AAWT winter traverse - Episode 21 (Mt Wills)

Day 21 - we headed over Mt Wills to then be off snow for awhile. Immediately after leaving our campsite at Big River Saddle we started climbing with snow underfoot. About halfway up we clipped into our skis and continued our ascent towards Mt Wills. 3/4 of the way up we hit a 4WD track and spotted some ski tracks from the day prior. We also got some nice views of Mt Bogong and our previous day’s trek but unfortunately the cloud closed in and we saw no more. On a clear day you can get great views of the Main Range in NSW and the Bogong High Plains. When we arrived at the summit hut we met a telemarker who was up there for a couple of days. He had the pot belly going and it was very pleasant to sit inside for awhile :) Eventually we left this very comfortable hut and started traversing and descending out towards Mt Wills South. The snow was treacherous though with a breakable crust that made turns extremely difficult. We got to the edge of the ridge and opted to mostly walk from there as it was quite steep and heavily vegetated. There were lots of trees down so it was a very late lunch for us by the time we reached the Omeo Highway. From there we still had 6km or so to go with the first bit on bitumen followed by an overgrown (but not too bad) very old 4WD track and walking route. We made it to our intended campsite at Gill Creek with half an hour of daylight to spare (which is highly unusual for us) so Andrew opted for a splash in the creek. I was not so brave and opted to remain with smelly feet until crossing it the next morning