After enduring a chilly and blustery night, Hobartians awoke this morning to a picture-perfect snow-capped kunanyi Mount Wellington.
With the first decent fall of the year, thoughts often turn to wandering through a whited-out bushland and building snowmen with delighted, squealing toddlers.
Some may have hoped for an early morning play in the snow before it predictably melted.
But these days it is not as simple as jumping in the car and heading to the summit.
Why can't I just drive my car up there?
Hobart City Council manages Pinnacle Road, the narrow roadway that winds from the suburb of Fern Tree to the summit, 1,271 metres (4,170 feet) above sea level.
It can close the road at the bottom, or at various gates along the way, when conditions are unsafe or there is traffic congestion.
Road closure information is available on the Hobart City Council website.
Last night, the road was closed at 6pm, with council officers assessing it at 9am and later reopening about 10am.
Sean Black, operations lead with the City of Hobart, said if the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting snow and temperatures around 0 degrees Celsius, the road will be closed pre-emptively to avoid dangerous driving conditions.
"With the snow that we had last night settling on the road and the temperatures that we had, that snow quickly turned to ice," he said.
"We're talking stretches of up to 500 to 600 metres of fairly thick, slippery roads.
Mr Black said most Pinnacle Road closures happen overnight, with the road reopened as soon as council officers decide it is safe.
"We're very proactive these days, so we typically know when we're going to get these conditions forming on the road. Instead of leaving it open and being reactive to crashes up there, we're actually getting in before that will happen."
Work is underway to install a guardrail along Pinnacle Road to make safer, but it is still tricky to negotiate, especially when there is a lot of traffic.
"You've got not only locals but you've got a lot of tourists as well, who may not be familiar with the road, so the driving conditions can be quite dangerous."
Crashes are not the only concern.
"The mountain itself has its own weather patterns and if we've got people up on the road and they're stuck in snow or they're travelling very slowly up there and weather conditions change, we can get a lot of people stuck up there very quickly," Mr Black said.
"It can be a very high-risk environment up there, particularly with the temperatures up there."
Why can't they just snowplough it?
While Hobart City Council does have a range of machinery to clear heavy snow from the roads, Mr Black said it is not as simple as ploughing the road and reopening it as soon as possible.
"It's actually the stuff that forms that's really fine, it's like that top thick layer of ice and that's extremely hard to get off the road.
"You typically need warmth to get that to melt."
Those hell-bent on playing in the snow when Pinnacle Road is closed have a couple of options.
Mr Black said one of the easiest ways is on foot.
"You can actually access the mountain at any time, there's some great walking tracks that can get you up into the mountain."
Hobart resident Sarah Pataky took that option this morning, walking to the summit.
"It was super fun and super cold getting up there," she said.
"[I've] been here for two years — still like a kid on Christmas every time it snows, and chase it as much as I can with either the dog or the kids."
There is also a privately-run shuttle service with specially equipped buses and trained drivers.
"When we have a snow event like this we'll have our officers up on the mountain and they'll determine where that bus can get to," Mr Black said.
"In some cases the bus can get all the way to the summit, in some cases it may only be able to get either to The Springs or to The Chalet or Big Bend."
Those hoping to catch a cable car up the mountain in the near future are out of luck.
Any such venture is years off now, after the latest proposal by the Mt Wellington Cableway Company failed to win approval late last year.
When I get to the mountain, what should I do?
Conditions on the mountain can change very quickly and visitors need to be prepared.
In June 2022, nine people had to be rescued from treacherous conditions on the mountain.
People are urged to check the road and weather conditions before they go and pack warm clothing and other supplies.
Mr Black said there are more safety tips on the Hobart City Council website.
"You can be in Hobart at the GPO down here and in half an hour you can be on the summit and the temperatures can be completely different.
"You do need to be prepared when you're up there so there's some excellent messaging in there about keeping safe."
