Mt Skene is a great area of the High Country if you are planning a Snow Trip, you are guaranteed snow to drive through.
Note on Track Closures
Heyfield-Jamieson-Licola Road from Mt Sunday Rd to Lazarinis Spur Track is closed in the Winter until the end of October. Permits are required if travelling over Mount Skene Scenic Reserve with Four Wheel Drive Victoria.
We applied well before we left, it’s a 10 vehicle limit per club or group when you apply, and only affiliated clubs can obtain a permit. The system is in place so that FWDV and Mansfield Shire know who and how many vehicles cross the mountain on those days.
Check out this link for more information.
Friday
We had 7 vehicles for this Snow Trip, heading over on the Friday night and stopping past Mansfield BP to fill up with Alpine Diesel and grab a bite to eat before heading off towards Jamieson.
Just as we got on the road Steve reported a strange noise coming from the front end of his Prado, he said it’s ok so we kept on going, arriving at Knockwood Campsite on the Jamieson-Woods Point Rd at about 9.30pm.
We got a spot near the toilet block and set up camp, being such a cold night we were having a beer when Steve bought over a fire lighter and one piece of wood and thought that would keep us warm so Karl went and gathered more wood and we managed a small fire to keep us a little warmer.
Saturday
We woke up to a cold morning having breakfast and then packed up camp some of us had a walk down to the river and a look around.
We had a quick briefing and on the tracks by 9.00am, heading along the Jamieson-Woods Point rd for about 2 kilometres we got to German Spur track and into Low Range.
With our tyres pressures down to about 20-22psi we had a hill climb straight up for about 2.5 kilometers, the first 900m being the steepest section but is fairly easy then it flattened out across the top of the Spur.
There were some historical markers telling you about the history of the area with the German Alpine Hotel and The German Spur Settlement.
Then the track winds back down to Jamieson-Woods Point Rd then we had a sharp left onto Old Coach rd, easy track to Webber Spur Track. This track heads down into the valley with some great views, getting down the bottom to the Goulburn river. We had a quick break before crossing the river. The river crossing was actually shallow and we made it across easily.
After the river, the track turns into Champion Spur track and the climb out is a great drive straight up and it just keeps on going until it flattens out and you get to Mt Selma Rd. We turned left and then started to get patches of snow, we then got to Mt Selma track and turning right headed up to the Selma Summit at 1469m. We had a look around and it was so cold we got back in the vehicles and headed off again back down to Mt Selma Rd.
Turning right we headed towards South rd, when we got there we turned right along South rd and headed for the Mt Useful Summit. This is an easy 2wd drive up to the top as there was no snow. We got to the Mt Useful Summit at 1423m with amazing views, we had lunch up the top and it was very windy and cold.
Steve still had that noise in the front so he pulled the wheel off and realised he had done a front wheel bearing so that was his trip over and Steve headed for Heyfield and had to be put on a trailer to get home.
We continued and headed along South Rd passing Mt Selma Rd again and continued along to Jamieson-Licola rd turning left and an easy drive until we got to Middle Ridge rd turning right and we started to get more patches of snow. We pulled up for camp at the base of Barkly River Jeep Track, found a nice big open camp with plenty of firewood, so the first thing we did was cut up the wood and light the fire, after the fire was lit we set up camp and had a great night around the big fire as it was very cold.
At about 10.30pm a guy in a Nissan Patrol pulled up with a broken brake disc and was waiting for his mates to bring spare parts, one of them was coming down Barkly River Jeep Track and took him about 3 hours while 2 other mates turned up and enjoyed the heat of the fire before they took off to their own camp, made that night enjoyable before we headed to bed for the night.
Mt Useful 
Mt Selma Summit
Sunday
We woke to a little snow, but not much noticeable on the ground, sitting around the fire and having breakfast we packed up camp and headed off around 9.00am, taking Middle Ridge rd towards Jamieson-Licola Road.
We turned right and headed towards Mt Skene as we got to Lazarini Spur track the road gets a whole lot rougher and corrugated we got to Barkly River Jeep Track and started to get plenty of snow turning right up the little side track to the start of Barkly River Jeep Track. We had a look at the start of the track and where the guys went down the night before.
We kept on going along Jamieson-Licola Road to the Scenic lookout at 1574m it was really foggy so we didn’t get a view so we kept on going getting snow over the top.
We got to Mt Sunday Rd and Paul, Fiona, Phil and Jim left the Trip and headed for home. Andrew, Karl and myself went down Mt Sunday Rd through Wrens Flat having lunch on the Helipad at the start of the Australian Walking track. The climb up was steep and muddy, a great climb.
After lunch we kept on Mt Sunday Rd down to Brocks Rd then we turned right going along here a little bit then left onto Refrigerator Gap track, taking this track it’s a fairly easy drive up to Bluff track. W cut some fire wood and had the 45min drive down to Sheepyard Flat staying at Tunnel Bend Campsite. It’s a fantastic campsite so we lit the fire and sat around the fire for the night talking about the weekend.
Participants
- Russell, 105 Land Cruiser
- Andrew, Triton
- Paul and Fiona, 80 Land Cruiser
- Steve, Prado
- Karl, 105 Land Cruiser
- Phil, BT-50
- Jim, Prado
