Climbing Mount Feathertop
Summary
The Victorian High Country is a part of Australia that few have heard of, yet its gorgeous historic gateway towns, clear mountain air and snow in winter, wineries and gourmet food, and, of course, its stunning mountain scenery make it a magical destination. The highlight for us was climbing along the Razorback to the summit of Mount Feathertop, the second tallest mountain in the state of Victoria at 1,922m / 6,306ft and with immense views across the surrounding mountains
The hike itself starts at the carpark for the Diamantina Hut and is a there-and-back hike in total 22km / 13.5miles almost dead straight along the ridge. Overall, its a moderate difficulty hike – there are some flattish bits but with a steep bit around a third of the way in and a very steep final ascent to the top. Total elevation gain of 870m / 2850ft and the whole thing will take you up to 7 hours in total
Main tip – whilst the elevation helps to reduce the temperature quite a bit in the summer, the route is very exposed so sun screen is a must (along with enough water)
Extra tip – the whole Victorian High Country area really is a magical spot. Be sure to give yourself at least a day or two to explore around the towns of Beachworth and Bright, and with all the beautiful scenery in-between
highlights
#1 The amazing views . . .
#2 . . . whichever way you look!
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other great Hikes around the World
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone