Tasmania’s Able Mountains consist of 158 peaks including all the very well known names from the Overland Track like Mt Ossa, Cradle Mountain, Barn Bluff, Mt Massif and more.
If you summit all 158 peaks, you are referred to as an ‘Abelist’ and join an elite and understandable very small list of others. This year Louise Fairfax added her own name to that list and in doing so, became the third woman in history to do so.
Louise’s journey to the top however, is not one of consistent success but in some ways, quite the opposite. Originally her husband Bruce was her trail buddy and they tackled the peaks together. However, when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, it was only a matter of time before he would be unable to continue with such physically and mentally demanding hikes and summit attempts.
To Bruce’s credit he continued to push on and spend time with Louise in the outdoors as her biggest supporter until in quite a bizarre set of circumstances, he disappeared while they were hiking together.
Louise was eventually able to convince a friend in to joining her to complete her quest after she had a few close calls on solo expeditions.
Read the full article at:
abc.net.au
Learn all about the Able Mountains here:
theabelmountains.com.au
See the full list of Able Mountains peaks here:
peakbagger.com