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Mountain Journal

Environment, news, culture from the Australian Alps

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Cam Walker

I work with Friends of the Earth, and live in Castlemaine in Central Victoria, Australia. Activist, mountain enthusiast, telemark skier, volunteer firefighter.

winter on its way

Woo hoo. With another good dusting across the Alps in the last week, thoughts turn to the big questions: when will we get that first big dump? What trips am I going to do? Do I need any new gear?

Looking across the Bogong High Plains towards the east face of Feathertop, VIC

A few links that might help the pre season prep:

gear. The Green and sustainable gear site brings together information and listings on green and ethical outdoor gear, including whatever is still produced locally;

our carbon footprint. Here in Australia, a trip to the snow usually means a lot of hours sitting in a car. But most resorts are well serviced by buses. Perhaps think of doing at least one trip a year by bus, as a practical way of reducing your impact. The Keep Winter Cool site has a carbon calculator so you can measure – and hopefully – reduce the impacts of your next car-based trip

sunscreen. Up high, just that bit closer to the sun, we need our sunblock. But what about the hidden nasties? Check here for a guide to nano free sunscreens.

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2010 Snow Season Outlook

Mountainwatch.com Meteorologist Aaron Cook puts his neck on the line and has made a prediction about what the 2010 Australian snow season may look like.

Etheridge Ridge, Snowies Main Range, NSW

As he says, “the truth is, forecasting snow more than one week ahead is really hard to do and any weather forecast that isn’t straight up about how much uncertainty there is at this time of year just shouldn’t be trusted”.

This winter, conditions are forecast to be neutral (neither El Nino or La Nina) as last year’s El Nino dies off in a similar fashion to 1995 and 1983.

In spite of a long list of caveats, he does make the following suggestion about how the season might shape up: “If I had to make a call, I would say we’ll see 10 to 15cm of snow later this week and a few more minor falls throughout May. However the ground is still too warm for the snow to hang around. I’m going to stick my neck out and predict: First big dump of snow will be around June 10. The snow depth at Spencers Creek (above the Charlottes Pass Ski Village) will hit 1 metre about July 3, and will peak at 160 cm this winter”.

The full version of his report, which explains all the difficulties of making a long range assessment is well worth a read.

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“Climate change is a scam”

Climate change is already negatively impacting the snow and ski industry.

Our notoriously fickle winters are becoming more erratic. For instance, climate change projections show that, as Australia’s temperatures continue to increase, the maximum snow depths will continue to decrease and the snow seasons will become shorter (source).

In spite of compelling evidence, there is still stubborn denial in some parts of the snow community.

Here is one example.

If your income came from running a large ski business, do you think it would be worth tracking what trends are happening in your industry? And if anyone and everyone was saying that climate change was going to impact on the future and possibly even the viability of your business, do you think that maybe you might look into what’s coming?

Obviously not everyone works that way. Here’s some choice quotes from Mick Klima, co-owner of the Rhythm Snowsports megastore in Cooma, courtesy of Powerhound magazine.

(Does climate change worry you?)

“I’m with [British politician] Lord Monckton on that one, mate. That guy’s got it together. It’s a scam. It’s the new religion. It’s become too politicised and too emotional”. Which does beg the question, does ignoring it because its ’emotional’ make it go away?

“I’m not into the masses being manipulated by fear. There’ll always be something that politicians use to manipulate the way the public’s money is spent”.

(Will it impact on your business?)

“It won’t happen in my lifetime. I hope it doesn’t happen in my lifetime.”

Yeah, well, good luck with that one Mick.

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new Mt Buffalo chalet operators to be announced soon

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The Bright Observer reports that proposals from potential operators of the Mt Buffalo Chalet are under assessment after the end of the submissions period last week.

“Parks Victoria general manager for commercial business, Andrew Minack, confirmed the evaluation process for the Mount Buffalo Chalet request for tender has commenced.

Meanwhile plans for the chalet’s centenary celebrations on May 8 are in full swing”.

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a chat with Deb Foskey, Cabanandra, East Gippsland

Deb at the Bowen River

“I’ve been a few things in my life – teacher, scholar, activist, candidate and Member of Parliament – but like most people I have ended up as a consultant….”

“It might be too late to change the world, but its a way of life for me. At the broad scale, I am pessimistic about the future of our planet and the wellbeing of its creatures, including us”.

“But I am heartened to see small groups of people everywhere making a difference, taking their local futures into their own hands. Groups of people well networked, sharing fun as well as work, whether its in Transition Towns type of movements, Boobook Declarations, producers markets, organic farming or community working bees are what is going to make the difference. Politicians seem pretty disinterested and unaware of rural communities, so they are likely to leave us alone to get on with it!”

