Range Track, passing beside Mount Northcote to our east and spectacular views of Lake Albina and Mount Townsend to our west. By this stage though, the peaks were becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish and the wind was blowing a gale. We continued along a narrow goat track nestled into a ledge above Lake Albina.

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She also writes a Make trails blog where this article was first published.

Heading south towards Rams Head and Thredbo we pitched our tent close to Lake Cootapatamba Lookout. It was a beautiful spot. Patchy snow again surrounded us, and even though we were tired and ready to rest as soon as we got to camp, we stayed up and enjoyed the sunset over the Snowys.

Day three, and we had some 17 or so kilometres to cover. Feeling a tad ambitious we thought we’d try and knock it out by lunch time. We rose early, again letting the sun dictate our sleeping patterns. I feasted on my last unpalatable breakfast of weetbix with milk powder and sultanas, sipping on an instant coffee brew, and relished in the simple pleasures of being in the mountains. We hid our packs near what would soon become the busy Kosciuszko Track from Thredbo. We headed south with day packs to tackle the last two peaks – Rams Head and North Rams Head. The instructions for this last bit were somewhat vague, however the best advice would be to head south-west (or to the right from the track), just before or after crossing the Snowy River. We ummed and ahhed about where the Snowy River actually was, (like I said navigation wasn’t my strong point…nor Mum's), but luckily we were heading in the right direction. Upon reaching the plateau, some 2100 metres above sea level North Rams Head and Rams Head become quite obvious. In particular, North Rams Head is a unique arrangement of incredibly large and strangely weathered boulders that juts out from the surrounding landscape. It probably requires the most scrambling to summit out of the Aussie 10, and with weary legs and a fear of heights (mum) we made it to the top of our tenth peak.

We continued, making our way to the eleventh and final peak of our trip. Why 11? You might wonder. Well after doing a lot of research in the weeks leading up to the trip, there seemed to be some controversy as to what peaks were the actual 10 highest. Who would have thought that with modern technology that this would be up for debate,

but I suppose we do live in Australia. The unknown peak near Kosciuszko appeared on a number of lists, and thus leaving it out wasn’t an option. Rams Head was the final peak we would climb on the aptly named Aussie 11.

Unlike its northern counterpart, Rams Head is only a climb up a grassy slope. This is much easier than hopping and scrambling over boulders, and it's a nice relief for those who didn’t like heights.

It was a great feeling to climb the Aussie 10. We covered some 50 kilometres and 2500 metres of elevation gain in three days, and our legs were definitely feeling it. As we wandered back to our packs from Rams Head, and walked about 9 kilometres to our car at Charlotte Pass, this time via the Kosciuszko summit track, I couldn’t help but reflect on the last three days. The Snowy Mountains are a truly unique and beautiful part of Australia, generally renowned as a place to hit the slopes in winter. But now, I suggest visiting the Snowy Mountains in summer, where the stunning landscape reveals itself without snow and offers a different kind of wonderland to explore.

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