Walking along the rocky Eldon Range, there is almost no protection from the elements.
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Shelly Napier was tackling the challenging bushwalk in the middle of summer when, unexpectedly, a storm descended dumping a continuous stream of snow, sleet and hail for seemingly endless hours.
"It's just a highly-exposed, bouldery ridge and it became too unsafe," she said.
"We had to leave. It took us about two solid days to get back to the car through the scrub."
It was a crucial walk to complete, however, containing about nine of the peaks needed to finish the Abels - Tasmania's 158 mountains above 1100 metres altitude.
Shelly returned to the region as soon as she could and ticked off each peak on a solo bushwalk, once the weather had cleared.
"I was happy to get back out there. It's not a very-often visited place," she said.
Some of the landscapes on the way to conquering the 158 Abels have only been seen by the most experienced and knowledgeable bushwalkers, something that made the challenge even more appealing to Shelly.
"Sometimes when you're bashing through scrub you feel like no one's ever been there before," she said.
Each walk had its own difficulties and, last weekend, Shelly ticked off the last one.
With a group of friends, she reached the top of King Davids Peak in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park to have a fancy dress party to celebrate the occasion.
She became the second woman to complete the Abels and, at 36, the youngest. She also had one of the fastest times: seven years, five months and 18 days.
It placed Shelly in an exclusive club of about 20 bushwalkers.
A lifelong love of bushwalking leads to Tasmania
Shelly's journey effectively started when she was growing up in the Grampians in Victoria, spending her days hiking and doing her own overnight bushwalks.
"Hiking and bushwalking were part of my life as a child," she said.
Shelly took on a guiding job on the Overland Track and Bay of Fires in 2011, bringing her to Tasmania where she quickly developed a passion for the state's unique landscapes.
Within weeks she was walking up Mount Victoria in the North-East with other guides, one of whom was carrying a book to guide them on the way: Bill Wilkinson's 1994 The Abels.
It outlined the original 157 peaks that make up the Abel Mountains and includes methods of approaching each climb.
The book also started the Abels list, something that Shelly was drawn to from the moment she saw it.
"It's probably a mild OCD when you see a list and want to complete it," she joked.
"I thought it would be fun. I slowly worked away at it."
She got her own copy and set out on her way, making notes on the pages including the date, the weather conditions and whether her experience on each climb matched that featured in the book.
She later took on work as a ranger on the Overland Track, giving her eight days on and six days off - an ideal amount of time to walk the mountains one by one.
Shelly had already climbed Cradle Mountain and Mount Ossa in her late teens, but decided to climb them again as part of her challenge.
She finished 86 of the mountains solo - a higher proportion than most of those who finished the Abels - and something she only recommends for the most experienced bushwalkers.
"Solo hiking isn't really recommended so I shouldn't be promoting it, but I was able to keep myself safe by having all the right gear, PLB (personal locator beacon) and First Aid kit," she said.
"You want to work your way up to it, which is what I had to do, it took me a while before I did my first solo off-track."
The mountains require a combination of scrambling, scrub bashing and plenty of hiking - depending on the terrain.
Mount Nereus to the north-west of Lake St Clair provided one of the most difficult challenges. It takes a 16-hour day walk that starts from the top of another mountain.
Others took her through dense wilderness.
"I've definitely gotten better at scrub bashing in the last couple of years," Shelly said.
"It doesn't bother me as much now.
"There's no track and it's not open. There's just a lot of thick bush that you have to force your way through."
During her seven years, Shelly was keen to move on to other challenges but the Abels list was always at the front of her mind.
"I didn't have a timeline in mind, I just wanted to get it done really fast," she said.
"I like the thought of completing something first."
While the list was developed in 1994, it wasn't until 2011 when Philip Dawson became the first person to complete them.
In 2017, 63-year-old Wynyard retiree Maureen Martin became the first woman to conquer it.
When the unknown Abel, Nescient Peak, was later added to the list, bushwalkers were keen to add it to their collection.
Having completed her list, Shelly said she was keen to find new challenges, including rock climbing.
"There are other non-Abel ranges that I want to hike as well," she said.
"I've also been thinking about working on the Pacific Crest trail and the Appalachian Mountains in the United States over winter."
And with an entire world of hikes out there, it's a hobby that will last a lifetime.