The Australian Alps Walking Track, formerly called the Alpine Walking Track, stretches more than 600 kilometres through the mountains of Victoria and New South Wales.
Isabel Brown is planning to walk the track to raise awareness about the treatment of refugees in mandatory Detention in Australia.
October 4.
From Falls Creek resort:
“McKayos is Falls Creek’s newest event, a MTB gravity enduro bash from the snowy slopes of Australia’s highest drivable peak to the pristine shores of Lake Guy in Bogong Village.
Combining Snow, Dirt and Road, the course takes riders 18km through fire trails and sealed mountain roads for a total descent of 1200m. A mass start on snow is sure to see some chaos from the starter’s gun as riders muscle for position.”
It costs $50. For further information and to register, please check here.
Victoria’s forest firefighters who are employed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP) are fighting for fair pay and recognition as genuine emergency services workers.
The following information comes from the Australian Workers Union.
Approximately 95% of the bushfires that occur across Victoria take place on public land, where forest firefighters are the first to respond. Apart from responding to many of these fires, DELWP firefighters are also expected to perform a range of highly skilled duties in public assistance areas such as missing person searches, pest control, biosecurity incursions, marine pollution management, flood and heatwave, mine rescues and disruption to water or energy supplies.
The Backcountry film festival is put together by the Winter Wildlands Alliance, based in Idaho. It is a celebration of the human-powered backcountry experience, with a strong focus on skiing and riding.
The festival has been showing in Australia for the past five years.
We will aim to start screenings of the new season from April 2016.
In the past two seasons, we have included a brief Australian made film. In 2015 we showed Find Your Line, about spiltboarding the western slopes of the Main Range in the Snowy Mountains. In 2014 we showed OFF GRID, featuring skiing and riding on Mt Bogong in Victoria.
We would love to show one or two short (5 – 7 minute) Australian made films during the 2016 season. If you have something to suggest please get in touch: cam.walker@foe.org.au
And as usual, if you’d like to host a local showing or know a suitable venue in Melbourne, please get in touch. We generally get around 130 people to the Melbourne show, so looking for a theatre that’s large enough, cheap, and fairly central.
For further details on the festival, please check here.
We will post the 2016 line-up once its announced.
Earlier this week the Andrews Labor Government put an amendment before Parliament to implement its election commitment to prevent large-scale private development in national parks by removing the ability to grant 99 year leases.
This is a good move given the previous government’s interest in allowing new and potentially intrusive developments in the park system.
Continue reading “Victorian government tables bill to protect National Parks”
Anyone who has walked in the High Country will be able to relate to this one. Mountain Pepper is a common shrub that has a strong and spicy taste. Its about some farmers in Gippsland who have started to cultivate Mountain Pepper to sell at markets.
Mountain Pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata) is found in cool wet habits from sea level to alpine areas in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. It grows in mountain gullies and mountainous areas
The story below comes from the ABC by journalist Laura Poole.
Continue reading “Demand up for native Australian food mountain pepper”
A new snowboarding and surfing film will have three premiere showings in Australia next week.
Filmed in the powder capital of Hokkaido, and focusing on the legendary Gentem Family, who have pioneered the ‘Snow Surf’ revolution epitomised by Gentemstick, this film features some of the very best Japanese and western Snow Surf riders.
Many of the key players in the movement are featured in SnowSurf, which was filmed over two years by Australian surf photographer, Shane Peel.
It features: Taro Tamai, Gerry Lopez, Ken Miyashita, Alex Yoder, Osamu “Om” Okada, Beau Young, Hideki Takeda, Hidehiko Wajima, Forrest Shearer, Makato Yamada, Par Dahlin, Timo Paarvala, Kazushi Yamauchi, Alex Lopez, Takuya Harayama, Tomomi Kuwahara, Toru Kuwahara, Toshiya Kasuga, Jarrkko Kauranen, Haruna Kito and the Gentemstick Family.
Patagonia, the major sponsor of the film, will be screening Snowsurf at their Sydney, Torquay and Byron Stores next week.
23rd September. Sydney store – 6pm (93 Bathurst St, Sydney)
25th September. Torquay store – 6pm (116 SurfCoast Hwy, Torquay)
26th September. Café Byron – 6pm (Shop1/ 58 Jonson st Byron Bay)
You can see the trailer here.
You can rsvp for the events on Facebook.
Mountain Journal has often covered the various sustainability initiatives by ski resorts and the snow/ outdoor industries.
It has also noted the fact there here in Australia, the resorts and industry have either given up all pretense of even caring about climate change or simply have never done anything on the issue. In theory most resorts at least support the ideas behind the ‘Keep Winter Cool‘ initiative, but when was the last time you saw any of them promote climate change or sustainability measures in their materials?
It will be interesting to see if the sale of Perisher Resort in NSW to Vail Resorts will have any impact on the local industry. Vail has at least signed on to some initiatives like “Target 10” aiming for a 10% reduction in energy use.
As we get closer to the climate negotiations which will happen in Paris in late November, the stakes keep getting higher. With the current global agreement (the Kyoto Protocol) due to expire shortly, it is essential that world leaders agree on the framework for the agreement which will replace it.
Wild dogs are a big problem for graziers in the high country of Gippsland. Of course, its a complex problem: should we be running sheep in areas adjacent to national parks where there will be populations of dingoes or wild dogs? Should farmers be electrifying the boundaries of their properties (and what are the impacts of that on other species like kangaroos and wombats?). Is shooting, trapping or baiting more humane?
The following update comes from the ABC, the journalist is Laura Poole.
Continue reading “Victoria to begin aerial baiting for wild dogs”
As we all know, backcountry is the new black. The ski and boarding magazines are full of stories about the western faces of the Main Range, Bogong and Feathertop. And while there are lots of new outdoor enthusiasts who are getting a good all round experience of conditions and terrain, as well as sound BC skills, we have probably all seen the 20 something (mostly male) boarders who are fresh out of the resort and ready to shred, but lacking in BC experience. This is all great. But what it does mean is that we are finding ever more good resort riders and skiers getting out into backcountry areas and big terrain, without having done any apprenticeship in the mountains. What this means is more rescues, injuries and other incidents.
As recently noted on Mountain Journal, there is now a site that reports on snow conditions for backcountry users in the Snowy Mountains, called Snow Safety Australia.
There is also a site that covers conditions right across the mainland Alps, called Snow Sense.
Snow Sense is the mastermind of Simon Murray. It seeks to cover weather as well as snow conditions across three key regions: the Kosciusko area, north east Victoria and the Central Victorian Alps. Regular updates are made, called in by ski patrollers, generally after the dawn patrol. It is a fantastic resource for all backcountry skiers, riders and snow shoers who like to get out into the higher country.
As we swing into the southern spring, it’s autumn in the northern hemisphere and everyone is gearing up for winter. All the magazines have their buyers guides and this year’s crop of mountain related films are doing the rounds.
Here’s a couple that have surfaced, for some late season inspiration.
Continue reading “It’ spring – so it’s time for ski/ boarding films”
Anyone who backcountry skis or rides outside Australia will know about the need to be careful of avalanche risk. Many regions around the world with lots of backcountry or mountaineering terrain will have online or phone service avalanche information which can be consulted before heading out into the hills.
With our moderate sized mountains and lower avalanche risk, many Australians are not aware that there are actually dangers to be found in our backcountry.
Now we have our first avalanche/ conditions info service: Snow Safety Australia.
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