The “Millennium Drought”, which went from 2001 to 2009, is the worst drought on record for south eastern Australia. It was still hot and dry in January 2010 when I retreated to the couch for a break from the heat. I was thinking of cool air and mountain tops. Mountain Journal was born that month.

Here we are 15 years later and its still plodding away. I had a vision of also producing a magazine, which finally happened a decade later, and as I write this, the 2025 edition is being put together.

I try to write a reflection here each year, but as we move into a dry March, I feel tired from a heavy workload and a long fire season. After a couple of mild and wet summers in the high country, we are seeing a nasty season unfold that looks likely to drag on. At present there are uncontrolled fires in the Wonnangatta Valley and on the edge of the Wellington Plains in the mountains of Gippsland. South facing slopes are so dry they are burning like northern slopes. And despite a cyclone up north, there is no real rain in the forecast.

The world feels like a mess, spinning out of control. The war in Ukraine drags on, the ceasefire in Gaza is holding, and Donald Trump is doing his best to destroy the federal USA government and trash global efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Around the world, right wing populist parties – based on hatred of ‘those who aren’t like us’ – continue to grow, although there is also growing pushback. Conflict is endemic in many places.

Yet there is always hope. Good people doing good work. Building community, giving back, contributing and creating. That’s where I find my sense of hope.

The website

Over the past year I have struggled to maintain coverage of all the important issues that impact on mountains. In 2024 this included the ongoing plans to encourage commercial tourism development within national parks and World Heritage Areas, the feral horse issue (thankfully both Victoria and NSW are now taking serious action on this issue), the proposed development on kunanyi/ Mt Wellington, and lots more. If you feel inspired to write for the website please get in touch. Cam.walker@foe.org.au

Looking at what was popular on the website, here was the most visited pages and posts:

  • Environmental issues in the Snowy Mountains
  • Backcountry skiing guides and info, and walking guides to lutruwita/ Tasmania
  • The attempt by volunteer ski patrol at Perisher to keep doing their valuable work
  • A story on the Mountain Gazette (a great magazine from the USA)

And

  • A lot of interest in stories about First Nations people and the mountains – which is great

 

Fifteen years on, it does feel like we live in a different world. The hand of climate change becomes more obvious every year – declining snow pack and more erratic winters. Longer and more intense fire seasons. Drier and hotter summers.

But, as always, the antidote to depression is action.

And the mountains continue to feed my spirit in a way that is hard to explain. Whenever I get up into the snow gum country I feel like I am coming home. They may be old and slow and small, but our mountain environments are wonderful and unique. I hope you have been getting out amongst it this summer. It will help keep you sane.

 

This year’s images are mostly from a trip to Mt Wills last July – just before that amazing snow that dumped snow across the Alps, and after the storm – around JB Plain.