Adventure Time: Mount Kosciuszko Summit walk with kids

Distance: 13km
Duration: 5 frustratingly slow hours

Over the Easter long weekend, we stayed in Jindabyne for a few nights with two other families; our good friends from Tyler's soccer team. With kids and adults of varying abilities and interest in long walks, we decided we'd all give Mount Kosciuszko a crack and see how it went.

Everyone loves a chairlift ride anyway, right?

We had attempted this walk ourselves a year and a half ago, in high summer but with completely opposite weather to what we had recently. Last time we had played on big chunks of ice on the ground, surrounded by grey swirling clouds that would only part for seconds at a time to give us a glimpse of the view, and braved winds that were gusting up to 80kmph. In January!

So this time, we were blessed with bright sunshine the whole way and it was a completely different experience.

On our previous trip, Holly who had then barely turned seven, was getting blown off the path, to the extent that she wanted to carry my ~3kg pack to hold her on to the boardwalk! About 2/3 of the way up Richie decided to call it a day as the kids wouldn't have made it all the way up and back in the miserable conditions. He selflessly got me to run on ahead and go to the summit, and run back down to meet him and the kids at Australia's highest cafe.

A great experience, but we still wanted to tackle Kozi as a family. So when we saw such a bright clear day appearing, we thought 'this will be much better than last time!'

HA! Yeah, no. About half a kilometre into a 13km walk, Holly tells me her legs hurt. (See? This blog has an appropriate name).

A few of our group pulled the pin soon after - for a little guy with athsma this was never going to be a walk in the park. I convinced Holly to press on and alternated between piggy backing her (while she carried my heavy pack), and walking super slow alongside her trying to keep her distracted and positive. She walked a bit with her friend Emily, but she was struggling a little too.

Tyler meanwhile was off at a clip, walking with his mate Ashton and seemingly pretty happy the whole way.

This was Easter long weekend and the path was about as busy as it gets! There were so many people out and about. Just the line up to get our chairlift passes had taken at least half an hour. But it was well managed by the Thredbo staff and when we eventually got walking the views kept us interested and happy despite the crowds. Above is a chance shot with nobody on the path, although you can see all the people in the distance!

After lining up to pee at Australia's highest toilet (bucket list - check), we headed on to the summit. By this stage Holly was really over it, and to top it off, she got a nose bleed on one side and then both sides (possibly due to the altitude but more likely due to having her finger up there too much). She was miserable and without tissues, I carried her so she could hold a Buff against her nose to stop the bleeding.

The summit was nearly in sight and we powered on. With 30kg plus a bag of snacks on my back I was bent over and hardly taking in the view, but when I looked up the vista over the far side of Kozi was just beautiful.

Finally we rounded the corner of the strange cobbled path and were met with the summit proper, and also a zillion people that had stopped for a break and were lining up (yes - there was a queue!) for the ubiquitous summit photo.

We got our summit photo! Thanks D Blazey Photography :)

After a brief moment where Ty lost it due to some unfortunate inner thigh chafe (quickly yet embarrassingly rectified by yet another Buff tucked into his undies), we all got our second wind. A few lollies and a well timed Coke had done wonders for everyone's mood.

I still ended up carrying Holly a lot on the way on the way back, especially after she tripped down a step and twisted her ankle, but clearly there was no damage done judging by the energetic running around by all the kids back at the caravan park that afternoon!

I'm so glad we got to do this together, even though it was challenging at times. Ty had said the day before that he wanted to make it to the top, even if his buddies had to turn back, so I think he was quite proud of himself. Holly probably would have been content to go round in circles on the chairlift but I hope she looks back on it with pride one day too!

Tips for this walk:

• It's long. It's 'boring' (by kid standards). It's slightly more manageable on a cloudy day due to the fact that clear skies highlight in no uncertain terms just how far you have to walk. You can see for miles and whilst this is beautiful and a feature of this walk, it can be demoralizing for the short-legged ones as well! "We have to walk HOW FAR??!?"
• LOTS of sunscreen. There is zero cover so you'll be exposed to unrelenting UV rays at altitude for hours on end. After our sunscreen fell out of the bag on the chairlift on the way up, Ty suffered blistered ears - the rest of us had already put sunscreen on at the car.
• Even if the weather looks ok, it's likely to be windy especially as the day wears on. This post could be an ad for Buffs but seriously - take a buff - it will keep the wind out of your ears, the sun off your neck and double as a nosebleed solution or anti-chafe bandage if necessary. Sunnies too... my kids don't normally wear them but we were taking turns using mine by the end as they both had sore eyes from the wind.
• Lollies. You can never have too many lollies. 
• Take friends! Because it's such a long walk and easy underfoot (on metal mesh boardwalks nearly all the way), you don't have to think or navigate - just walk. Perfect for chatting away to a buddy for both kids and adults alike!
• Layer up - a no-brainer if you walk a lot, small and lightweight packable layers are the way to go. It can get quite hot walking but as soon as you stop for 5 minutes, you'll start to feel a chill, so go for a thermal layer underneath.