On Saturday the 18th of June 2022, Col and I set out to do a short day walk close to home. With the massive snow dumps on Mt Wellington in the prior week or so, we decided to try out a snowy walk, our only previous snow experience being limited to lightly settled snow.

With Pinnacle Road having been mostly closed since the major snow dump, we weren’t sure how close to the mountain we would get, but it turned out we were able to drive up as far as The Springs, where there wasn’t any snow on the ground. However, on setting out, we quickly encountered an icy track.

As soon as we encountered the ice, we realised that the micro spikes (aka crampons) we’d had on the someday purchase part of our hiking gear shopping list would have been invaluable! In any event, we slip-and-slided our way up the Pinnacle Track.

On reaching the junction with the Zig Zag Track, we were sadly disappointed to discover it had been closed for track work, ending our plans for a quick walk to the summit. So instead, we continued along the Organ Pipes Track, where thankfully the track was less icy and it was easier to gain traction in the slightly deeper snow.

Once we reached The Chalet we stopped for a brief lunch, before continuing up the closed roadway towards the summit.

Due to time constraints, we knew that we wouldn’t have time to make it to the summit, so headed for Big Bend up the road instead of taking the Panorama Track, which wold have cut out a section of the road walk. On reaching Big Bend, we set off briefly along the Big Bend Fire Trail to check out the deeper snow closer to the summit, before heading back down the road to the car and home.

The snow at the summit was reportedly much deeper, but we did get the chance to check out walking in some moderately deep snow. Next time we may invest in some snow shoes and have a better crack at doing a longer snowy walk.