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Mount Baw Baw

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Mount Baw Baw

Mount Baw Baw (/ˈbɔː ˈbɔː/) is a mountain summit on the Baw-Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range, located in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The name is from the Yarra-Yallou, Gunna-Kurnai people of Gippsland. It is of uncertain meaning, but possibly signifies, echo, or ghost.

The Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort is an unincorporated area, that includes the Mt Baw Baw summit, which is under the direct administration of the government of Victoria, and is surrounded by the Baw Baw National Park, in the Shire of Baw Baw.

Mount Baw Baw is about 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Melbourne, 50 km (31 mi) on the north side the Latrobe Valley, due North of Moe. Mount Baw Baw itself is one of a number of peaks on the Baw Baw Plateau, a long plateau tending about 20 km north-east and is about 10 km wide. Other peaks on the plateau include Mount Mueller, Mount Whitelaw, Talbot Peak, Mount St Phillack, Mount Tyers, Mount Kernot and Mount St Gwinear. The plateau itself is isolated from most of Victoria's high country by the deep valleys of the Thomson and Aberfeldy rivers and tributaries of the La Trobe River, including the Tanjil and Tyers rivers to the south.

The Baw Baw massif consists of a late Devonian granodiorite pluton. There is relatively little relief on the plateau itself, the highest point reaching 1,567 metres (5,141 feet). The lower slopes of the plateau are covered in montane eucalypt forest and tall forest, and creek valleys have cool temperate rainforest of myrtle beech, Nothofagus cunninghamii. Above 1,200 m (3,900 ft) snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) woodland occurs. There is no altitudinal treeline limit; subalpine grasslands and shrublands occur in flat valley bottoms on the plateau as a result of cold-air drainage. Much of this subalpine zone is included in the 133 km2 (51 sq mi) Baw Baw National Park. The Baw Baw Village ski resort is technically outside the national park.

The climate of the plateau itself is subalpine, with an average annual precipitation of 1,900 mm (75 in). Snow covers the plateau from June to September.

It is thought that Baron Ferdinand von Mueller made the first recorded European ascent of Baw Baw in 1860, naming Christmas Creek on one of his major collecting expeditions. It was on this trip that he collected the Baw Baw Berry, Wittsteinia vacciniacea. There are two routes up the mountain; one via Noojee and Icy Creek which is very winding, and the unsealed South Face Road via Erica.

Mount Baw Baw is home to the critically endangered Baw Baw Frog.

Mount Baw Baw has a Subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc). The mountain summit receives more annual precipitation than most places in mainland Australia, with frequent and heavy snow between May and October but can occur at any time of the year (as well as a persistent snowpack). Frequent, heavy cloud cover and strong winds mean that minimum temperatures rarely drop below −5 °C (23 °F), whereas maximum temperatures are frequently at or below 0 °C (32 °F); the mountain is often shrouded in low cloud or mist in winter, reducing diurnal range. The mean afternoon humidity of 80%, is extreme (especially for a mainland Australian region).

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