Intro

A weekend solo snow shoeing and first overnight camp. What could go wrong? Luckily nothing this time. Read on for your guide to photographing and hiking at Mt St Gwinear in winter.

Essentials

Map

Content

After completing Tasmania’s Overland Track in April of 2025, the hiking bug seriously took hold. I took advantage of the mid year sales to buy enough gear for the family to go hiking and camping. We already had a lot of camping gear, but of the driving variety, and comprising of huge 3 room McMansion tents with raised beds etc. The hiking gear is a lot lighter and smaller with a price that does not match these words. I worked out very quickly that the family wanted ‘3 season gear’ where as my aspirations were more of the 4 season variety, ie snow camping.

My obsession with snow is well known. Whether its just cold weather that has a hint of maybe snowing, to being on a ski run, there is no limit to my excitement that the fluffy stuff brings. With the arrival of kids, my snow experience has mostly been limited to snow shoeing days at Lake Mountain and the odd trip in NZ skiing with family. Skiing has become unbelievably expensive now in Australia, and practically, very difficult with timing and a very short ski season.  Hence snow shoeing has been a far easier solution to seeing snow. People like to shun the smaller resorts such as Lake Mountain and Mount Baw Baw as they are not true downhill resorts, but a reality check is often required. Especially in terms of cost and ease. Simply put, if you want to see snow then look at all options and dont be a snob.

I was recently made aware of Mt St Gwinear thru a Vic Hikers Facebook page. My mind started thinking that this is likely a very good place to start my snow camping dream. I would be solo and the walk from the car park is only about 7kms. Easy to carry and test new gear and most importantly….bring the camera gear. Mt St Gwinear is relatively unknown and situated on the east side of Mt Baw Baw. A drive to the car park is about 2-2.5hrs from Melbourne, thru the quaint town of Erica.

With the summit elevation of Mt St Gwinear being at 1500m, it is marginal for snow cover. The car park is at 1300m and even more marginal. My recommendation for anyone considering visiting the snow in Australia is to be flexible and ready. If there is a snow storm, be ready to go once it clears, as a few days later, the snow can all be gone.

My gear choice is becoming pretty locked in now with the R5, a 14-35 F4 and the 70-200 F4. A lot of gear for minimal weight. My OCD gear measuring can be seen below. It is important to keep close check of weight not only for the obvious but also to provide a check list for future trips. I used lighterpack.com for the Overland track and was able to clone the file for this trip. I highly recommend.

A tripod I thought would be questionable, but I used it a lot in the end. A polariser filter always a must for clear conditions.

The trail has a gradual, but continuing uphill gradient for about 100m vertically. I had to walk about 1.5kms before I saw snow and opportunities for shooting was pretty limited. I can imagine with more snow there would be some nice scenes either side of the path. Soon you reach the summit of Mt St Gwinear which is marked by a pile of rocks, common at the top of any summit it seems. Looking to the right you can see the ski resorts of Mt Buller and Mt Stirling. As a geographer and photographer this is exciting. Not a great photo from distance, but still cool.

The trail descends slightly to what is known as Gwinear Flats. A great place to setup camp and fantastic snow scenery. Up to this point snow was pretty sparse, but now I was in a foot of consistent snow. How exciting! The trail then winds up hill towards the Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT). At this intersection is the aptly named ‘Rock Shelter’. A fascinating rock formation that I presume has provided shelter to some poor soul in a sudden snow storm.

More exciting were the amazing moss covered rock boulders dotted around the landscape. I love moss and lichens for some strange reason. I feel that they could tell an ancient story and have survived for so long, especially in harsh alpine environments. Beautiful to photograph in a macro setting.

The track continues uphill to Mt Phillack summit and onwards towards the saddle near Mt Whitelaw and Mt Baw Baw turnoff. I was walking in late afternoon and the light was glorious. Snow gums glowing in deep snow with a silence Ill never forget. By this point I was finding my pack very heavy as I had over prepared. Thats not a mistake per se, but I know where to cut weight for next time!

I reached Mt Phillack saddle at about 330pm which was just about early enough to setup camp comfortably. Though Id recommend 1hr earlier to give more shooting time. The sun sets behind a hill at about 5pm. This camping spot was suitable for pitching a tent but also had a small set of rocks suitable for making a fire. As this was my first trip, setting up tent was my first priority and this went very well.

I spent about 30mins photographing the landscape in the warm afternoon light. The area was surrounded by ‘spiky plants’ that I later found out to be Richea Continentis, a candle heath plant found in Australian alpine areas. The snow had clearly fallen heavily and was laying on top of these plants. This provided an opportunity to photograph them popping out of the snow. Almost like they were saying ‘hello’ and lapping up the winter sun.

As darkness descended I successfully lit a fire and gathered dead wood lying around the campsite. I was quite proud of myself.:) I had brought a little light called a ‘Flextail’ that I could hang inside the tent. The aim to get those classic night time camping shots. I was lucky to have the most stunning clear night sky that with a 5 second exposure was showing incredible hues of purple. The shots you see here are almost unedited.

Being my first time camping in the snow I had no idea how I would sleep. I did need all my layers but overall I was warm and comfortable. I didnt have an exact plan for waking up for sunrise but I was glad I naturally woke early. I poked my head out and had the most beautiful sunrise. The sun was poking above the horizon in the east, and to the west, a wonderful pink sky over Mt Baw Baw

It was a quick scramble to shoot the snow gums as the intense orange sunlight lit up the landscape. It seemed like every minute presented different shadows and light effect

I spent about 2 hrs photographing around the campsite and then began the task of packing up to walk back to the car park. The walk back provided different direction of light being early in the day.

The walk out is far easier as it is mostly descending. I left feeling lucky to have experienced this, but also happy with my preparation. Keen to do this again as son as possible.