You can read the story here.

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Draft management plan coming soon – the Vic Alps WePlan project

Information from Louise Rose (Parks Victoria), 26/04/2010.

“The Alpine Advisory Committe has met three times since being formed in October 2009, the Environment and Scientific Advisory Group has met three times and the Victorian Alpine Traditional Owner Reference Group has met six times.

Feathertop & cloud, VIC

More than 21,000 different people have accessed wePlan Alpine and 163 people attended open houses in October 2009.

All of this input has assisted the Alpine planning team to develop a ‘work in progress’ draft plan.

This ‘work in progress’ draft plan will soon be loaded onto this website under Draft Management Plan. We’d love your input on this work in progress to help make it a final printable draft plan.”

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new Chair of the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council announced

Des Powell has been appointed as the new Chair of the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council (ARCC) in Victoria.

The Council is a statutory body established under the Victorian Alpine Resorts Management Act 1997. It reports to the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, and it’s key function includes planning for and facilitation of “the establishment, development, promotion, management and use of alpine resorts” in the state.  It will be very interesting to see how Des steers the ARCC in coming years.

Given this has been announced via the Australian Financial Review, I expect there will be something on the ARCC website soon.

Hotham Central, VIC
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Buffalo skyway proposal – community forums

The Alpine Shire Council  continues to push forward into its investigation about whether the skyway project should proceed (don’t mind the minor details like whether they could ever get approvals for a major infrastructure project inside a national park, or who is actually going to fund it).

There will be two information sessions in May:

  • an “Open House” Information & Feed Back Session on Wednesday May 19, 2010 from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM. Alpine Visitor Information Centre, Bright. Public open house session. Everyone welcome to visit and comment.
  • and at Appin Park Rotary Club Wangaratta. Thursday May 20, 2010 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM. This will be an information and Feedback Session.
Looking over the Razorback towards Buffalo Plateau

For full details on the forums please check here.

Interestingly, the ‘media‘ section on the skyways website only contains positive reports on the skyway proposal.

Further (independent) opinion on the skyway proposal here.

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Mountain Church

As we wait for winter snow, I stumbled on this short story from the Mountain Gazette by D. Morgan Miller that sums up much of the appeal of getting out in the backcountry:

“Ritual.

Image: Mountain Gazette

Ritual is what I need.

Sitting here in this beloved mountain temple, on my nifty little ski bench in the back of the car, the dressing ritual in this special place has every exhalation feeling lighter and more peaceful. My spirit has already started climbing out of the cellar. Donning my pack, boots and skis, I’m dressing my body to go sacrifice to the mountains for just a short while”.

You can find the story here.

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Snow Australia’s new commercial from Warren Miller

The theme of the ads being ‘ski here in Australia rather than NZ’. Certainly makes sense on environmental grounds, way lower carbon footprint.  Even better, catch the bus!

(The video is here. Prepare yourself for lots of ads!)
Warren Miller’s current film is showing at Australian resorts over opening weekend in June.

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Snowy River environmental flows

The Weekly Times is running with the story on getting environmental flows back into the Snowy River:

crossing the headwaters of the Snowy

“The greatest hurdle to reviving the Snowy River’s flows could be removed for little more than $3.3 million.

That’s the estimated cost of extinguishing a 56,000-megalitre water debt that must be repaid before the iconic river’s flows can be raised above a trickle this spring.

If the debt is not repaid the Snowy River will once again be capped at 4 per cent of its natural flow in 2010-11, almost 10 years after the inter-government deal was struck to rescue the river.

East Gippsland Independent MP Craig Ingram, who put Labor into power on the back of its promise to revive the Snowy’s flows, said it was time to extinguish the debt and boost this spring’s flows”.

Your can find the Times story here.

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Stirling Alpine Link

Mt Cobbler from Stirling summit

Mt Stirling, adjacent to Mt Buller, is a unique natural landscape with dramatic vistas of Victoria’s alpine area.

Popular with cross-country skiers, bushwalkers, campers and school groups, it is also home to many threatened plant and animal species.

The Victorian National Parks Association has launched a push for the Mt Stirling area to be managed as a national park by linking it to the Alpine National Park and handing its management to Parks Victoria.

It can then be managed as an integral part of Victoria’s largest national park, improving ecological management, recreation experiences and the overall integrity of our alpine region.

You can find a fact sheet and details on how to take action here.

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