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Cradle mountain offers some of the easiest accessable steep skiing in Tassie, the walk up the mountain is relatively easy and it is only a 4 hour walk to the summit, with good snow caving areas around the mountain as well.
There are several good areas to ski when the snow is good. The chutes that are visable from the lake dove carpark offer some exciting skiing without the exposure, there are plenty of chutes to choose from in the area and there is chutes for varied abilities, ranging from 3m wide to 20m wide.
The main area of the mountain is to be found over the back, the area looks small from the summit but once down over the first ridge it becomes apparent that the area is very large. The backbowl is made up of three open faces, and two chutes that head down towards lake Rodway at the back of the mountain. (see Pic 1)

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The two chutes are about 700m long with an angle of between 35 and 45 degrees, The walk out of each takes around 45 minutes. A snow cave is easily built at the top of the runs just near the main summit track.

Mt Ossa

Mt Ossa offers something a bit different to cradle mountain, its open bowl and steep face offers something not usually found in tasmania. The mountain is tasmanias highest at 1617m and hold large amounts of snow for most of the winter.

The easiest accessable line on the mountain is found on the main ascent track, this line starts with some technical skiing with some drops up at the start of the run, the the face opens out and some fast skiing on the open bowl can be had, with a pitch of about 30 degrees it is some challenging skiing without having the exposure of cradle mountain. Towards the bottom there is a large cliff so be carfull to stop before hiting this.

Over on the left there is the centre chute, this chute holds a large amount of snow and i have saw lots of avalanche debree towards the bottom of it. There are several technical sections when the snow is bit thiner, with several drops. The bottom section opens out to some fast flowing skiing.

I have also scoped several lines between the two main butresses, and they look possible from the air, however there are several small drops and these would only really be possible in good snow, the section would also be prone to avalanche as there are several large cornices at the top of the section.

Really the whole of Mount Ossa is skiable, including the north and east facing slopes in good snow, however because of the open terrain it seems to be prone to slide especially after some sunny days.

Access to Mount Ossa can be via the 14km arm river track or via the overland track itself. Pelion hut is about 4 hours from the top, and there is good snow caving in a sheltered gully on the top also.

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Mt Rufus

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Mt Anne

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