Tasmania Police say they are gobsmacked that a group of more than a dozen bushwalkers, including three children, had to be rescued from treacherous conditions on the summit of kunanyi/Mt Wellington.
The temperature dropped to a low of -3.C on the mountain on Monday night, with a feels-like temperature in the wind of -21.6C, and heavy snowfall, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
While authorities were trying to reach the group at the summit, they stumbled upon another unprepared group of five trying to descend the mountain, the ABC reports.
Police say it is frustrating to have to divert resources to rescuing walkers on the mountain and call for everyone to pay attention to severe weather warnings.
Police said the group of 13 people on a day walk up the mountain phoned for help at 4:15pm on Monday after the weather closed in. They had mobile phones but "minimal food and water, and no equipment to spend the night in case of emergency", police said.
Police liaised with City of Hobart authorities, who drove through the snow up the mountain in 4WDs behind a tractor with a snowplough.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff called the situation "simply ridiculous".
"We cannot afford to have any resources diverted simply because of people's stupidity of not heeding those warnings," Mr Rockliff said.
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