The sleeping giant of Victoria’s High Country
Words by Karl Michelin-Beard
Images by Matt Rousu
Victoria’s High Country is famous amongst cyclists for its marquee ascents. Names like Mount Hotham, Falls Creek, Mount Buffalo – the kind of climbs that dominate ride plans and Strava leaderboards and form the backbone of any serious alpine itinerary. But scattered among the giants are quieter peaks and roads that fly under the radar, roads that trade notoriety for nuance. Mount Porepunkah is one of those climbs: less famous, entirely gravel.
Joining me for the ride are two familiar companions. Emma Viotto, former cross-country marathon (XCM) national champion and a rider who seems permanently comfortable above threshold, Paul van der Ploeg, a Mount Beauty local with a mountain bike pedigree that includes a rainbow jersey in XC Eliminator, the event that seems purpose-made for big riders with bigger personalities.
Between the three of us there’s a mix of road, gravel and mountain bike riding experience, which suits a gravel climb like this.
More than just a climb, we’ve worked Mt Porepunkah into a sweet loop, starting from the popular town of Bright. We’re tackling the route in an anticlockwise direction, which leads us into the climb soon after crossing the Ovens River north from town. Pretty soon the bitumen breaks up into gravel and we relax into the increased drag and familiar crunch of tyres over dirt. The road climbs steadily into the foothills above the Ovens Valley, tracing a line between farmland and forest.
Onwards and upwards
The road wastes little time pointing upward, though the opening kilometres had a twist when we rode it. Recent grading had left the surface loose and dusty, a soft strip of churned gravel that shifted beneath tyres and turned what should have been a gentle warm-up into a low-cadence grind. This surface will settle down and compact over time, making for a smoother, faster start, but for us it was a measured slog through soft, energy-sapping sections that called for patience and a light touch on the bars.
Once past that section the climb really gets going. The road winds steadily upward through dense forest, the gradient rarely brutal but never, ever easy. Like most longer climbs, it rewards patience and measured efforts more than hero moves. The best method of approach is to settle in and let the kilometres come to you. There are no massive ramps to conquer, no hairpins to count down. Riding this climb is like sitting on a dirt-floored escalator that gradually draws you higher up the mountain.
Paul, naturally, rides it like he has somewhere to be. Mount Porepunkah doesn’t catch any headlines with sweeping alpine vistas and endless switchbacks. Instead it offers something different to the experiences of the region’s big-name climbs. Tall eucalyptus trees close in around the road, their trunks pale against the darker understorey. Occasional breaks in the forest reveal the Ovens Valley stretching out below in a patchwork of green and gold.
Emma floats upward with a freakishly easy efficiency that makes the rest of us look like we’re trying harder than necessary. Paul alternates between chatting comfortably and requesting an assessment of the pace. And as the climb flows on we find we all have much less to say, and even requests to back off a bit become scarce.
The higher you climb, the more the outside world fades away, which is a benefit of an extended climb. Who needs the outside world when your legs are screaming, anyway? On this quiet route there is no traffic noise and no summit café distracting us or calling us onwards. Our task is to turn the pedals and make our way to the top – and I can confirm that no attempts were made to nudge the KOM or QOM.
We gather at the crest to take it all in. The view from the top has got to be one of the best in Victoria’s High Country: a near-perfect 360-degree panorama of valleys and ranges rolling away in every direction, with the Ovens Valley laid out right below us and the larger alpine peaks perforating the horizon.
The descent deserves a mention. The far side is rougher and more broken in places, with washouts, embedded rock and looser gravel that required some fancy moves from Paul’s XC Eliminator days. It makes for a quick but fairly technical run back toward the valley.
Depending on your skill level, this can be an engaging and fun descent on on a capable gravel or mountain bike, but enough to suggest that riders on lighter gravel setups might enjoy Mount Porepunkah most as an out-and-back. Climb the good side, descend the same way, and soak in one of the High Country’s lesser-known mountains without taking a chance down the other side.
Either way, the climb delivers plenty that’s special. While it’s not as dramatic or headline-grabbing as some of the better-known mountains in the region, that’s also what makes it so good. As the road still gains plenty of height, you get the views. And it is the kind of road that reminds you why the Victorian High Country remains one of Australia’s best places to ride. This climb doesn’t need a reputation to justify itself; the gravel, the forest and the view at the top are more than enough.
