"The Australian Alps Walking Track is a long distance walking trail through the alpine areas of Victoria, New South Wales and ACT. It is 655km long, starting at Walhalla, Victoria and running through to Tharwa, ACT near Canberra. The track weaves mainly though Australian national parks, such as Alpine National Park and Kosciuszko National Park, though it is not exclusively restricted to national parks. It ascends many peaks including Mount Kosciuszko, Mount Bogong, and Bimberi Peak, the highest points in mainland Australia, Victoria, and the A.C.T. respectively. The AAWT crosses exposed high plains including the Victorian Bogong High Plains and the Main Range in NSW. To walk the whole trail can take between 5 to 8 weeks. It has been signposted for part of its length in a tri-state agreement. However, most parts of the Track require hikers to have highly developed navigation skills." -- from the Wikipedia
The official site for the track is here. More information about the Track is on guidebook author John Chapman's site.
Here's a summary of what's known about early FKTs:
Karl Miller appears to have had the fastest time for hiking the AAWT, 28d6h. John Chapman, who wrote the definitive guidebook, has written that a 22 day trek is possible. But, when asked by Phil Murphy and Andrew Hewat, who have had two attempts at this record, Chapman couldn't name anyone who had done it. Murphy and Hewat regarded Miller's time as the one to beat, the fastest one with documentation and names attached. Note added Nov. 7, 2015: John Chapman now credits American hiker Li Brannfors with the fastest "unsupported walker" time at 19 days. Chapman was unable to recall details, so I am trying to find out more about Brannfors' trip.
"The walk took 28.5 days and included 2.5 rest days. 28 day 6 hrs clock time. Route taken included the main range, while anyone trying to set a record would take the valleys." -- Karl Miller
Comments
Commencing 0600 on 13 November 2019 at Walhalla, an attempt will be made by myself and (up to) 3 others on the male and female self-supported FKT for this route.
I will post a link to my Spot Gen 3 tracking website closer to the departure date.Â
Just following up on my above email.
At approximately 1500 hours on Tuesday 26 November 2019 in Tharwa we were successful in completing the 660km Australian Alps Walking Track in 11 days and 9 hours.
We commenced our ultra-run at 0600 on Friday 15 November 2019 in Walhalla. Â
I have submitted our FKT for approval.Â
Spot Gen 3 Trekker link for our run is:
https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0unGC47eGMSqlieAgtZ0qVb9UiYp9C8VU
Commencing 6am on December the 2nd 2024 , Kylie Salm and myself are planning on attempting an unsupported FKT for the AAWT. We will be setting off from Tharwa and heading south if we have a suitable weather window for crossing the main range. Spot tracking data will be linked before we depart.
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Rolling out of Wahalla on Thursday April 3, 2025 for an attempt at the self supported female FKT time for the AAWT.
Attempting unsupported FKT heading southbound. Starting tomorrow (Dec 25th!)
Claire and Tania will be heading out of Tharwa 0500hrs on the 21/03/2026 for their southbound FKT attempt.
I will be setting out from Walhalla on a northbound solo unsupported FKT attempt on Friday 17th April 2026.
Opps - technically the category for this FKT will be self-supported (not unsupported, as I have personally placed a few food cashes out on trail but otherwise carrying everything start to finish solo).
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Update... Well... not quite the recap I hoped to write...
I left on Friday 17th April for a solo self supported attempt, and immediately encountered a series of micro snow storms across the Baw Baw Plateau. Wild and incredible yet very challenging conditions for day 1. However after this, the weather window for late April was as perfect as you could have hoped for! Glorious beautiful days, and cool mostly dry nights. Long story short - I had overconfidently planned my food drops in the early days NOBO too far apart thinking I'd make more progress than I ended up making, which hurt my progress on day 4,5 which then cascaded into much slower progress overall. I did make it to Dead Horse Gap by 29th April (13 days) and was always planning to come off the track to Thredbo to recharge power banks and restock picking up a food cashe I had posted to the Thredbo Post Office. The plan was that once there were more defined trails and less bush bashing to contend with, I'd be able to close harder and cover bigger km days.
However, I had developed some very serious ulcers on my feet from blisters generated from enduring soaking wet feet from Day 1. I'd been walking in quite a lot of pain for multiple days, but was otherwise feeling strong in body and mind and was in denial that a few foot issues might take me out of the attempt. Afterall, Id been daily cleaning my feet/wounds and treating them on-the-go. However upon better opportunity to look at feet in Thredbo, it was very concerning to see red infection shading rising up my legs on skin around the ulcerations and decided to seek medical (which ended up needing to be in Jindabyne at the emergency clinic). The consulting Doctor needed to do a small procedure to clear out infections in the deepest ulcers and was very concerned about the potential of sepsis if I was to go back out for another multi day push to get to the finish, especially with the more challenging access for stepping off trail should something go wrong in the following 24 -48H. Given the time of the year (between summer and winter seasons) and low level population on the mountains and trails, it was a risk assessment not only for my feet and capacity to finish under the existing FKT - as well as the implications on emergency services should things take a turn for the worst. So heartbreakingly, I decided with medical advice, to end this attempt at Dead Horse Gap. I'm on the mend with antibiotics and daily wound care regime. But this effort is finished and I came up short.
Thanks to those I crossed paths with who offered encouragement, support and swapped trail info along the way. Your kindness and conversation (albeit brief) was so uplifting.
Mad respect for all the times posted on the AAWT FKT - this is an incredibly challenging route to attempt to push pace on.
Paul Cuthbert and Tom Bartlett, John Riley, Kylie Salm, Phil Robinson and Beau Miles... to do the entire route in anything under 13 days is truly mind blowing stuff... Your knowledge of the segments and where you could safely push into the nights, verse where you'd need to camp up and attack in the daylight... def is not to be undervalued... further, the sheer strength you all must have drawn from to push such daily distances with weighted packs across so much grueling vert gain and decent... I am so humbled by your performances. In so many sections day after day, where there was no path and where foliage and scrub was so thick you were bashing through bush for hours without break - I struggle to comprehend how you kept up such a pace. Congratulations again retrospectively, to you all for your incredible superhuman efforts!
Once the snow starts to melt I will go back and finish the final segment into Tharwa so I can at least have full knowledge of the entire route. Who knows, maybe next year in April, I'll be back older (literally) and hopefully wiser, with a better foot care strategy to give it another crack.
But like anything - you take a big swing on epic adventures like the AAWT FKT attempt - and you might hit it out of the park - but the reality is you more likely strike out, even with your best efforts. Still - I am super proud of all I faced and overcame going solo, in such remote and challenging wilderness.