Pelion Hut to Mt Ossa return, Overland Track - April 2010

Mt Oakleigh from the Pelion Hut heli pad. I think the mountain just visible in the mist in the distance is Cradle Mountain...

... the flat topped mountain a little further to the left is Barn Bluff.

Waking up today I decided to leave my overnight pack at Pelion Hut and climb Mt Ossa and Mt Pelion East as a day walk. Jess and Julie, who I'd climbed Mt Oakleigh with yesterday decided to climb Mt Ossa with me and then push on to Kia Ora Hut. Leaving Pelion Hut the girls set a cracking pace as we climbed up the Overland Track to Pelion Gap where we stashed their packs. Leaving packs at Pelion Gap is always a little fraught as the Currawongs have worked out how to open zips. I've found that the best way to defeat them is to place your pack cover over the pack and try and wedge the pack against a log or a rock, although then you have to be a little careful of the small furry ground based creatures chewing through your pack!

Mt Oakleigh and Cradle Mountain from Pelion Hut.

Looking across the foggy Pelion Plains towards the distant Barn Bluff.

Leaving the Overland Track at Pelion Gap the Mt Ossa Track skirts around Mt Doris and then heads via a scree slope up into a steep gully, towards the top it gets a little airy and it seemed to cause trouble for other people that we met climbing that we met when we were descending. After the gully there is a little more boulder hopping and then we broke out on the summit plateau. The plateau has the unusual sight of a large tarn on it. I was unable to resist ringing Sam and telling her that I was standing on the highest point in Tasmania. We were lucky again with the weather today, blue sky and sunshine with little in the way of wind is about as benign as the conditions get up here. With Mt Ossa being the highest mountain in Tasmania the views from up here are extremely good, with rugged mountain ranges stretching away to all points of the compass and no real sign of the land being modified by man (apart from the track itself) it was pretty easy to lose an hour up here.

The track to Mt Ossa climbs this gully between the two rocky outcrops.

There was always an excuse to stop and take things in on the climb.

The summit of Mt Ossa is a fairly flat plateau... complete with a substantial tarn.

Mt Ossa

It was third time lucky for me today as far as climbing Mt Ossa goes.

The pinnacle in the middle distance is Mt Pelion East... my afternoons objective.

 

It's wild country in every direction from up here.

Yes, I look pretty happy with life.

Mt Ossa

After retracing our steps back down to Pelion Gap we found that despite our best efforts the Currawongs had got into Jess's pack, she wasn't alone however as 3 or 4 other packs had also been opened and the contents were spread around. I had a bite to eat with the girls and then we said our goodbyes and they continued on to Kia Ora Hut while I headed off towards Mt Pelion East. The track to Mt Pelion East was very muddy to begin with, however once above the tree line the ground changed to sandstone and the mud was gone. Following the cairns got me to the climbing gully and from there it was a short scramble to the top. Finding a flattish rock to sit on I enjoyed the view from the small summit, now when I say small I'm talking in area not height, while there is not much flat ground on the small summit the position of the mountain meant that my lofty perch afforded a grandstand view of the surrounding country. 

Lake McFarlane

Dropping back down to Pelion Gap from Mt Ossa.

The alpine scenery was beautiful. 

The final scramble up onto Mt Pelion East was fairly airy. 

Mt Oakleigh in the middle distance. Barn Bluff on the left and Cradle Mountain on the right in the distance from the summit of Mt Pelion East.

Sitting up here on Mt Pelion East I soaked it all in with a certain sense of satisfaction this afternoon. I'd ascended over 1100 metres for the day which I thought wasn't bad for an old bloke and I'd finally got to climb Mt Ossa and Mt Pelion East, two mountains that had eluded me on all my previous visits due to heavy snow and ice. Scrambling back down from the summit I slowly meandered my way back to Pelion Gap and then down to Pelion Hut for another convivial night at the hut. 

With Mt Pelion East being a little out board from most of the other big mountains it provided a great view this afternoon.

The view from Mt Pelion East.

There aren't a lot of flat rocks on the summit of Mt Pelion East.

From Mt Pelion East.

Mt Pelion East

Arriving back to Pelion Hut I found that the only person that I knew was Graham, a horticulturist from Victoria, the bubble that I'd been walking in on the Overland Track section of this walk had moved on in the daily shuffle from hut to hut. There was only 6 of us at Pelion Hut that night so crowding wasn't a problem as I'm guessing the hut would sleep at least 50. I past the night talking to Graham about his native nursery back in Victoria in between watching the wildlife around the hut.

Time to drop down and head back to Pelion Hut.

I'm looking a little relieved now I'm down the steep bit.

Pelion Hut

The Dirt.

I walked 11.4 kilometres and climbed 1140 metres on what was a hard day on the track. Over the four days of my Overland Track adventure so far I've walked 60.4 kilometres and climbed 2870 metres so far. Now I've said that this was a hard day however I really need to clarify that a bit, while there is a bit of of elevation gain today the climbing is mostly pretty well graded... except for a bit of scrambling near the top of Mt Ossa and the final scramble to the summit of Mt Pelion East, scrambling up the final rocky chute onto Mt Pelion East was a bit more exposed than any of the other scrambling that I'd done on the Overland Track on this walk. There is water in a few spots on the climb from Pelion Hut to Pelion Gap and there are a couple of spots to camp (check o the legalities of this now days though), accommodation is either at Pelion Hut or over the pass at Kia Ora Hut. Once again I was using the House of Chapmans notes and maps out of their Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair & Walls of Jerusalem National Parks book.

Relevant Posts.

Windermere Hut to Pelion Hut, 2010.

It was looking like it was going to be another cold night.

I'm thinking that it'd be a good idea to treat the water at Pelion Hut!