Conquering Mount Barney with Wildfire Sports

Meet Dylan! He recently summited Mt Barney in an epic all day hike. Here's what he has to say about his adventure, and all the gear that helped make it possible!

Mt Barney is a few hours drive south from our offices in Milton, just near the NSW border. We took the South East Ridge route, featuring 1200m of elevation gain over roughly 12km. The ascent is almost entirely scrambling, and has an infamous reputation for requiring rescues. 

Source: Aussie Bushwalking

Starting early in the morning is a must. With regular breaks, the full hike took us over nine hours! Equally important is packing the right gear. Fortunately for me, I work for the greatest hiking store in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and possibly the universe. Today, I’ll walk you through some of the gear I used in climbing Mt Barney. 

On my feet:

Trail signs on Mt Barney advise to use ankle supporting shoes, for very good reason. It’s a very technical and steep route that demands careful footing and punishes inexperience. However, I chose to use a low cut with Altra’s legendary Lone Peak 9+ trail running shoes. 

I’d found in the past that hiking boots with strong ankle supports made it difficult to make precise maneuvers with my feet while scrambling. I felt that having strong ankle mobility would do more for my long term comfort than having to fight against the support from a higher cut shoe. 

This ankle mobility, paired with Altra’s zero-drop platform (ie, heel and forefoot at the same level) gave me a natural, balanced stance—especially useful when powering up steep inclines. Their wide toe box let my toes spread and engage properly, while the Vibram MegaGrip outsole provided excellent traction for scrambling up and down the mountain.  

This approach won’t work for everyone - I’m a fit 21-year-old with strong ankles and a decent scrambling background. If you need something with ankle support, Altra also have mid cut versions available. 

For socks, I used Smartwool Hike Light Cushion unisex socks. I chose them for their length, cushioning, and to help protect my ankles from any stray bugs or plants. Early on, I was worried the extra cushioning would make my feet overheat and sweat, but their ventilation proved to work really well with the Lone Peaks. My feet were comfy and well ventilated the whole way up and down!  

On my body:

The South East Ridge summit route is less of a trail and more of a vague suggestion. The trail is very overgrown with plants, rocks, and pieces of debris sticking out into it. I knew I’d need some decent hiking pants, which is why I used the Kuhl Revolvr 30 Inch Mens Pants. The material was really breathable, and quick to dry. They also had some slight stretch to them, which gave me good range of motion. They also really held up against prickly bushes and rubbing against rock faces! 

I wore my Wildfire staff shirt. In addition to being incredibly stylish and making for excellent marketing photos, they’re made of a nice breathable material, part of a collaboration with our friends at Impi Sports. Unfortunately these aren’t for sale. If you want one for yourself, you’ll just have to join us! 

For my jacket, I used a North Face Apex Bionic jacket. All the climbing you do will warm you up really quickly, most of my hike was just in my staff shirt. However, while we were taking breaks and slowing down, the winds would start to chill you really quickly. The jacket's windwall material blocked the wind out nicely, and went back into my bag once we started back up again. 

My pack: 

On my back, I used a Mystery Ranch Blitz 30. This bag is a nice mix between tactical / outdoors, and everyday use. When I’m not hiking or working, I’m also studying full time at university and training for triathlons, and this bag makes for an excellent daily driver. In addition to a roomy main compartment, it’s got 3 side compartments and two water bottle holders.

The harness structure was especially useful for this hike, holding the bag nice and steady, while providing decent amounts of padding. 




Food and accessories: 

Just in case it rained on us, I had a XTM Stash II raincoat packed away into its own pocket. I also had a 5L Sea to Summit lightweight dry bag to keep sensitive electronics dry, and a Sea To Summit pocket towel. Fortunately, I didn’t need to use any of them! 

I packed three insulated water bottles, my favorite being the Camelbak Eddy+ Insulated Stainless Steel 1L Water Bottle. I absolutely need all the water I drink to be ice chilled. I am completely unapologetic about this and all opinions to the contrary are wrong. The Eddy kept my water chilled all day long!  

For snacks, I had Winners Energy Bars (favourite flavors Dark Choc, and Sticky Date pudding), and Winners Energy Chews. The Chews were really useful because they helped keep my energy up, and were easy to eat while still moving (Lemon lime flavor is definitely the better one).

Once we hit the summit, after mandatory selfies, we sat down for a cup of tea. We used a Jetboil Flash 1L Cooking System to boil some water, and poured it into our Sea to Summit X cups.

After that, we began the long descent. It’s been a few days since, and my legs still hurt! Overall, Mount Barney is a phenomenal, though slightly treacherous trail. If you’ve got the fitness and the gear, you’ll be rewarded with some phenomenal views! 

Special thanks to my friends, who helped me take all these awesome shots!