Babette Scougall reports on the weekend's activities

A meeting with a difference was arranged by Noel Gough for 20-22 October in Khancoban and surrounding mountains. On Friday 25 members and a number of potential new members - from Wagga, Cooma, Canberra, Tumbarumba, Corryong Jindabyne, Corowa and Rochester (Vic) - journeyed to the western side of the Alps to gather together at the Khancoban Alpine Inn where a dinner awaited us. Unlike most KHA outings, this was not a camping trip, it was a two-day dinner-bed'n-breakfast arrangement - hot showers, comfortable beds, cooked meals, the lot. KHA members who lived nearby joined us on a daily basis, as suited them.

Normally KHA Committee meetings are held in Canberra in the middle of the week. This means that committee members who live in places like Wagga Wagga and Sydney are unable to attend. The intention behind the experimental October meeting was to hold it over a weekend and mix it with social activities that even people from Canberra would be prepared to travel long distances to attend. A case of Muhammad and the mountain, in reverse It was such a success that similar quarterly meetings will be held at various locations in the future. It should be noted here that even though KHA meetings are called 'committee' meetings, ALL members are welcome to attend.

The KNPWS generously hosted us at their Information Centre in Khancoban on Saturday morning for the meeting. In the absence of Pauline Downing, who was unable to attend, the meeting was conducted by Maurice Sexton and was an open informal one with many members contributing from the floor. Of particular interest was Noel Gough's report detailing the huge amount of work being done on huts in the Geehi area. (Excerpts from this report are on page 12.)

After the morning tea at the Information Centre, we all climbed into a variety of 4-wheel drive vehicles and proceeded to inspect huts in the surrounding district, many of which some of us had never visited. Our first stop was Major Clews Hut at Indi, which we reached via Waterfall Farm Road and along the now rough and tortuous original Alpine Way, where we had lunch. Built on a north-facing hillside in a lovely setting, the old home is deteriorating fast. The water

damaged pise walls especially need urgent attention. This emergency work is being arranged, but further work will need to await the completion of a conservation study.

After lunch we followed the Geehi Fire Trail and Major Clews Track to the many named Old Geehi / YHA / Commission / Bensons / Ibis Hut. Here we surprised two men relaxing on chairs in front of the hut. They'd heard us coming, but could not figure out what was making so much noise - first one 4-wheel drive, then another and another… Our arrival certainly destroyed their sense of peace and quiet, but they seemed to enjoy our company for the short time we were there. Much restoration work has been done on this hut by Noel's team and it is now in excellent condition. Special mention should be made of the brand new post and rail fence surrounding the hut.

We returned to the junction of the Geehi fire trail, turned onto the old rutted Alpine road, now a "4-wheel fine weather only " road, and followed it until we reached Swampy Plain River and Keeble's hut. The condition of this hut is good overall, but a dent in the iron roofing is allowing water to leak into the building. The visit allowed us to establish how best to repair this leak and prevent further damage to the timbers supporting the roof. Our hopes of visiting Doctor's hut were dashed by the fast flowing river. We had to be satisfied with looking at it through binoculars. The height of the water was not a surprise, as the snow on the surrounding mountains was melting fast.

Dr Forbes hut also had to be viewed and photographed from across a narrower, fast-flowing stretch of water. We were barely able to see the hut through the thick undergrowth surrounding it. Here the moist banks of the river were covered in ground orchids - masses of greenhoods, gnats and caladenias, which made up for missing out on a visit to the hut. We managed to fit in a quick glimpse of Geehi Hut from the cars before returning to the inn for dinner. At the Geehi rest area, an up-market BMW bike club on their annual outing and a canoeing group had crowded in together. The camp ground was bursting at the seams. We took a photo of a well geared up club member and his BMW at Scammells Lookout. He in turn took a photo of us crowding around his superb, immaculate motor bike with his digitized camera. He promised to place it on the internet on www.kazmanic.com. Did anyone see it?

After dinner Noel showed us some videos of the building of Keebles hut in 1947/48 and a Snowy Mountains archive film photographed by John Kingsford Smith in 1953. While the quality of the films was relatively poor, the subject matter was of great interest and stimulated discussion well into the evening.

Early Sunday we were back on the tracks to Olsen's lookout where all the cameras came out of bags to take the spectacular scenery of the rugged western slopes still snow-tipped on this beautiful sunny day. Noel then took us to some old temporary township sites built for the tunnel workers on the Snowy Scheme. We were impressed by the Bella Vista site. Once 100 houses stood there in rows. Now, no sign of any buildings is visible, the area had been cleaned up so well. The only recognisable feature was the barely discernible flattened strips that were once roads. The vigorous forest re-growth has almost consumed every vestige of past endeavours.

The same can't be said for Verandah Camp, a larger establishment on a more open site. The camp buildings had all been removed, but the remains of foundations, gutters, pipes, etc, had been bulldozed into piles of rubble and left in the middle of a clearing. Weeds have now taken over the rubble piles, but little re-growth has occurred on the hardened surfaces. The surrounding forest hasn't attempted to reclaim the site, leaving that part of the mountain scarred and ugly.

Our last port of call was Siren Song where the pounding waters of a waterfall and Claymore Creek gushed through to the intake at Watson's Gorge immediately below Watson's Crag. We were taken to this site to investigate possible access to Opera House Hut. It was clear to all present that access to Opera House Hut through the tunnel could only be attempted when water levels in the tunnel were low. Our tour of inspection ended at Geehi Dam where we split up and went our separate ways.

For a whole week-end Noel had guided us through some of the most breathtaking beautiful mountain scenery, along not-often travelled, narrow, precipitous tracks, through tall majestic trees of the mountain forests, and past steep gullies filled with tree ferns. It was a privilege to be there.

Full credit to Noel Gough for the thorough job he did in preparing for every aspect of the weekend's activities. KHA members who live west of the mountains said it was nice to have an activity that they were able to participate in and hoped that there would be others. The experiment of mixing a quarterly meeting with a social outing over a weekend was an outstanding success. Watch for details of future quarterly meetings of this nature. If they follow the formula set by the October weekend, they'll be worth attending.