Even somewhere already as rugged as Tasmania's famed southwest, some places have a special reputation for their wildness and beauty. The Western Arthurs, a compact chain of mountains sprinkled with lakes some 80 kilometres west-southwest of Hobart, are one of those places. Indeed, every Tasmanian bushwalker worth his or her salt has seen the Arthurs, or has plans to go there one day. A few obstacles lie in the way, most notably the weather. Guidebooks go to great trouble to point out that the weather in Tasmania is notoriously unstable. Indeed, the southwest of the state is famed for its utterly foul weather, which can strike at any time of the year and swallow the foolhardy bushwalker whole. Storms appearing out of nowhere nowhere, bringing fog and freezing rain in the middle of summer, "snowfall in
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