Eliza Plateau July 2011

[goof1671]

Bagged Eliza on the weekend. What a great part of the country, I think Mt Anne is my favorite hill in Taz. ANYWAY:
Had a mate come down from the Mainland to go for a bushwalk. Initially thought we would go to Hartz for no other reason than it is FANTASTIC, but at the last moment decided on Mt Anne, mainly because of the hut. Huts are always nice to have nearby in the event something goes wrong or the weather becomes particularly disagreeable. The plan was to pack on Friday night for an early departure Saturday, but drank a lot of vino instead and went to bed without doing anything. So much for the early getaway. Got to the Condo Creek carpark at 1620hrs, I know, I know, please don't say anything. I'll blame it all on Ray anyway. Started walking at 1630 hrs and the weather forecast was good with a change due for late Sunday.

Starting out

Got to the hut in about 2 hours, with the snowline was just below the hut, and settled in for a night of cheap stories fuelled by even cheaper Port, both of which we had in great quantities. Rudely awoken at 0400 by the resident mouse who we later discovered had found a Flake choccy we had missed when hanging up the food bags. Ray later told me Mr Mouse had been so noisy that he thought it was a bunch of late arriving walkers.

Got going next morning, I was not confident of making the plateau with the snow and ice and was not looking forward to the little technical sections on the climb up to the plateau. The boulder section about a 1/3 of the way up was all ice. When we arrived I looked at the rest of the climb and thought that would all be ice too.

The Ice

I looked at Ray and said, “That’s it, we’re turning back.” We had a chat and decided to poke our noses over the boulders and have a look and it was a good thing we did because it was quite easy going past that little pinch and a short late we topped out on the plateau.
I reckon it was the best day I’ve had up there. The ground in view of the Sun was nice hard, dry snow, the ground not in the Sun was ice and had to be treated with much caution as we were only in our walking boots.

NOTE: Mt Anne starting to make some weather

WINDY: Look at the drawstring on the back of the hood

We spent a little while on top pottering around, returned to the hut, brewed up and then walked out to the capark. On the way out the weather started to come in and Mt Anne started to look like a smoke stack.
What a good way to spend a weekend.

What Fun

[weetbix456]

awsome goof!! glad to see your showcasing some of tassies finest to our mainlander cousins i'm heading up schnells ridge hopefully this weekend. can't wait to see the range covered in snow like that!!!

[goof1671]

Maaaaaaaaate. It was good. Can recommend an axe if you have one.

We saw some tracks on the way in. Which was good because it was the only way to stay on the track below the cairns but otherwise we were the only ones there. Awsome.

[Phil]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. Geez I love our 'little' island.

[Nuts]

Me too, and there is something special about full snow cover like that, almost wish we could weigh anchor and drift a smidge further south

[Stibb]

+1

We better do it soon. We're heading north way too fast for my liking

[Nuts]

Ive got a few spare paddles..
Nice effort btw goof.

[stepbystep]

Lovely stuff, good to see someone got up there!

[Binder]

Fantastic !

I can feel an inspection coming on

cheers

[north-north-west]

Superb! You've been getting some great conditions done there lately.

[Jellybean]

Magic!! Thanks for sharing, very envious!

[goof1671]

Couple more pics.

The walk in

What a good hut

What a view, Ray in the right corner

[ofuros]

Breathtaking......well done.