It was already Monday in Australia, but still Sunday back home, so it was still officially my birthday. And what a day to complete the Seven Summits. We started at the Thredbo Ski Resort and took a lift to the Mt. Kosciuszko Trail Head in Australia’s Snowy Mountains.
The day cooperated, but barely. It rained down low. Then the rain turned to sleet as we got higher, with the wind blowing directly into our faces. The higher we got the more intense the wind was. And the whole time the visibility was almost zero. It was like walking inside a ping pong ball. Plenty of light but couldn’t see a thing.
Jeff did a lot of dead reckoning and near the summit brought out his GPS. We knew we were close because we stopped going up, but we couldn’t find the monument. And then, for a brief moment, the clouds lifted slightly and there it was. I had reached the summit of Mt. Kosciuszko—the highest peak on the Australian continent. We took pictures and headed down. My quest for the seven summits was over.
Now, all we had to do was get back down. Jeff did another great job of negotiating the ping-pong-ball conditions.