On July 14 2008 I went up to Mt Donna Buang, 90 km east of Melbourne, on a cold, windless and cloudless day!
The road was closed at the main car park - to reach the summit is about 500 m further up. The summit road past the carpark was frozen solid ice, and the surface was like a skating rink.
There was about 20 cm of snow at the summit, with lots of interesting snowmen being built, and toboggans everywhere!
There is no cross country or downhill skiing at Donna Buang. In winter, the resort offers snowplay, sightseeing, and tobogganning. The walking tracks at the summit to Mt Boobyalla, Dom Dom Saddle, Aceron Gap, Mt Victoria and Ten Mile picnic ground are often buried under winter snow. The Dom Dom Saddle track is signed as "no entry during the snow season".
Until the late 1930s, there was a ski village at Donna Buang, near the present day main car park, and downhill skiing was popular, but this was almost totally destroyed in the Black Friday bushfires in 1939. What remained was dismantled and rebuilt at other snow centres, such as Mt Buller.
The Donna Buang Rd was built in the 1920s, and members of the newly formed Melbourne University Ski Club, formed in 1929, visited the region often.
The downhill ski-run was subsequently closed down and became the toboggan run.
The lookout tower is the third generation - the first was a wooden structure built in the 1920s - this was replaced around 1940, itself later replaced by the present steel tower.
There are good views from the tower - I have a vertigo problem with heights and am not able to get to the top, but there are interesting panoramas from ground level.
There are good signed lookout points on the Donna Buang Rd on the way up, past the Acheron Way turnoff.
See the full set of Photos - I included some historical photos, dating back to 1910, for comparison purposes!
The road was closed at the main car park - to reach the summit is about 500 m further up. The summit road past the carpark was frozen solid ice, and the surface was like a skating rink.
There was about 20 cm of snow at the summit, with lots of interesting snowmen being built, and toboggans everywhere!
There is no cross country or downhill skiing at Donna Buang. In winter, the resort offers snowplay, sightseeing, and tobogganning. The walking tracks at the summit to Mt Boobyalla, Dom Dom Saddle, Aceron Gap, Mt Victoria and Ten Mile picnic ground are often buried under winter snow. The Dom Dom Saddle track is signed as "no entry during the snow season".
Until the late 1930s, there was a ski village at Donna Buang, near the present day main car park, and downhill skiing was popular, but this was almost totally destroyed in the Black Friday bushfires in 1939. What remained was dismantled and rebuilt at other snow centres, such as Mt Buller.
The Donna Buang Rd was built in the 1920s, and members of the newly formed Melbourne University Ski Club, formed in 1929, visited the region often.
The downhill ski-run was subsequently closed down and became the toboggan run.
The lookout tower is the third generation - the first was a wooden structure built in the 1920s - this was replaced around 1940, itself later replaced by the present steel tower.
There are good views from the tower - I have a vertigo problem with heights and am not able to get to the top, but there are interesting panoramas from ground level.
There are good signed lookout points on the Donna Buang Rd on the way up, past the Acheron Way turnoff.
See the full set of Photos - I included some historical photos, dating back to 1910, for comparison purposes!
Looks like a great day out. Keep up the fantastic blogging
ReplyDelete