Aussie Buskwalking Challenges

We all climb individual mountains on any one day, but how about we set a few Aussie Bushwalker Challenges? Hey Richard, is there a new ‘symbol’ we could use to denote this?

Something we’ve been thinking and planning for while is what we might call ‘The Glasshouse 7’ (can’t use ‘7 Summits’ as that applies to top climbs in each of the seven continents)? A challenge to climb seven peaks in a single day. Ignoring Beerwah and Coonowrin (which are technically closed) we think that there are in fact ten to climb, but the challenge would be to do any seven. Someone called ‘Zerpy’ managed it just recently.

We also think there is a ‘Sunshine Coast Challenge’ and after a recent weekend at Mount Tamborine, there is one there as well.
I am sure that there is a load more we could add with everyone’s help?

What do you recon?

This is a great idea. I actually was thinking of something similar just last week. I was on holidays up the coast and did Emu Mountain and Mt Coolum and noticed somebody on Aussie Bushwalking had mentioned a Sunshine Coast peak baggers book. I thought it’d be nice to have a list on Aussie Bushwalking and you’d get a badge on your profile when you’d completed the list.

I’ve been wanting to add lists for awhile actually. They’d be user driven like all the content. They wouldn’t all be “challenge” style lists necessarily. Some of the ideas I had were:

  • Sunshine Coast Peaks (or Main Range Peaks, etc, etc)
  • Waterfalls of Lamington
  • Urban bushwalking in Brisbane (or Sydney, or Melbourne)
  • Beginner day walks near Brisbane (or…)
  • Beginner overnighters near…
  • Highest peak in each state

It’d give me something nice to link to when people email me asking about how to get started walking as well, particularly if we can get some for other cities where I don’t know the walks.

So then it’s just a case of do we want a special badge for completing a list in a day (or some other specific time period)?

Richard, great to here that you have been thinking along the same lines.

We brainstormed this a while back and my daughter got a bit carried away with a blank piece of paper, thinking Challenge Days, Sponsors, Medals, High Profile Events and Publicity!
Maybe one day. Mighty oaks from little acorns grow!

I have to say, that we tend to think ‘challenges’, which means you need to be seriously dedicated (and fit) to achieve them. But then again, that gives no encouragement for the beginner, which is important. So having a mix of ‘hard’ requiring completion, or completion within a specific period, versus a ‘medium’ where you have to complete all the walks in a specific area, could be the way to go.

Happy to provide any help we can.

Hey guys, I’m glad I was able to inspire some people to set challenges. When I first came up with the idea I never really intended it to be more than 1 mountain at a time, but the idea was to tick all the climbable Glass House mountains off eventually.
When I started getting all the info together it didn’t seem so far fetched to do say 3 at a time/each day.
I just went overboard with the planning and came up with a list of 7 which I thought was achievable in 1 day.
I detailed a plan, read lots of track notes, times for each mountain and the quickest road route to drive between each one, set the date and headed off.
I realistically said to myself on the day that 5 would be fantastic and any extras were a bonus. I did all 7 which was in the end extremely challenging as I was dehydrated and cramping on the last climb. I think I drank around 5-6 litres during the day but it wasn’t enough!

Now to my fitness, I naturally have a high V02 max recovery rate and I am a long distance swimmer as well which helped in the recoveries intervals between climbs.
I had completed Everest base camp a few months prior which also held me in good fitness on the day. I also play a lot of golf and carry my clubs every round. This is ~12km each round with 10kgs on your back. I do this twice a week.
This is not to say any normal bushwalker couldn’t achieve this as I was moving quickly, if I recall it took about 7 hours total. Spreading out the break between each climb could help, as well as keeping better hydrated than I was.

Probably waffled on a bit but I am happy to answer any questions. Other challenges I am going through are ticking off all the mountains in the main range. All of the Moogerah peaks, and of course all of the signposted walks of Lamington.~
I am currently in initial training for a mountain expedition in the Andes in 6 months time (Huayna Potosi 6088m high!) and will be going back to the glass house mountains to potentially do 8 or 9 of the peaks in one day… just depends how my training is progressing…

I’m happy to answer any questions anyone may have. Happy hiking!

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This sounds like a great idea. My bushwalking mates tend to see Tassie and NZ as challenging bushwalks and forget there is so much to offer in Qld. Would love to see this in action…

Now that Mt Beerwah is open for climbing I set off on a smaller challenge which was doing a tough double of Mt Beerwah & Tibrogargan on the same day. I did Beerwah in 56 minutes, then Tibrogargan in about 50 (although wasnt strictly timing on Tibro).

Was extremely tired as I was doing quick runs but I still managed to pull myself together and do the Coochin twins straight after Tibrogargan as well.

Anyone setting their sights on a real challenge should aim for the Beerwah/Tibro double as it really pushes your mental and physical limits. Plus they are great fun to boot!

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I found the little book (a gem) Peak Baggers Guide to the Sunshine Coast years ago and have climbed a lot of them. I found it went out of print when I told friends about it who tried to buy a copy.
Recently I heard it was back in print but I don’t know for sure.