I work with Friends of the Earth, and live in Castlemaine in Central Victoria, Australia. Activist, mountain enthusiast, telemark skier, volunteer firefighter.
Lake St Clair, or Leeawuleena, at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, is perhaps best known for being the end of the famous Overland Track. Nowdays, most Overland walkers catch the ferry out from Narcissus Hut, avoiding the last days wander along the estern shore of the lake.
While it is fairly popular with folks who have sea kayaks, it is one of the great secrets for those who want to tour in open canoes, with easy road access, lots of great campsites, and a big patch of open water.
With the prospect of the Coalition taking power following yesterday’s state election it is worth taking a few minutes to think about what this might mean in terms of a change in attitude to the Victorian High Country.
The most obvious short term implication would be if the Coalition was actually able to implement its promise to return cattle to the Alpine National Park. (Phil Ingamells of the Victorian National Parks Association recently explained why this is most unlikely).
The Mountain Cattlemen’s Association of Victoria (MCAV) is hoping the Coalition will act on it’s promise to re-introduce cows to the Alpine National Park. They say this would be a good thing because “cattle grazing (is) a proven management tool to reduce fuel loads”.
You don’t have to be a genius to know that a cow, given the choice between a succulent plant and a prickly shrub, will choose to eat the former. Over time, at at scale, this drives sub alpine vegetation towards scrubbier vegetation types – which will be more flammable. ‘Alpine grazing reduces blazing’ has been consistently proven incorrect by a number of studies. There are a range of other reasons to keep cattle out of the headwaters of our most significant river systems, not least of which is water quality. Lets hope common sense will prevail on this one.
They have also announced that they would intensify logging and replace native forest ecosystems with Mountain Ash ‘plantations’.
Another, longer term issue is climate change. As we know, climate science tells us that the Alps are at grave risk from climate change unless we can greatly reduce greenhouse emissions in the near future.
The Victorian Coalition was noticeably absent from the climate change debate through most of this year, and didn’t even bother to release their climate change policy before the election.
They did release an energy policy (just 4 days out from the election) and there are various points of detail in that policy that should worry anyone who is wanting action on climate change from the Party that forms the next state government.
This includes the fact that:
they have provided very little detail on how Victoria might meet the existing 20% emissions reduction target,
there is no mention of the scale of the problem of climate change,
there is no direct commitment to a phase-out of Hazelwood or any other coal fired power station,
finally, it includes a regressive policy on wind farms.
As leader, Ted Baillieu has shown a complete lack of interest in the issue of climate change. The next few years are pivotal if the global community is to respond effectively to the threat of global warming. Victoria must do a fair share of this work. Based on their actions over the past year, it seems clear that a Coalition government would send Victoria backwards on this most pressing of issues.
In the build up to the election, environment groups released a series of scorecards assessing Party policies. In the final version, the Greens scored 93%, the ALP was next best on 52% and the Coalition was far behind on just 22%.
A small but growing trend amongst snow resorts in North America is the development of renewable energy within the resort area. Given the high visual impact of existing infrastructure within resorts from chairlift and snow making infrastructure, there could be a strong argument for the inclusion of at least a few wind turbines in each Australian resort.
Image: Snowboard Green
One recent example of this trend overseas comes from Bolton Valley Resort, a locally owned and operated family ski and snowboard area, has constructed the first wind turbine at a Vermont ski area.
The turbine is located near the top of a Quad lift in an existing clearing adjacent to the ski patrol hut. It produces in excess of 300,000 kilowatts of power annually, the equivalent of electricity consumed by 40-to-45 Vermont households.
The turbine, a Northwind 100 manufactured by Northern Power Systems of Barre, VT measures 121 feet in height from the ground to the top of the tower. The distance from ground to the top of the blade is 156 feet. Each blade is coated with Teflon to protect against icing. It is the same process used on turbines in the Bering Sea. The turbine will not be obviously visible from beyond five miles away from the site.
The turbine will be set up to feed excess power that is not consumed by Bolton Valley into the grid through the Vermont net metering program. It is the first turbine at a Vermont ski area and just the second at a ski area in the United States.
Hopefully more ski resorts in the US and around the world will follow suit!
So far, this site has focussed solely on mainland Australia. But with winter over and everything warming up, we are coming into peak time for wanders and other outdoor adventures in Tasmania. And after all, Tassie has our rockiest and wildest mountains.
So it seemed like time to start to include some content from the Southern Island. I thought I would add a few random shots from some recent mid winter Tas trips to get things rolling.
