A marvellous day

Its a powerful sort of thing, when like-minded friends get together to climb a mountain on a sunny day. There's a strength that comes from climbing together, from sharing food whilst sharing stories, from reaching the summit together and hugging for the joy of it all. And there's a special bond that begins to develop, as friendships deepen and expand and barriers are surpassed. There's a clarity that comes from being up high, looking to the horizon, thinking of loved ones far away.

That's how it was for this Mama and her mama-friends last weekend. We started early and finished later than we thought, but Mount Feathertop was summited by all. And after 24km and 10 hours, we all agree that it was a marvellous day.

Our early morning beginning was colder than this Mama expected and we walked quickly through the forest remains of last Summer's bushfire before the sun reached us and we began to shed our layers.

By the time we reached Federation Hut it was a warm and sunny day, as we'd expected, and lunch was lovely on the 'lawn' of grass around the shallow saddle where the hut is built.

The 'summit push' was short and sweet (relatively speaking), but still took our breath away, and we enjoyed our glimpses of the Snowy Mountains in the distance, ladybugs on the rocks and the remains of the snow just on the south side of the ridge.

Two false summits led us to the small top of the mountain where we stayed for a while and pondered and looked and thought and ate.

Then it was down again and a long(ish) but lovely walk along the south razorback to Diamantina Hut where cars and loved ones were waiting.

The bushfires have devastated a large area, much of which we walked through last weekend, but everywhere there was new growth, however small.

Here's to more long walks in the mountains my Mama-friends!