There are a lot of historic huts in the Snowy Mountains. Many of them have volunteer caretakers who work under the leadership of the Kosciusko Huts Association. The SASC XC & BW group are the caretakers of Cootapatamba Hut which sits below Lake Cootapatamba in the shadow of Mt Kosciusko.
The hut is an important emergency shelter in a popular back-country ski area just a few kilometres from Thredbo.
Every two years, a group of SASC members walk down to the hut to perform any required maintenance,. For this year, we scheduled the trip just prior to our 2023 Kahane walking weekend.
The plan was to walk down on Wednesday with Thursday as backup but neither day was suitable for painting so we opted for Friday. It started out very cold and windy but soon cleared to a warm and sunny day. We managed to sand and repaint the outside ladder, re-stain the door frame and touch up several areas that had suffered over the last few years.
In 2019 the NPWS replaced the original old timber hut with a near exact replica. The new hut is much easier to maintain and the painted exterior is surviving so much better than the old hut.
Many thanks to the members who volunteered to support the 2023 working party.
Next time you undertake the walk from Thredbo to Kosciusko, look for the little red hut sitting just below Lake Cootapatamba.
