I had a few spare days between finishing up in tassie, and moving over to NZ, so I decided to attempt a slightly more challenging walk. I picked the Mt Anne summit, as I’d heard that it is a reasonably lengthy, and very spectacular walk. A big high pressure system had settled in, and the weather was forecast to be fine over the entire state for the next 5 or so days, so this would be the perfect time to hit the south west.

There was talk of attempting the Mt Anne Circuit in a single day; the circuit involves about 17 hours of walking, and is typically completed over 3 to 4 days. While this is probably too ambitious for my capabilities, I was prepared to have a go, as the difficult sections (getting to the summit, and past the notch) would be completed in the first 6 or so hours, leaving a long, but relatively easy walk back to the car. Unfortunately my potential partner had to pull out at the last minute. Unlike him, I certainly do not have the confidence to attempt such a walk on my own, so I picked the lesser challenge of making it to the summit and back in one day.

I got up around 05:30, and was on the road by 06:15. Before this trip, I’d never driven further than Mt Field National Park, so was unsure of how much longer it would take to reach the Mount Anne carpark. I ended up arriving around 09:00, so was glad that I’d had the foresight to leave so early. I set off at 09:10, and followed a very well made, but fairly steep track to High Camp Hut, arriving about 10:20. After a quick poke around the camp site, I set off again. Despite the forecast for perfect weather, everything above 1000 metres was covered in a shroud of fog. The logical part of my mind was telling me that this wouldn’t be a problem - it was clearly low lying cloud (the sun was shining through quite prominently), and I had the BOM forecast on my side. My instinct, however, was telling me to be careful, as I was completely unprepared for any form of bad weather.

I pushed on regardless, and reached the Mt Eliza summit at 11:10. The path up to Mt Eliza involves some steep scrambling, but is well cairned, so easy to follow. It was chilly, and a fresh wind was coming from the west, but that was about as bad as the weather got for the entire day. After reaching the Mt Eliza summit, the walk follows a wide, exposed plateau which lies between Eliza and Anne. About halfway along, after an extended section of boulder hopping, I reached the Shelf Camp junction, where I stopped for lunch at 12:10. The views here are tremendous in all directions; to the west lies Lake Pedder and Deception Ridge, to the east Mt Lot and Lot’s Wife, and to the north Mt Anne itself. The wind picked up a little while I ate, and I didn’t catch a glimpse of the summit for quite some time, as the clouds continued to roll in from the west.

The track continued along the plateau, skirting around a lesser peak, and across a short saddle to Mt Anne. I followed the track all the way to the summit base, where the track ended abruptly. While I feel that I am a competent rock climber, I have had no experience whatsoever without a safety rope, and on such an exposed route. Hence, I felt quite intimidated even by the first climb, only 2 metres up to the first traverse. I spent some time at the base, trying to decide upon the best route. I eventually made my choice, and got up safely.

After overcoming this first hurdle, I became more confident, and scurried up to the top without too much difficulty, reaching the final destination at 13:30. The view from the summit was somewhat underwhelming, as the clouds continued to flow in from the west; I also feel that the views on the approach were just as good anyway. However, the thrill of the climb itself was more than enough to warrant the push to the top. After a quick bite on the summit, I started back down. I wasted no time on the return to the carpark, making it back in 3 hours flat.

Unfortunately I have no photos to post; as I was packing my bag in the carpark, I put my camera on the ground, and forgot to pick it up. I drove for almost 1.5 hours before realising that it was gone; I returned to the car park 2.5 hours after leaving, but someone must have picked it up. I am still really depressed by this, as I feel that this walk was the most challenging, hence most entertaining and satisfying, that I’ve completed to date. Hopefully my camera was found by a good samaritan, and I’ll be able to recover it and post some photos soon.