Collins Cap 30 August, 2015

Russell Falls - not a bad alternative to playing in the snow.

With a good dumping of snow forecast for the weekend, it was hard to choose where to go to capitalise on this wonder. The best snow seemed to be forecast for Mt Field, so we planned to go there. Luckily, I threw my Wellington Ranges map into the car, just in case. I say "luckily", as we gave little forethought to the fact that with our 4WD newly out of action, going to the snow in a 2WD is not always a good idea. We don't even own any chains that fit it.

Lady Barron Falls, looking very dramatic with so much water

I did actually get up to near the Lake Dobson Carpark, but I did  not like hanging around. If conditions got one iota worse up there - which tends to happen in snow storms - then we were in a pickle. We went back down, had a look at wonderful waterfalls, and drove to Hobart, resorting to my plan B for the morrow, which was to climb Collins Cap.

I was rather excited to see that there was snow in the car park as we pulled in to the Myrtle Forest picnic area. This boded well. I looked forward to seeing the cascading creek with its banks decked in snow. They did not disappoint. I wondered about the creek crossings that lay ahead, but they were manageable - just.

The second crossing - the easier of the two.

Just before the second crossing, we met a jolly trio of HWC members, whose footsteps in the snow we'd been following the whole time. Unfortunately they had turned around just after the creek, and were on their way back to the car. Somehow in weather like that it's nice to think of some person or people "up there" ahead of you; someone else stupid enough to be on the mountain in snow with more forecast. Now the only footprints in the snow were those made by Paddymelons and wombats. I find it endearing that the animals of the forest choose to use the pathways created by humans for humans. They are smart enough to pick that these routes offer the least resistance to forwards movement. Once after a snowstorm on Cradle I was on the boardwalk following tiny footprints in the snow, and here I was doing it again. The path was not marked on the trees. I was deciding on its whereabouts by picking the clearest line through the vegetation - a method that became harder the higher we climbed, as vegetation thinned out. 

There's the best line. Straight through that puddle.

My husband got to follow my prints.

The beautiful rainforest, firstly predominating in ferns and then in small pandani plants with snowy caps on eventually ceded to burnt out snow gums, especially once we'd crossed the fire trail. Climbing in some sections was very steep indeed. I guessed there were rocks under the snow, as otherwise I think we would have slipped downhill a bit. My foot found it easy to kick into or onto something horizontal despite the severe angle of the snow.

Clouds began encircling us; visibility lessened. Just as my husband's "I think we should turn around" kind of noises increased, I gasped. Up ahead I could see that every single tree and bush had a glorious coating of ice. We were in fairy land. Sorry, but I was not turning around in the presence of beauty such as this. As long as it didn't actually snow, I knew the way down would be much quicker than our ascent, not just because of not fighting gravity, but also because I was doing all the step kicking and all the route finding on the way up. As long as I could follow our own footsteps down, the task would be halved.

Fagus adorned in white, sparkling jewellery.

Nearly there. B taking the lead so I could take a photo of his back as the ground levelled out for the summit. As I suspected, the way down was almost lightning fast. Speeds in the snow on the way up had been extraordinarily slow, which is why the other group had turned back. You needed to be prepared to take twice the normal time to factor in for step kicking, general caution and deciding where the track might be once things got vague. I had fun in the snow. I would have liked to use my macro lens on some of the formations, but moving was a high priority in those conditions.