Icehouse Track, Mount Wellington - 26th January 2012

Cloud about the Mount Wellington Summit - 26th January 2012

Isaac and I headed off for some un-Australian activity on Australia Day. It was a somewhat dull and cloudy, but quite warm as we headed off up the Icehouse Track from The Springs. We met some people a few minutes below the turnoff to the upper icehouse. They had missed the turnoff, as it isn't marked as such. if looking for this short turnoff, it is only a couple of minutes down from the flat area at the South Wellington saddle. There is actually a signpost at the turnoff, but it merely points up and down the Icehouse Track and indicates that it is indeed, the Icehouse Track. Behind the sign a short track heads slightly uphill to the Icehouse. This upper set of remains is the easiest to view as it is out in the open.

There was a cool breeze as we wandered across the plateau, and then down the ZigZag Track in short order. Isaac needed to be at an Australia Day party, so hanging around wasn't allowed.

Spreading Cheeseberry, Cyathodes straminea, Mount Wellington - 26th January 2012

Mount Wellington - 8th May 2010

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Had an enjoyable, if cool and breezy walk on Mount Wellington yesterday. Up the Ice House Track and across the summit plateau, then returning via the Panorama, Organ Pipes and Pinnacle Tracks. Good views at times through the mist. The changing light and cloud certainly made for dramatic views.

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These are remains of the upper ice house. Earlier posts on icehouses contain more photos and information. Also, link to a small album on Picasa.

Mt Wellington - 13th September 2008

With a forecast of 20° yesterday, a walk up Mt Wellington was in order. It did say something about strong winds as well, which turned out to be quite true. The walk yesterday was from the Springs, up the Icehouse Track, across the plateau to the summit. Then down the ZigZag Track, which was a bit icily exciting in places, and back to the Springs before extending the walk to Junction Cabin and back. The Icehouse Track climbs steeply to South Wellington from The Springs, and is named for the icehouse remains viewable in several places along its length. These were built in the 1880s to store compacted winter snow for subsequent transport into Hobart during warmer weather. (See more info.) There has been some more trackwork done since I last walked up here, with some substantial track widening undertaken. In addition, someone has also made an attempt to obscure and/or block the sidetracks to the icehouses. I'm not sure what the purpose of such an effort might be. The entry into the bottom of the lowest icehouse has been filled with cutting grass, and logs have been used as a vague sort of "track-closed" indicator/track obscurer at the top icehouse. In between but close to the lower icehouse, there's a track which may go to an old hut site, and this has also been obscured, although not very well. All a bit strange. Maybe someone intends to improve these sidetracks and remains. The lowest one could do with a bit of vegetation cleared if its actual construction is to be viewed easily. There are also two icehouses, known in 1970, which are hidden so well that I haven't yet found them.

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The walk across the plateau was livened up considerably by the accurately-forecast strong and gusty winds. These made standing upright a challenge at times - I'm sure the little tarns actually had white-caps on their surface. In the pinnacle carpark, without the wind-inhibiting friction of the plateau's boulders and low vegetation, I found that even the friction of my boots on the gravel was insufficient, and the wind was actually moving me slowly across the surface while I balanced myself against its pressure. Some smaller people were having a lot of trouble returning across the road from the viewing shelter to their vehicles. The maximum gust yesterday was 111 km/hr at 10:48am, a little short of the maximum earlier in the year (19th August) of 144 km/hr.

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The ZigZag Track still has quite a deal of snow and ice on it, and this made for a slower and more careful descent than would otherwise be required. When it's windy on the summit, the ZigZag Track is usually much more sheltered, even quite still, being in the steep bowl between the two main buttresses of the mountain. The views from here are very good over Hobart and beyond.

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Icehouses in the "Tasmanian Tramp"

The Tasmanian Tramp is the Hobart Walking Club's biennial bushwalking journal. Issue 21 from January 1974 contained an article by Jack Thwaites about the Icehouses. The following interesting points are made in the article.

• The original driver for the building of the icehouses was a desire for ice-cream.
• The first icehouse, the one highest up, shown in the photo in the photo, was built in the 1850s by convict probationers. It took a few months, and they also made the bridle path.
• The roof was made of turf and brushwood, to provide the necessary insulation.
• The upper icehouse has an outside measurement of 9.1m x 5.5m. It was 3.5m deep, 2.5m being below the surface. The walls are 1.2m thick. The volume of ice stored should thus have been approximately 68 cubic metres. I suppose this was about 60 tonnes of ice, if it was properly compacted, and this was just one of the icehouses.
• In 1974, it was possible to see the paving stones on the bridle track, near the lower icehouses, around the area where the track first levels out.
• The bushfires in 1967 revealed the lower icehouses, which had been hidden and long forgotten. In 1974, they were already being covered again.
• The upper icehouse is clear and easy located. The lower icehouses are more difficult to find. The lowest icehouse is right beside the new track, but it is easy to walk past it. See the map. It is 45m short of where the previous version of the Icehouse Track joins the current track, just after it starts to level out above the Springs. There is a gap in the brush beside the track, and you can step down into the bottom of the icehouse. The wall facing Hobart has collapsed a lot, but the others are partially intact. It might be worth clearing the scrub away from it.
• I haven't found the other 2 yet. The icehouses are shown on the Mt Wellington walk maps, so it may be possible to find them using these maps. I have a diagram from The Tasmanian Tramp, and this should be useful.

Previous posts on icehouses here and here.

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Interestingly, the Walking Club have a list of harder daywalks. I'll have to see which ones I've done!

Icehouses

According to David Leaman's book, Walk Into History In Southern Tasmania, the icehouses were built between the 1850s and 1890s. The Governor, Sir William Denison had the idea. The icehouses are set into the ground, with thick drystone dolerite walls. There are several along the Icehouse Track, but the easiest to view is the uppermost one.

The icehouses had brushwood roofs, and in winter were packed tight with snow. Then in summer, blocks of ice were cut out and transported to Hobart by packhorse. The Icehouse Track still follows the bridle trail in places - apparently where it is least steep. Given the effort that must have gone into this whole enterprise, ice must have been in quite high demand, and I assume it commanded a pretty high price in 19th century Hobart.

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Here's a link to an 1873 photograph taken from near the upper icehouse. I've got a photo of the left-hand rock formation, and I'll be checking out how much it has changed in the 130 years since then.

Mt Wellington - 10 May 2007

Walked to the summit via the Icehouse Track, (see the map on Google Maps) and returned via the ZigZag. Cold wind on the summit plateau. The Bureau of Meteorology's website says it was blowing at 80-odd km/h, gusting to 115 at the time. I saved some of the data for this day here, because I think it will disappear from their site in a couple of days. I see it cracked 128 km/h just after I headed down the ZigZag track. Well I thought it was quite strong, and I did have some trouble holding the camera still, while seated, and braced against a large rock.

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This shows part of the wall of the upper icehouse.

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I think this was one of the photos where I had trouble stopping the camera flapping around in the wind. The clouds were quite varied and dramatic, and changed very quickly.

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I love this view down on Hobart, and beyond, from the ZigZag track.

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Oh, and I found some fungi.

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This one is probably Plectania campylospora, and if not is surely the same genus.

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Now these pink things growing on rocks: I think they are probably the fungal part of the fungus/algae symbiosis which is lichen. I think I'd better get some books that will help with this. Why hasn't someone put an easy-to-find guide to fungi and lichen on the net?