Last walk through the Tasmanian Wilderness

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." - John Muir

The summit of Mt Ossa:

View towards Mt Pelion East:

Prehistoric-looking mushroom:

Mt Geryon in the afternoon sun:

Nothofagus Gunii (deciduous beech) starting to turn with the approach of winter:

Rainbow over Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain:

Barn Bluff:

View towards the Pelion mountains:

Velvety mushrooms:

Mt Ossa summit:

Crazy mould digesting a mushroom:

Cloudburst Mountain Spring Summit Attempt

Spring in BC, Canada. Slightly warmer weather (think 5 degrees celcius), longer days, and the perfect opportunity to revisit Cloudburst Mountain and it's summit, previously unattainable in mid-winter.

Our "team" consisted of Jan, a Czech about to get kicked out of the country with a burning desire to see the fabled 360 degree view from the top; Werner, an Aussie that is always up for crazy adventures, and myself! Our day started in Paradise Valley, early in the morning to maximise the daylight we would have to climb 1871m,with snowshoes, through spring snow, up steep ridges, to the highest point of the mountain.

In the Valley the weather was not looking so great. I may have been a slightly "fair-weather" adventurer, urging the boys to wait for a better day, but at Jan's insistence, we started the steep climb up the FSR again.

The snow line was noticeably higher than in the winter, and the snow quality was also wetter. We were thankful for the cooler conditions that day, as a sunny day might have increased the difficulty of snowshoeing up the steep sides of the mountain onto the ridge.

Every now and then, the clouds would be torn apart and suddenly we would have the most magnificent view down into Paradise valley and at the Tantalus mountain range.

A view of the ridge we would have to follow to the actual summit of Cloudburst (on the far right of the picture).

Freestyle snowshoeing in action:

Once on the ridge and in the alpine, the undualting ridge as seen from sea level became a series of domed, icy peak that became increasingly challenging (and at times scary) to climb with the snowshoes.

Myself approaching one of the icy peaks we would have to climb, freestyle, and with no ropes, safety gear, crampons or ice picks. The weather was also closing in as we got higher, decreasing our visibility of where the ridge ended. Not good!

At 1769m, 2 peaks away from the true summit, 11km into our adventure, we took this photo and called it quits. In Jan's words: "It's the professionals who know when to turn around and and go back." Maybe, but to go any further would have been risky: we could see nothing, and the last two climbs would be even more challenging and would present difficulties when the time would come to descend. Sometimes, turning around is a better option.

Finally! Time to eat! Recommended: wraps (kept separate while hiking) with tuna, mayonnaise, dill, tomato, mix (kept in zip-lock bag).

The reward at the end of another amazing adventure: a perfect view and some sun on the skin!

Freestyle Snowshoeing to Cloudburst Mountain

After a solid 2 weeks of grey, drizzling weather, the bright blue skies called for a spectacular adventure outdoors. We decided on spectacular views, snow and 4.5 hours of uphill climbing in snowshoes to celebrate the sun (and some much needed Vitamin D). Our destination: Cloudburst Mountain, a single bald dome rising at the end of Squamish Valley, its summit giving 360 degree views of the Sea to Sky corridor - basically, snow-capped mountains as far as the eye can see. Not too bad right!?

As we would be freestyling most of the way, we mapped our route to carry with us on a Garmin Forerunner watch, ensuring that we would reach the ridge that we could then walk on to the summit, thus avoiding any potential avalanche areas.

Our route below (as mapped using Google Earth):

Squamish Valley :

Hiking up a Forest Service Road (FSR) to 1000m:

Starting the Freestyle climbing to get onto the ridge, Squamish Valley behind me:

Snowshoeing through powder snow is hard work, especially uphill (1 step up, 2 steps down...).

Finally out of the tree-line and into the white, alpine stillness. Here the snow was frozen hard on the surface from the wind, making for much easier climbing:

Along the ridge, almost 360 degree views:

Cloudburst Mountain (still at least 2 hours away):

In the end we didn't reach the summit of Cloudburst. Not enough daylight and our late start meant that we turned around after reaching the ridge. Nevertheless, we got our sun, views and enough powder snow to last us though a few more rainy days.