Mountain Journal

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.

But first – before we get into our journey – who are we? We (Giles and Matt) are two mates from Sydney who have bonded over a deep passion for running and our natural world. For a long time we’ve been frustrated by the continual (and at times, seemingly inevitable) destruction of our wild places – often through logging and mining. Sick of feeling helpless, we decided to set off on the greatest challenge of our lives to show people the beauty of Australia’s alpine wilderness, and inspire a conversation about our responsibility for its protection.

Along our run, we were lucky enough to be joined by a film crew who spent two weeks trying to access some of the most remote wilderness to capture our journey on camera (Ji, Sean, Mitch, Steve – you guys are legends!). Collectively, the team decided that we wanted to raise funds for a not-for-profit working on the frontline to save our wilderness. Having fallen in love with Tasmania in our travels, we ended up championing the Bob Brown Foundation which campaigns to protect takayna; a critically endangered old-growth rainforest in north-west Tasmania.

OUR RUN

The task of running the AAWT (project name – 655: For The Wild) all started with a harmless conversation whilst out for a trail run in the Blue Mountains. Fast forward a year, throw in countless hours of planning and logistics, sprinkle in some luck and mid-20s male naivety, and what comes of it? Two young mates, very out of their depth, grinning their ears off as they stood staring at the start line of the track on a warm summer’s day. With the film’s Director shouting “and the cameras are rolling!”, we set off in a dream-like state; taking our first steps on one of the greatest challenges and adventures of our lives.

Over the next 16 days and 6 hours, we would battle through the elements, up and over mountains, and through thick scrub re-growth where the track had completely disappeared and navigation was near impossible. Most days we would wake at 5:30am, be running by 6am, and didn’t stop until 7 or 8pm that night. Despite ‘running’ for 12-14 hours, we averaged only a little over 40km per day, such was the difficulty of the terrain we traversed (in our last few days, as we approached Canberra and the jagged mountains turned to rolling hills, we were able to run closer to 65km per day). On each of these days we typically also covered 2,000-2,500 metres of elevation, so lots of very steep climbing, and very sore legs.

As we moved out of the initial country around Mt Baw Baw, and into the true Victorian alps, we began to understand the magnitude of the task ahead. The climbs were so steep, and we would have to zig-zag continuously for hours at a time. On one such descent, Giles abruptly sat down on the side of the trail and announced his toes were getting smashed. He then proceeded to pull out the nail scissors to try and give himself some relief! And this was on the climbs where we could at least see where we were going. Severe bushfires and a lack of walkers during the years of the pandemic meant that the path would often suddenly disappear, leaving us floundering around in the dense scrub, trying to guide our way through an inhospitable wilderness using paper maps and GPS on a watch. If nothing else, it made us truly appreciate the amazing abilities of the First Peoples who lived so effortlessly on this land for millennia.

The seven days it took us to reach Mt Hotham were the most gruelling, and the most spectacular, of the AAWT. Waking up to a sunrise permeating a cloud inversion that had turned the nearby mountain-top into a little island, was a memory that will last a lifetime. In fact, it made the days battling through wild storms, encountering tiger snakes 20cm from our feet, and getting laughably lost in remote valleys, all the more spectacular in comparison.

Once into the Bogong High Plains, and the Kosciuszko regions that followed our crossing of the Murray river (the NSW-VIC border) on day 12, the running was so idyllic it was almost anti-climactic. Beautiful flowers of every variety, ice cold rivers to soothe our aching legs, and the majesty of the snow-capped mountains meant it was a privilege to travel through some of Australia’s most pristine wilderness. In fact, our increasingly broken bodies were the only real reminder of the great challenge we had set ourselves, and the reason we continued to push ourselves so far beyond what we were capable of.

In the early afternoon of day 17 of a journey of a lifetime, two exhausted but equally stoked young men ran down the final summit of Mt Tennent on the outskirts of Canberra and finished the AAWT. We were both almost 10kg lighter, our skin unrecognisably tanned, and our feet in serious need of a pedicure, but we wouldn’t have changed that for the world. 655 for the Wild was an experience we will cherish for the rest of our lives, and it was a privilege to be able to run through some of our country’s most beautiful wilderness. We now look forward to the greater privilege of being able to share that experience, and the cause behind it, with people like you.

OUR FILM

With the footage captured by our incredible film crew, we are creating a 25-minute adventure-environmental documentary that follows the highs and lows of our adventure and showcases the beauty of the Australian alpine wilderness to an extent previously unseen.

With our run, and our film, we want to shift the thinking on the question “how do we save our wild places?”. We believe a key solution lies in widespread grassroots activism and a societal shift in the way we think about nature. Our film will challenge the audience to reflect on their own relationship with their natural world, what it would mean if it were to disappear, and how they can be part of the solution rather than the problem.

Through virtual and physical screenings of the film (supported by a number of our partners), we will be raising further funds for the Australian not-for-profit ‘For Wild Places’, which does incredible work campaigning to save a myriad of wild places all over the country.

You can watch a 3 minute trailer for our film HERE.

OUR ASK

We are looking to raise $10,000 to produce our film ‘655: For The Wild’. This is a story unlike any we have seen before in Australia, but we think may be just what we need to ignite the next wave of activism that will protect our wild places forever.

You can contribute to the funding of the film on the Documentary Australia Foundation website HERE (all donations are tax deductible).

We are also looking for a major corporate partner, so please get in touch if you know any organisations that would be interested in supporting this film as part of their philanthropic work.

Finally, if our story and cause at all resonates with you, please share it amongst your friends and family.

Change starts with us. Together, we can save our wild places.

IG: @655forthewild
655forthewild@gmail.com
Giles Penfold (0420 940 640)
Matt Gore (0412 197 520)