The crew met at McDonald’s in Beaudesert at 7:30am. Four cars, Twelve people:  Dennis, Jenesse, Mel Rose, Mons, Nicole, Shane, Brock, Dylan, Sarah, Nick, Stuart and Claire.

By the time we arrived at Cotswold Rd at the base of Mt Maroon and started the hike, it was around 8:30am. The Cotswold Track (6km) crosses private property and then soon the North East ridge is encountered. The ascent is along steep terrain strewn with rocks, trees and shrubs. Across the path were many golden orb spiders which caused a couple of screams when people ran into them.

As with large groups, they split in two with the gap between them about 10 minutes apart. Walkie talkies were handy to communicate between the two groups, often breaking the silence with knock knock jokes.

The groups met up at Egg Rock, the gateway to either the East Face rock climbing routes and the tourist track up the gully between the peaks. Dennis went scouting towards the East Face to check out the infamous rockclimbing route, the Ruby Of India. Six years ago, Missy, Stu and Dennis were benighted about 80 metres below the summit as the sunset left them stranded precariously on a small ledge.

The group were in single file scaling the gully. The wind was blowing a gale and soon the misty clouds were enveloping the mountain. Although slightly wet, it was a welcome treat to cool us down. At the top of the gully, the group rested briefly at the old camp site located next to a dry creek bed.

From the campsite, the track leads south across rocky slabs and a final ascent to the south summit. A rock cairn about 3 metres high marks the summit. Dennis placed a rock on the summit cairn, but no one else followed this summit tradition. Unfortunately, due to the cloud activity, visibility was not the best. Mt Barney or other prominent peaks could not be seen or they too were shrouded in clouds.

The descent down was quick but thankfully without incident as it was wet. Once again, the groups split in two but met at the car park. As anticipated the return trip was about 5 hours, including the rest stops.

The group drove out to the Doogs (Dugandan Pub, Boonah) where we had big meals and drank a well deserved beer. Dylan found that the Doogs do a great Sundae!

The Whytey of Maroon award goes to Shane for hanging back. For those that don’t know Whytey, he is a tri-athlete who despite his high level of fitness always stayed at the back of the pack while others disappeared in front when the crew did Mt Barney last year. He probably empathises well with those who struggle because he also once did on his first ascent of Barney – where Dennis took him up the SE Ridge, gave him only 600ml of water and taunted him that there was only 20 metres to go (hours before reaching the summit). He ran out of water very early