Please feel free to send stories, updates, or images on anything mountain-related from Tasmania.
The resurrection of the landmark Mount Buffalo Chalet is a step closer to reality after the state government agreed to help a local community group develop a plan to redevelop the building.
The government will give it a 12-month deadline and $200,000 to develop a viable business model that will redevelop and operate the 100-year-old chalet. The building is Victoria’s first ski lodge and was a plum holiday destination for Melbourne’s wealthy.
The community group, known as the Mount Buffalo Community Enterprise, has 16 shareholders, including well-known local business figures such as John Brown of Brown Brothers Wines and Tom O’Toole from the Beechworth Bakery. But the biggest name among shareholders is former deputy prime minister and current ambassador to the Vatican, Tim Fischer.
The group pledged that if it revived the chalet, it would distribute 51 per cent of profits to a community foundation, with the balance to be shared between investors.
From the article Mt Buffalo’s ‘grande dame’ wins powerful new friends by Darren Gray, The Age, October 29, 2010.
For the full story, check here.
An opinion piece by Phil Ingamells of the Victorian National Parks Association about the Victorian Coalition’s promise to return cattle grazing to Victoria’s high country.
He suggests that the Coalition seems to be playing politics with the cattlemen, promising to bring them back to the high country, even though they must know it can’t actually happen.
So, with spring cover holding across a fair bit of the main range and recent top ups, it seems the seasons not totally finished yet. Some very recent images from Bruce Easton, of Wilderness Sports in Jindabyne.
“Went out Wednesday for the day to Blue Lake to do some ‘gear testing’ and photos and the snow was really good. On the way out walked about a kilometre before putting skis on. On return skied to around 200 metres of the Snowy River ford with a shorter walk….The glacial lakes are all still completely covered with snow/ice”.
As a growing number of Australian ski resorts bill them selves as being ‘green’, there are some developmemts in the Northern hemisphere that show how much further we could go if we want to take our attempts to reduce environmental impacts seriously.
Image: Mt. Abram
Obviously energy use (for lifts and snow making operations) is a major environmental issue for all resorts in that it will be a major component of the resorts overall greenhouse emissions. Some Australian resorts have sought to reduce their environmental footprint through purchasing ‘green’ power, at least for some of their tows.
One problem with this is that if they are buying hydro power – generally the cheapest form of commercial renewable energy – they are in effect buying ‘old’ energy – that is, renewable power that has been in production for years and therefore does not actually displace coal and hence reduce greenhouse emissions. For instance, the major hydroschemes on mainland Australia were built decades ago. The Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme in north eastern Victoria was originally constructed between 1938 and 1961. The one exception would probably be where resorts purchase RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates) from the Bogong power station in north east Victoria, which has recently increased its energy production substantially. It was opened in late 2009. Hence RECs from Bogong could constitute ‘new’ green energy which potentially is displacing coal from energy production. The main reservoir for the scheme is the Rocky Valley Dam, on the Bogong High Plains. Check here for some information on the recent expansion of the Bogong plant.
But a small resort in the USA has gone much further – it has decided to produce its own energy. Mt Abram, located outside of Bethel, Maine, is in the permitting stage of a plan to install 3,190 solar panels spread over an area of 2 acres. When completed, the ski area is poised to become North America’s first net negative ski area when it comes to energy production.
Mt Abram plans to sell their excessive power back to the Central Maine Power Company grid.
According to writer Shanie Matthews, in addition to producing their own power, the ski area has been taking steps to reduce their demands for electricity. In April 2010, they received a $40,000 grant from the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) to be used for 10 high efficiency snowmaking guns. Mt Abram will purchase 50 more guns as well. The new guns can reduce energy consumption by as much as 75%. NSAA reports that snowmaking costs account for an average of 67% of electrical costs in a resort.
Mt Abram owner Matt Hancock says the solar panels will be paid for by energy savings as well as the revenues from selling their unused energy back to local utility company.
The resort bills itself as a “friendly winter resort” and is located near Bethel, Maine, in the New England region of the north eastern USA. Mt. Abram offers a variety of terrain from beginner’s to ungroomed expert glade runs and race courses, and is serviced by five lifts and has 44 trails.
Parks Victoria is looking for volunteers to help look for King Devil and Orange Hawkweed on the Bogong High Plains
Native to Europe, Hawkweeds have recently become established on mainland Australia. They pose a serious threat to Australian biodiversity and to the structure of natural communities.
