Hike to the Top of Mount Wellington

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August 2020

In the lead up to our trip to visit Mt Wellington we had been watching the weather vigorously as we’d just had a week of snow. We had already seen snow once during our extended stay in Tasmania and were quite keen to see it again so when we realised it had been falling on Mt Wellington we knew we couldn’t miss the opportunity. Mt Wellington is right in central Hobart and towers over the town at 1271m tall. We had used the road to visit the peak in the past however the day we left to visit it in the snow most of the roads were closed so we knew that if we wanted to reach to the peak that day it would have be by foot. The closest car park we could reach to get to the peak was at an elevation of about 780m at a place called The Springs. We left Cygnet fairly early that morning and arrived at the car park about midday and the place was packed with people and also filled with snow.

It had taken us longer then we’d expected to get to the car park because the roads had been quite icy on the way up the mountain and also finding a place to leave the car in the busy car park was challenging. However eventually someone left and we were able to pull into their empty spot. Once the car was safely parked we then wasted no time in heading off as we still had to walk about 2.5km to reach the peak through the fresh snow. On the way up the scenery was beautiful and the higher up the mountain we went the more white the landscape became. However with more snow also meant that it was harder to keep walking as the moment we strayed from the path the snow was up to knee deep. So this meant that as long as we didn’t stray from the path we were able to walk on the packed snow made by all the walkers before us.

It took us about an hour to reach the top but when we finally made it we were both amazed by the spectacular view. The whole top on Mt Wellington was just white and all the signs and handrails were covered in ice. Apparently the storm which had brought all the snow was so ferocious that it had caused the ice to form horizontally due to the sheer strength of the wind. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing and spent close to an hour marvelling at the view and knocking ice off various objects. However as was to be expected the top of the peak was beyond freezing and even with many layers and puff jackets we couldn’t afford to stand still for too long. So once we completed a lap of the Mt Wellington viewing areas and a couple of obligatory snow angels in the soft snow we started our journey back to the bottom.

One the way down we were amazed by the continuous traffic of people on their way up. We even met a few keen snowboarders and a few kids with boogie boards whom were all travelling to the peak to have some fun in the thick snow. Eventually we made it to the bottom and after our awesome day out headed back to Cygnet hoping that we’d get to see more snow before the end of winter.

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