This Route takes you from sea level in the middle of Tasmania's capitol Hobart; up the main mountain range Kunanyi and summiting all the Abel Mountains in the Wellington Range, before heading back down and finishing back at sea level where you started.
A bit of History for you as to why "The Abels" are a feature.
Tasmania’s Abels – named for Abel Tasman, the Dutch explorer who, in 1642, was the first European to sight Tasmania – are almost unknown.
The rules for inclusion on the list were definite. Mountains need to be higher than 1,100m above sea level and be separated from other mountains by a drop of at least 150m on all sides. Tasmanian Mountains aren't extremely tall however they can be rugged. Our tallest mountain standing only 1600m high. Many people aim to climb every Abel Mountain in Tasmania in their lifetime and be added to the growing list of names to have completed them.
There are 158 Abels.
Tackling all 4 Abels that are accessible from the States Capital on foot seemed like a really cool idea, and one that inspired me to take on my very first Ultra sized effort.
The route has a mixture of road, single track and also some requirements for route finding on a couple of the summits (Trestle and Marian) and in general there is quite a lot of runnable terrain.
The terrain from Hobart up to Mt wellington is steep and challenging to stay on a trot. Once you reach the hunters track you begin to tackle some more technical rock hopping terrain that will become more technical once you reach mt connection track. From Mt Connection track you tackle the undulating EW trail which is a wide, clay surfaced fire road. It is from the EW trail that the trail heads of each of the summits are well marked, and you take a detour to tag each summit.
Collins bonnet is a steep approach but very short, some technical terrain for bushwalking but no climbing experience needed.
Trestle mountain is the most technical of the lot to reach the true Summit, with a small scramble to the top pillar. A bit windy and you might want to be sure of your footing, it's a big drop.
Mt Marian was the most uninspiring approach that had thick underground to sandpaper your legs for the few km's in t the summit, just walking up it's back to reach the man made Cairn.
Kunanyi is surrounded by the carpark and you can't miss the summit marker that stands out in the middle of the round a bout.
Heading down via the quickest route you can dream up is up to you.
I know i will not be the fastest to ever do this, I think i am the first, and my whole reason for creating this is to see just how fast someone else can do it; knowing how i felt when i did it in my time.