Hawkweeds spread quickly via runners and above-ground roots, forming dense mats and outcompeting native vegetation. In grassy ecosystems like the High Plains, dense patches of the weed dominate the spaces between grass tussocks that are vital for the survival and recruitment of native flora and fauna.
Three survey sessions will be conducted during the flowering period and each session requires 8 volunteers. All of the sessions will be 5 days long, Monday to Friday. Attendance for the full sessions is preferred but is not essential.
Accommodation will be provided at Falls Creek.
Breakfast and snacks will also be provided.
The surveys for 2010/2011 season will be held over the following dates:
Session 1: November 29 – December 3 (Mon – Fri)
Session 2: December 27 – December 31 (Mon – Fri)
Session 3: January 17 – January 21 (Mon – Fri)
If you would like more information or to take part in a survey session please contact:
Sally Summers
hawkweed@parks.vic.gov.au
Mt. Beauty Parks Victoria Office: (03) 5754 4693
As spring kicks in and the snowmass melts, it feels like time to acknowledge what an incredible winter it has been: massive snow falls interspaced with rain and warmer weather and crazy storms. A number of resorts were isolated as treefall and landslips cut roadways. In August almost 2 metres of snow fell across the alps, and now (early October) there is still good skiable snow across much of the higher areas.
The following are some images from the Hotham/ Feathertop area in Victoria from June until now.
The last few weeks have been incredible across the High Country. In Victoria we passed into spring with fantastic snowmass and in the last few weeks we’ve had sunny days and mostly cold nights. The resorts are still going, at least until this weekend, and there’s lots of backcountry terrain which is accessible with little or no walking.
Mornings have been great, even if you have to battle through a slushfest once the sun is high. A perfect spring after an amazing winter of grey skies, floods, and a series of massive snowfalls.
A couple of pictures from Feathertop/ Mt Blowhard in Victoria to honour the end of another season.
Near Mt McKay, heading to Pretty Valley, Bogong High Plains, VIC
If you’re an Australian skier or boarder, and unless you’ve been living under a log these past few months, you will know that ski legend Steve Lee has been running commercial backcountry ski tours out of Falls Creek resort this winter.
This is great. Getting people out of resorts and into the backcountry is to be supported and encouraged.
What is less great is the emphasis on the use of snowmobiles to get people out there. His tours are geared towards ‘strong’ intermediate skiers and boarders. So if people are fit enough to ski/ board hard terrain, then surely they are fit enough to get on some skis to actually get out there.
In my opinion, this ‘cheap grace’ approach to getting backcountry is a sad development in Victoria. Certainly, the tours are confined to the alpine resort area (even though this is ecologically part of the Bogong High Plains). However, they come with a high annoyance cost to people who are out there under their own steam. It is not clear what ecological assessment, if any, has been made of the tours – for instance, is there an impact on endangered species or vegetation? There is also a bigger picture here: there is the fact that these tours could be a precedent for future snowmobile based developments elsewhere in the alps.
Anyone who has skied backcountry in North America will know the many problems that come with rampant and often uncontrolled snowmobile use. While here in Australia recreational use of snowmobiles is supposedly controlled or banned (for instance in national parks), how often is this actually enforced? As one example, there is growing use within the Alpine national park in the area between Dinner Plain and Mt Hotham and around Dinner Plain village with apparently no intervention from land managers.
Snowmobiles are essential tools in resort management and search and rescue operations. However, the blanket endorsement of commercial use of snowmobiles in the backcountry in almost all Falls Creek promotional materials this winter shows that resorts ‘commitment’ to the environment as being shallow at best and probably a form of green wash.
We should be very cautious about the further introduction of a potentially destructive development in our alpine areas, which appears to have jumped all the approvals ‘hoops’ simply because the proponent of the development is an alpine ‘personality’.
Falls Creek Resort says that it is deeply concerned about good environmental management:
“We are extremely proud of Falls Creek’s reputation as an industry leader in the field of sustainable alpine tourism and development. Our environmental programs reduce our impact on the local environment and acknowledge the importance of maintaining a healthy world beyond our boundary”.
Further information on their approach to the environment is here.
If you have an opinion about the expansion of snowmobiles into the backcountry you may wish to let the resort management know about them.
fcrm@fallscreek.com.au
Lake St Clair, or Leeawuleena, at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, is perhaps best known for being the end of the famous Overland Track. Nowdays, most Overland walkers catch the ferry out from Narcissus Hut, avoiding the last days wander along the estern shore of the lake. 
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