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.

Kelly Van Den Berg. A life outdoors

I was born in the city but my parents moved to Gippsland when I was young. We lived in the Strzelecki hills. I grew up with horses. I fell in love with all the horse books like The Silver Brumby. My childhood revolved around reading those horse books focused on the high country. They captured the emotions about the landscape of the high country so well.

I would disappear into the bush every weekend with my horse and spend many hours out there. Building huts, playing in the rivers. I had my horse and my dog with me and I felt safe. I always had an interest in, and a love for, the outdoors.

At some point someone told me about the ACF Junior Club. I joined up and they would send resources on bird spotting and plants and animals. I loved all that stuff.

I went overseas on exchange to Canada and saw some of the big world outside Australia. I road tripped with my exchange family and visited places like the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains. I knew that I wanted to find out how to be out in those mountains.

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Later I worked in Europe – I explored Spain and Morocco – spending time in the Atlas Mountains riding. I have been back there several times. The more I explored the more the door opened to possibility. In London I met people who were involved in mountaineering. I dabbled in that and then fell into surfing. Many people don’t know about the surfing scene in the UK, but it has a strong culture and I would go surfing every chance I had. Once I came back to Australia I continued to follow my passion for surfing, mostly along the Bass coast. I went overseas and surfed in places like Indonesia and more and more embraced many kinds of adventure sports.

A surfing friend asked if I had been snow boarding. I had grown up in a working class family and we were not exposed to outdoors opportunities like snow boarding. My parents focused on the family and I had felt that going to the resort was something rich people did.

I had never really seen snow, but I went on a trip to Hotham with my friends. I hired a board, did the lessons and went ‘wow. I cannot believe I have missed out on this until now’. I was so taken in by it. I went home and couldn’t stop thinking about snow boarding.

I took the dive and bought a season pass. I went up every single weekend, camping in my car at JB Plain and ski bumming it. I did that for a few years.

Having friends deeply involved in surfing really set things off. Over time I met people who were going into the backcountry, which interested me. My life revolved around work, boarding and surfing. The mountains opened a whole new world and in summer I would go hiking. I knew of the inherent risks of the backcountry, and heard about avalanche safety courses. I did my AST1 with Dave Herring. I did it on snowshoes and it was an absolute sufferfest getting out to the sites, but I learnt to look at mountains differently.

I discovered that I liked the science around snow, and this led me towards education. I had studied as an equestrian coach after Europe and have been doing that for 25 years now. I have always been curious about learning new things and once I got to the snow I followed my interests into snow safety, understanding terrain, education.

I went back to Canada and visited places like Whitewater, Red Mountain and Nelson. I loved the sense of community in those towns and the relaxed vibe of the skiers and riders. I started touring and did multiple trips to Japan as well. About this time, I met Lisse through my friend Lillian, who was a ski guide who went on many amazing adventures and had a background in Canada. My connections kept getting deeper. Through Lisse I met Hagen, who ran Tirol Sports at Hotham. Over time I also discovered white water paddling. I felt comfortable being out of control and in turbulent water. It was David Chitty who introduced me to pack rafting, on the King River. Then Daniel Sherwin encouraged me to buy a packraft, and I paddled with him extensively. I have done some great trips with him, including our descent of the Dargo River from near Mt Hotham.

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Then I met Paddy. He had many years of paddling experience, including in racing and being a professional rower. We spent lots of time on many rivers. I met Matthew Brookes, a school program manager with an outdoor education company and I started working with kids in outdoor ed and adventures and loved it.

I got involved in the second Victorian Backcountry Festival, and led some ‘Girls who Split’ tours with Lisse. At that point there weren’t many women in the backcountry on splitboards.

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My journey continued. I met Glen at Hotham, who got me onto cross country skis, which I absolutely love. All of this continued to deepen my connection to the Hotham community – it is such an open and inclusive place. Hotham is – and will always be – my mountain. I looked into joining a lodge, and stayed at Aardvark and instantly felt welcomed into that family. It’s a mismash of outdoors people, with similar thinking, and I fitted in well. I had to wait three years but eventually bought a share and I spend a lot of time up there.

Community is very important to me. I felt embraced by the Hotham community, and that is part of the appeal of being up there.

Paddy and I were talking one time about ‘bucket lists’. The Yukon fascinates me. Almost on a whim, we decided to apply for a canoe race down the Yukon River, passing well north of the Arctic Circle. To our surprise, we were accepted the first time we applied and had only 8 months to train and learn new skills. That trip was a highlight of my life so far.

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I kept learning new skills and extending my qualifications – including expedition first aid, swift water, and Ops 1 – very few people in Australia have that qualification.

Now we have set up our own outdoor business. There is clearly a demand for adult focused outdoor education and Paddy and I bring a range of experience and skills to this. There is a strong desire from people who are coming into outdoor adventure as adults rather than as teenagers and these people need the skills to be out there safely. We guide and teach skills like navigation. This is even more so after the covid years – lots of people want to get out and have adventures. We realised that no one else was offering this type of outdoor education focused on adults. Once we launched, our first course sold out in 2 hours!

Volunteering has also been important for me. I have been involved in Mountain Safety Collective (MSC) and the VIC Backcountry Festival. Its important to give back and share what you love with other people.

I feel like our new business venture – Gippsland Adventure Tours – is a culmination of all the skills and experience I have spent years gaining. I can offer skills to others so they can safely get outdoors. I can share my passion for adventure and feed people’s curiosity to learn new things.

https://gippslandadventuretours.com/