Category: tasmania

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Clear Hill 2012 Dec

Clear Hill  8 Dec 2012
There is a cairned track up Clear Hill from the Clear Hill Road, so there is nothing much to do other than follow it to the top. We had superb weather, and, as it was a club trip, the good fortune to have a terrific leader who let us climb at our own pace rather than demanding uniformity. As a result, three of us had a lovely long time on the top taking in the magnificent surroundings and the feeling of space and peace whilst waiting to be joined. I had gone up the Sentinels before breakfast while the others slept (see separate entry), so it was a terrific day for me.

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Hartz Peak and Mt Snowy 2012

Hartz Peak and Mt Snowy, 17 Nov 2012.


The view from Hartz Peak
This was not my happiest trip ever: The others in the group were dawdling while I wanted a workout. I can run up Hartz Peak, but knew I’d get into trouble for hurrying, so I walked along singing and dreaming and got into trouble for hurrying – ‘racing’ it was called.
The redeeming part of this venture was when four of us gained permission to be out of eyeshot and to climb Mt Snowy unaccompanied. We tallied up that we had well over a hundred years of capable bushwalking experience between us, and yet we needed permission to go down to the end of the town. Off we set before any minds changed.


View from Hartz Peak


Snowy from Hartz
I had already chosen my route – all my routes need to be “Bruceable”, in deference to my husband’s reduced coordination thanks to his Parkinson’s disease.. He is nonetheless highly capable. We slid down the vegetation on the slopes of Hartz, having fun swinging like orangutangs from the branches, eventually arriving at the Hartz-Snowy saddle in good time. There was a pad up Snowy, and no one to rebuke me for being too fast. I was allowed to go at my pace – oh the freedom of it all. When allowed to climb at my own pace, I am in a kind of trance when climbing a mountain. This semi-hypnotic state is wonderfully liberating. We all met up at the top, pleased with ourselves.

Three of the four miscreants.

The way down was superb fun. Of course the bit to the saddle was easy, as was the part to the tarns below Hartz. But then we decided to get fancy, contouring around (we thought) but being a bit distracted in our aims by the thick bush. In the end, the easiest way through was on hands and knees in the mud. Now we were wombats. I loved being a wombat. We all did. Eventually we intersected with the track that descends from Hartz and made faster progress to the finish. That was grand.

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Walls of Jerusalem 2012

 Walls of Jerusalem    10-11 November 2012

 This was a grand trip – one of my favourites ever. The weather was absolutely brilliant, which helped, of course. We camped up high, ate with our legs virtually dangling over the western wall, and had a superlative sunset.
The next day we climbed Mt Moriah, Solomon’s Throne and King David’s Peak with crisp air giving clarity to the scenes. The colours of the sky war part of the huge appeal for me, as my photos show.

 

 

 

Photos below are from day 2 (Sunday).

 

 

 
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Pillinger 2012 Nov

Mt Pillinger    5 Nov 2012

Mt Pillinger peeping shyly from mist. Photo from a later trip.
I am reworking my old posts, and see that this original one on Mt Pillinger told you nothing.  So. I must go on memory, which has it that we went in on a nameless track that I duly dubbed the “Mt Pillinger Track”, which  came off Maggs Spur 17.2, which is to the south of the Arm River Track (2 tracks earlier than its better known friend. See map below). It does not climb nearly as much as the Arm River one does, and deposits you closer to this goal. That said, I cannot vouch that, after the floods of two winters ago, it is still drivable. If not, use the Arm River Track, and just take a bit longer. If anyone has more recent information on the state of this approach road, I would love to hear.


We followed this track (which eventually joins the Arm River one – again, see map below) until we were at the base of Pillinger (to its north). When the big gully of that map was to our left (i.e., due south), we climbed up to that gully, although slightly on its eastern side (if my memory serves me correctly) to the flat area between two highpoints. From there, I definitely remember seeing cairns. They may have been present earlier – or perhaps we followed tapes.  I need to reclimb this mountain. There is a track marked on the List map, which I have also included below. It seems to follow what my memory has just described.

Mt Pillinger as seen from the saddle below the Twin Spires, further south again. Those are Lees Paddocks below left. The Mersey River and beautiful waterfalls are hidden in there.

 View from Mt Pillinger, looking towards Pelion West and Mt Achilles. That would be Lake Ayr below.

Descending

The rainforest down lower was magnificent
… with many beautiful cascades

 Bassion thrush


Here is a gpx of a route I did a year later, which shows the track we took in. The Arm River track is the dashed line to the north. You can see that it commences at a higher contour than the Arm River one. I found our track to be quite pleasant.
Below is the List Map version of the area.