Very enjoyable walk up Hartz Peak this morning. When I arrived at the parking area, there was only a slight breeze, and the car said it was 3°C. BoM says it was 2.4°C at nearby Keoghs Pimple, so maybe the car is quite accurate. Started walking just before 8am, and shortly before this there was a moment when the sun shone pink and gold through the misty clouds (above). Seemed to promise an improvement from the grey. Mt Picton made a good spectacle, so here are a couple of views. The first one has Mt Anne and Mt Weld to the right of the picture. Picton is also quite spectacular right now from Vinces Saddle, especially when the rising or setting sun catches the snow cover.
Overall it wasn't too bad. Higher up the breeze picked up a fair bit and there is some annoyingly loose snow on the track in places, which slowed progress a little. Just below the pass and on the almost flat section around the western side of the peak ridge were the deepest, and I did a bit of uncoordinated and unbalanced floundering at times. The valleys were all filled with cloud, but at view-height, the clouds were racing around with the wind, opening and closing vistas in seconds. There were a few moments when the whole south-west could be seen clearly, but most of the time the view was largely or completely obscured.
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