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Environment, news, culture from the Australian Alps

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What are your mountain icons?

Recently I was enjoying an evening hanging out at Bluff Spur hut on Mt Stirling. The 9 folks there had long and interesting yarns and, as is usual in a backcountry hut, many of the chats often focused on the adventures we have enjoyed in the mountains.

A common theme was favourite places, and favourite people and at some point Bill Barker, head of ski patrol at Mt Hotham, came up and we agreed he was a living legend. We discussed our favourite huts (King Saddle, Cleve Cole and Vallejo Ganter), favourite mountains (Feathertop, Bogong), and favourite camping spots (well that would have to be a secret).

I got an idea for Mountain Journal magazine #4. What are the icons of the mountains we love? What people, what places, what forests, what institutions? I am hoping you will feel inspired to write a brief piece on your favourite mountain icon, for publishing on the website and (later on) in the next edition of the magazine.

An Icon is

‘A person or thing widely admired especially for having great influence or significance in a particular sphere’.

It might be a person who inspires you, a place, a mountain hut, a river, a business or other institution.

Continue reading “What are your mountain icons?” →

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An Icon at Risk: current and emerging threats to the Victorian Alps

Snow Gums (Eucalyptus pauciflora) are the classic alpine tree of the High Country, generally growing at heights between 1,300 and 1,800 metres asl. Anyone who has visited the Australian High Country will know – and probably love – these trees.

In recent decades, wildfire has been devastating huge areas of the Snow Gum forests, with significant fires in the Victorian High Country in 1998, 2002/3, 2006/7, 2013 and 2019/20. More than 90% of Snow Gum habitat has been burnt at least once in the last 20 years.

The species can survive fire. However, climate change driven fire seasons are leading to more frequent fire, which is causing more death of trees and changes to forest structure. In some instances, localised collapse of Snow Gum woodlands is now being observed. As climate scientist Michael Mann describes it, we are now seeing climate change play out in real time.

We must ask whether we are now seeing the start of the collapse of Snow Gum woodlands, one of Victoria’s iconic vegetation communities.

Continue reading “An Icon at Risk: current and emerging threats to the Victorian Alps” →
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Alpine Odyssey Film – Screening Dates Announced, Bookings Open

Alpine Odyssey, a film by Ivan Hexter, tells the story of Huw Kingston’s winter 2022 journey along the 700km length of the Australian Alps, a journey he first undertook 27 years ago. His 50-day traverse also saw him skiing at each of the dozen mainland Australian snow resorts en route.

“It was a journey across country I have loved for decades” said Huw. “A journey to celebrate the mountains and communities that make up this very special, very small part of Australia. But with love also comes concern and care.”

Screenings will raise funds for Save the Children and Protect Our Winters (POW). Whilst the film will be core to each event there will be other elements to entertain and POW will also be presenting details on some of the important work they are doing here in Australia to highlight the impacts of a changing climate.

Continue reading “Alpine Odyssey Film – Screening Dates Announced, Bookings Open” →

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Mountain Icons: the majesty of Mt Buffalo

Mountain Journal has slowly been compiling a collection of stories of ‘mountain icons’. In this contribution, Anna Langford reflects on her long connection to the Buffalo plateau.

How instinctively we reach for the superlatives – the oldest, fastest, biggest – when we want to distinguish something above its peers.

Mount Buffalo has no such claims on its fellow mountains: it is not the tallest, steepest, or remotest… and say nothing of its dismal snowpack that frays year by year.

There is only one superlative I insist on assigning it. To me, Buffalo has always been the grandest of our peaks.

Continue reading “Mountain Icons: the majesty of Mt Buffalo” →

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Finding the Centre.

It’s a perfect autumn morning in Pretty Valley. The grass and tents are frosted with ice, the air is cold and invigorating, the silence immense. Sitting and waiting for the sunlight to spread across the plains from the hills to the west, it feels so silent you can hear the earth itself humming. In the shallow valley below, white mists form above the marshy landscape and braided waterways, rising until they meet a temperature inversion, which creates a ceiling effect that stops further upward movement. The flat topped mists then flow slowly towards the south east. Finally, the sun starts to warm my back. The air fills with bird call, the parrots sweep through, chitting as they fly past. After a cold night, it seems like everyone and everything is glad to be alive this morning.

Continue reading “Finding the Centre.” →

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‘They offer great beauty. They offer shelter. They nurture us.’

Across the Australian high country, the snow gum woodlands are facing an existential threat from dieback and climate change driven fire regimes.

These threats are detailed here, as are some potential solutions.

While the loss of these forests would have major physical and ecological impacts on mountain environments, what would it mean for our personal connection to the high country? For me these trees are an essential part of life in the mountains. When I drive or walk up from the valley and have a wander among old trees, I feel like I have come home. I know these forests have been here for time beyond our imagining:

Continue reading “‘They offer great beauty. They offer shelter. They nurture us.’” →

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AAWT Track Angels – a solution to a long-distance problem!

