Mount Sarah Jane

Date: 29 December 2021 - Summit: 1290m

Photos credits: Ben Wells, Chris Schulz & Xing.

We climbed Mount Sarah Jane as part of our three day Mount Anne Circuit trip. For that reason this essay will begin at the cairn that marks the junction where you leave the Mount Anne Circuit and head up to Mount Sarah Jane. From the track junction to the summit is less than 800m over easy to scramble rocks.

The hour was early and the morning cool as we dumped our multi day packs and grabbed our pre-prepared day packs. It is such a short and quick climb to the summit from the junction that we all briefly considered not even taking a day pack - but we always err on the side of caution and take a jacket, food, water, PLB and first aid kit!

An obvious pad led from the cairned junction in the direction of Mount Sarah Jane but even if it wasn’t there the walking is through low scrub or open rock so it would just be a matter of pointing yourself in the right direction. Using pads though prevents multiple tracks being made and reduces vegetation trample! We didn’t envisage any problems getting to the summit but by this stage Chris was over surprise exposure so I led upwards. Ben was brining up the rear as chief photographer.

We picked our way up following the frequent cairns. There is not much more to elaborate on other than the fact that some of the rock does slide out from under your feet so care should be taken. Even with photos we were standing on the summit in well under 30 minutes!

Morning tea in the sun sitting on top of the world is always a good start to the day! We spent a bit of time up there as we would soon start the more monotonous part of the circuit and none of us were in a rush for the long march homewards! But all good things must end and if we wanted a burger then we couldn’t dilly dally any longer. In under 20 minutes we were back at our big packs and found a lovely surprise from Justine and Craig. They had left us some fat, juicy and sweet cherries! They would give us just enough energy to rejoin the circuit for the quite unenjoyable descent to Lake Judd!