Bushwalk Australia

I started walking from the Arm river carpark at 1:00am 1/1/2014 and I was sitting on the summit boulder at 7:02am... making me the first for the year.

The view of Mount Ossa coming around Mount Doris was really cool, the glow of the sunrise was awesome. The sky was overcast but the view was fine, I could see everything.

Then as I was coming down it started raining. I met up with the first Overlander at 10:00am half way between Pelion Gap and Pelion Hut. By 10:30 the weather was crap and Mount Pelion West was hidden by low cloud.... So I assume that Ossa would have been too.

I got back to the car at 2:00pm meaning it was 13 hours walk, including 25 minutes sitting on the summit and a bit of time chatting to some of the Overlanders.

Well done....you must be familiar with the track!
Love the light in photo 3. Cheers.

Fantastic.
Must have been surreal.
Did you set out to be the first on our highest.
We went up Roland and were all alone in the fog and rain.
The way that front came through was interesting.
I'd say it cleared down your end midday or later looking from north.

Great photos and equally great(er) achievement.
Magic time of the day - dawn.

Hey, I walked the Arm River track in January last year so I knew there was a steep bit then easy walking. I knew that the track was clearly a track and if I stayed on it I would be fine.

In the Dixon's Kingdom hut book (WOJNP) someone wrote that they walked in during the night and I was inspired. It was my first real night walk, which at first was a bit scary, but soon became so peaceful.

At first I just wanted to climb Ossa as a daytrip to say I did it in a day. I was meant to be going later in the week, but Tuesday afternoon I realised I had the Wednesday off work, so I decided to go straightaway.

I got home from work at 4:30 and started driving at 8:30 and arrived just before 1:00am. I was planning on getting a few hours sleep first before leaving, but I was wide awake and knew that I wouldn't get any real sleep anyway.

While driving there I thought it would be cool to see the sunrise from Ossa. I met a couple of German tourists who got up at 4:00am one morning to climb Frenchmans Cap (from the hut) to see the sunrise and I was inspired by them.

I wasn't thinking about being the first up there in 2014 untill half way around Mount Doris I looked back at Pelion Gap and thought I saw movement.... that's when I realised I may be the first and some competitive instinct kicked in inside me.

But after reading Naturelovers post about camping up there I decided I may not have been the first for the year. It is entirely possible for someone to have been up there at midnight and then be back down in the hut before I walked past at 4:00am.

I am just glad for the opportunity to have been able to do it. We Tasmanians are spoilt with choices of amazing walks.

I know this is an old post,but has anyone done this recently?im planning on doing it in a couple of weeks as a day walk!ive recently done Barn Bluff as a day walk,starting at 3.30 am to get to Marions for sunrise!id also like to set out from Arm River before daylight so I’m not rushed!

Hot073 wrote:I know this is an old post,but has anyone done this recently?im planning on doing it in a couple of weeks as a day walk!ive recently done Barn Bluff as a day walk,starting at 3.30 am to get to Marions for sunrise!id also like to set out from Arm River before daylight so I’m not rushed!

did it as a day trip around this time last year.

Times and distances can be found here
https://bogholesandbuckethats.com/2018/01/14/mt-ossa/

I have done this day walk a few times. Not recently, but there have been many track improvements I noticed when I was there a couple of weeks ago. It should be very doable with reasonable fitness. Allow 12 hours, although it can be done in less. Follow Maggs Road to the start. Not Arm River Road as that entails a 2 km walk to the start because of a missing bridge.

Wish I read this last post more carefully before I headed to Lake Price yesterday...

Ended up doing this as a 2 night trip,one night at Pelion Gap and one night at Pelion Hut!Walked to Pelion Gap,set up camp then climbed Mt Pelion East,set out at 4.30am to summit Mt Ossa,weather turned bad so I turned back only 200 m from summit!Walked back to Pelion Hut m,set up camp then climbed Mt Oakleigh.Got up early next morning and walked out to my car by 10 am.