Mount Anne

Date: 2006-10-27 to 2006-10-28
Location: Southwest National Park, Tasmania - Google Map
Party: Rimas Statkus, Vytautas Krivickas, Gražina Kymantas 

This was my first visit to the beautiful Australian island of Tasmania. Our arrival a day earlier in Launceston and the following drive via the Great Lake to Hobart was let's just say less than memorable, the weather was so 'ordinary' we barely got out of the car and having a few scenic detours, aka getting lost on the way, didn't help much.

The following day the three of us drove out to Mt Anne, it used to be a couple hours drive form Hobart, but I believe that it takes a good hour longer now as the speed limit on the main road there has been reduced by a fair bit. As we approached the highest mountain in the rugged southwest national park, a World Heritage Area, we glimpsed it's cloud covered peak several times.

By the time we got to the car park, re-packed our gear and signed the registration books it was already after midday, so much for the early start. The start of the walk was along a boarded up walkway and was completely flat for about the first 300m or so. Shortly after though the climb started and there was no warm up for it, so to speak. First there was 1000 and one, or so it seemed, steps to negotiate followed by never ending series of false peaks as we slowly made our way up the ridge line.

Frequent stops along the way were as much due to the need to admire and record the amazing scenery as to rest our, and especially my, ever tiresome backs. As this was a planned two day hike we did carry a fair bit of gear, and probably a bit more than was really necessary.

Not long after we had our first extended break for lunch with spectacular views back over the Lake Pedder on one side and thorny peak of Mount Anne dominating the track ahead.

The trek upwards soon continued with the track still sharply climbing up towards Mt Eliza and thereafter Mt Anne. Suddenly the track evened out and after some rough shrubbery we came up to a small stone hut. This High Camp Hut was dedicated to Olegas Truchanas, having arrived here we decided to use the hut as our overnight base camp and to continue onto the summit in the morning when we were a bit fresher.

Now the hut deserves a whole article just for itself, but alas this is not to be, and it would have been even more glorious during it's 'younger' days when it still had a working fireplace inside. However as this whole park is now a World Heritage area, all solid fuel fires are prohibited and thus all the huts have had their chimneys blocked off. Even so the hut still boast Australia's best 'toilet with a view', yes you could sit there for hours and enjoy the scenery through it's purpose built window.

As it was still fairly early we decided to dump our gear in this two story hut and continue our accent to Mt Eliza, for a quick look see. The next part of the climb was even steeper but also more interesting, as we in part accidentally and in part just for the heck of it went straight up the boulder field rather than follow a preset pathway. Not long after we reached the summit of Mt Eliza, my first conquest of an Australian mountain.

The view up here were almost as spectacular as the strength of the wind, i found that without a tripod taking a photo up here was next to impossible as i could not hold my hands still for long enough to press the shutter button. Now Rimas being the guy he is spotted a small field of snow about a third of the way to Mt Anne and decided that he HAD to play in it, so of he sprinted to the glistening pile of snow, while i tried my best to take at least one descent shot up here.

As soon as Rimas returned from his frolic in the snow we descended back to the hut for the night, the return trip was following the actual path and took a bit longer as the track zigzagged it's way down the slope. Just as we got back to the hut the light drizzle started to fall on the tin roof of the hut. That night we were not the only occupants of the hut, another group of hikers doing the whole Mt Anne circuit were also staying there the night. After a modest dinner and trading a few hiking stories with the other group we hit the sack so to speak. The youngest guy from the other group was very excited about the rain, well the prospect of the rain turning into snow really that he kept going outside avery 30 minutes or so to check if it was snowing yet.

Now to say that I didn't get much sleep that night might be a bit of an understatement, this was the first time in Australia that i felt cold, and i mean REALLY cold. So much so i thought my toes were turning into little cubes of ice and my sub degree sleeping bag was being fairly useless. So I was not terribly surprised in the morning when we opened the door of the hut and all we could see was white snow. It had covered everything, there was no more green alpine scrub, no brown boulders and certainly no way we could get back up to Mt Eliza, never mind Mt Anne, without proper snow gear. Now remember this was not mid winter, it was after all no more that an couple of day till the Australian summer. You gotta love Tasmanian weather. I suppose it did teach me one very important lesson, no matter what the weather seems like, up here it can change in a blink of an eye, and if I was not used to colder climate from my younger days, there would have been non stop complaining all the way down the mountain.

Even thought we were not able to finish our climb up to the summit of the highest mountain in the Southwest National Park, it was certainly an experience I shall not forget for a very, very long time. After all it is not every day that you get snowed-in less than a week away from summer, or even enjoy the majestic scenery that the Tasmanian wilderness has to offer for those who but dare to step but a little way from the well trodden path, those who dare open their eyes see a world filled with wonder and natural beauty that neither words nor photos can fully describe.

 Please click on the thumbnails above to see the full picure