Long distance walking tracks often attract kind souls who assist the walkers with food, water, beers, lifts, accommodation and other assistance. The ‘Trail Angels’ of the Pacific Crest Trail in the USA are famous for their kindness to hikers. Mick Webster describes the Track Angels of the AAWT.

This was originally published in the 2024 print edition of Mountain Journal magazine (https://themountainjournal.com/mountain-journal-magazine/), which had a series of stories about human powered crossings of the Australian Alps.

Continue reading “AAWT Track Angels – a solution to a long-distance problem!” →

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The centenary Perrins Bluff pilgrimage

Perrins Bluff is a remote peak in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in lutruwita/ Tasmania.

Tabatha Badger reflects on a journey to the mountain made by Florence Perrin in 1920. Perrins Bluff is a remote peak only visible from one tiny stretch of the Overland Track. In January 1920 Florence Perrin, her husband George, and friend Charlie Macfarlane were guided to the region by legendary bushman Paddy Hartnett. Florence embarked on annual walking trips with Paddy and was the first female, since colonisation, to summit several peaks including Mount Ossa, the highest in Tasmania. But it was their 14-day expedition in 1920 that made a mark in Lutruwita/Tasmania’s history.

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Kelly Van Den Berg. A life outdoors

As part of the Mountain Journal magazine, we publish a series of interviews each edition with people who have had life long connections to the mountains. The section in the 2024 magazine, Around the Fire – chats with mountain people, has some great interviews, profiles and stories, including this one on Kelly Van Den Berg.

You can read the magazine as a PDF here. https://themountainjournal.com/2024/03/19/mountain-journal-magazine-4-now-online/

Print versions will be available shortly.

Continue reading “Kelly Van Den Berg. A life outdoors” →

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Mountain Journal magazine #4 now online

Once a year we produce the Mountain Journal magazine. It is distributed through mountain and valley towns from Melbourne to Canberra each autumn. 2024 will see the fourth print edition, and will be back from the printers in the next couple of weeks and distributed after that.

In the meantime, please enjoy this PDF of the magazine MJ4.

Continue reading “Mountain Journal magazine #4 now online” →

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2024 Backcountry film festival Melbourne screening – April 22

The annual Backcountry Film Festival is put together by the Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA), screens around the world, and is hosted locally by Friends of the Earth and RMIT Outdoors Club.

The 2024 season will screen in Naarm/ Melbourne on Monday April 22.

It will be screening a collection of short documentaries and ski movies about the pursuit of adventure in the mountains, artistic vision, friendship, and how the snowsports community is adapting to a changing environment.

Continue reading “2024 Backcountry film festival Melbourne screening – April 22” →

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Heatwave Dreaming

It’s Labour Day Weekend. It’s March and, across the state, outdoor events are being cancelled because of the heatwave (even the Moomba parade in Melbourne!). Much of the state is on high fire risk. There is even a heatwave warning for lutruwita/ Tasmania. It’s a weekend to hunker down and stay out of the heat. And possibly day dream about colder weather and winter adventures.

I recently posted a short video about a group of women who rode their pushbikes through a section of the European Alps, climbing and then skiing/ riding mountains along the way. That got a response from various people including Tom Wainwright, who shared the details on his first trip to the Bogong High Plains, which included a bike ride and ski. They rode to Mt Fainter going along the Fainter Fire Trail.

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655: FOR THE WILD

Running 655km across Australia’s toughest alpine track to save our wild places.

The two of us have always dreamed of running the 655km Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT). It’s a track spoken of in a quiet reverence, by old hardened hikers who have seen it and done it all. It’s one of the country’s oldest, steeped in Indigenous and colonial history, and is as brutal as it is beautiful (and it is, above all else, beautiful). Ascending a cumulative 35,000m (approximately four times Mt Everest), the track traverses the ridgeline of the Great Dividing Range from an old gold-mining town called Walhalla (two hours’ drive from Melbourne) all the way through to Canberra. Forcing explorers to overcome the extreme heights (and depths) of the majestic Australian Alps across a typically 30 to 40-day journey, the AAWT is not a track to be trifled with.

And that’s why, one summer’s day, we set out to run it – all in an effort to save our wild places. And now we’re asking for your help to share our story.

Continue reading “655: FOR THE WILD” →

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Plibersek puts NSW on notice over feral horse numbers

In the long running campaign to have the NSW government do something about the huge number of feral horses that are causing damage in the Kosciuszko National Park, recent efforts to reduce horse numbers has been welcomed by environmentalists.

Figures announced by the NSW government on 29th January show that 3,530 feral horses have been removed from Kosciuszko since the Plan’s commencement – by re-homing, removal to knackery, aerial and ground shooting, and shooting in yards. However, the Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has announced that she may intervene to ensure a ‘zero-tolerance approach’ to feral horses in the park if the environmental impacts remain too high.

Continue reading “Plibersek puts NSW on notice over feral horse numbers” →

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