Icy snap perfect timing for Ellie

MORE snow and cold weather is on the way for Tasmania — a forecast that will be celebrated by Hobart teenager Ellie Woodward.

The 15-year-old ice skater from Bellerive took her talents to Mt Field’s Tarn Shelf on Sunday for her first outdoor skating experience.

Her father, Brett, said she was inspired by a decades-old photo of someone skating on Lake Dobson in an ice skating dress, and they made it to the tarn after being thwarted by thick snow three weeks earlier.

“I told her about this particular tarn that freezes … she said ‘I want to go up there and skate in my ice skating clothes’,” Mr Woodward said.

“You’ve got to walk up there through the snow and everything to get there, and you’ve got to have the right weather conditions for it to freeze.

“It’s about a three or four kilometre walk up through the snow, you get to where that tarn is and it’s either frozen or not — so luckily it was.”

Mr Woodward said he checked to make sure the ice was solid enough before his daughter took to the tarn for about two hours in subzero temperatures.

Ellie wore two layers of pants under her stockings and a thermal top to keep warm.

“It was a bit of an effort to get there but it was worth it,” she said.

“There were bubbles in the ice and bumps all over the ice, which made it really hard to skate.

“I’d love to go again — we’re considering going next week actually.”

Ellie may by in luck, with a cold front headed for Tasmania.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Michael Conway said a cold front was expected to come through overnight last night with snow to fall down to about 800m in the South.

Showers are expected statewide tomorrow.

“Saturday is going to be a colder one, snow level at this moment looks about 500m with a cool south to southwesterly flow,” Mr Conway said.

Hobart is expected to reach a top of 11C today, 12C tomorrow, 11C on Friday, 10C on Saturday and 11C on Sunday.