Short but Sweet

The forecast was for clear skies and frosty, calm conditions so it was time to break out the winter sleeping bag. As Tasmania’s coldest location with an official weather station, Liawenee, was forecast to have -6°C I suspected being on a mountain well inland might be even cooler.

Mount Rufus is a 1400 metre high mountain lying to the west of Lake St Clair. It has 3 tracks to its summit and I chose the shortest one that runs from the Rufus Canal Road. It was only 5kms to my destination with a climb of 450 metres.

It was an easy couple of hours to a good campsite beneath the summit ridge. I was camped on flat grass with excellent views and although it was an exposed location, because the forecast was for almost calm conditions, I was happy to camp there.

I laid my sleeping bag out in my Mont Moondance 1 FN. The bag, a Spindrift 1000, is overkill for Tassie, but I am quite sure I will never be cold in it. It is almost sinfully luxurious and warm.

While not quite as spectacular a location as my last couple of trips, it was still pretty good and of course it is always good to be out in the landscape, experiencing Nature and solitude.

Not long after sunset a mist settled over my tent and most of the night was remarkably mild at around -1°C but a couple of hours before sunrise it cleared and I had a healthy minimum of -6.3°C leaving the tent crusted with ice and the ground crunchy underfoot. Not as cold as Liawenee which registered a cool -9.6°C but still refreshingly crisp.

 Pre sunrise delivered a startlingly rich Belt of Venus to the west with a distinct band of pink above the cold blue of the valleys as the first light lit Frenchmans Cap. 

 There was a blanket of mist filling the valleys below me, with occasional mountain peaks poking their heads through, almost like nunataks.

A few images in the morning and once the tent had thawed and dried I packed up and carefully made my way down the icy track. 

 On the descent I stopped at one point to photograph an alpine bush encrusted with dew, almost jewel like in its beauty. And then it was back to the car.

Short but sweet and always worthwhile.

Geoff Murray
Mont Ambassador