The backcountry film festival is going to be great this year. We will have shows in Melbourne (March or April) and Bright (July) and probably NSW.
There is a great line up of films (details here), eight in total, covering a range of continents and aspects of backcountry skiing/ riding and snow culture. Stay tuned for full details closer to winter.
Another year has zipped by. We had a great winter, mild summers without big fires, and lots of changes going on in the mountains. Here’s the annual reflection. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
The Adventure Travel Film Festival ‘showcases the best adventure travel films and talent from Australia and overseas’.
‘The Festival is a three-day event guaranteed to appeal to adventurers, armchair travellers and dreamers alike. The festival will be brimming films and inspirational talks, featuring celebrated local and international adventurers, covering everything from trekking, motor cycling and four wheel driving to kayaking, climbing, cycling, long-distance horse-riding and much more’.
It will be held in Bright, on February 9, 10 and 11.
The Alpine Shire has produced a great walking guide for the areas between Myrtleford and Mt Beauty to Dinner Plain and back to Harrietville. Operating through the ‘Bright & Surrounds‘ tourist info program, the guide offers descriptions for walks in and around key towns plus wilder destinations like the Alpine National Park, Mt Bogong and the Buffalo Plateau.
Paper copies are available from tourist information centres in north eastern towns or online here.
This excellent resource aims to get more visitors to the region out on walking tracks, and makes it easy for first timers by providing full details on the distance and difficulty and notes for more than 65 walks.
A new book on the Australian Alps will be released in April.
“Matthew Higgins traces the mountain experience in a rich variety of ways. Firstly he talks of his own times in the alps as a bushwalker, cross-country skier, historian, and oral-history interviewer. Then, he profiles a range of people who have worked, lived, or played in the mountains: stockmen, skiers, Indigenous parks officers, rangers, brumby runners, foresters, authors, tourism operators, and others’.
Continue reading “Bold Horizon: High-country Place, People and Story”
In my teen years I became obsessed with skiing, climbing, Alaska and the Rocky Mountains. My first multi day walk (the southern circuit at Wilsons Prom) propelled me into the outdoors. Me and my mates would ride our bikes out of town to go camping, we went on family trips to the snow, I did lots of hiking with a bushwalking group we set up at school, and then eventually discovered the Victorian Climbing Club, which opened up new horizons for adventures. I did my first summer of mountaineering in NZ/ Aotearoa when I was 18.
This was about getting outdoors and having adventures in the wild. But I quickly realised that I liked outdoor culture. I started to meet older people who had spent their lives pursuing climbing and skiing, and (as someone explained it to me), ‘the people of the little tents’, long distance hikers. I knew that a big part of having a healthy life was to be outdoors, to have the skills to travel through big landscapes safely and the ability to be with yourself and enjoy your own company. Solo trips became ever more important for me. Time on my own in wild nature made me spend a lot of time on the internal work that we all need to do.
Continue reading “Kerouac, Alaska and that book in my backpack”
There can be little doubt that the election of Donald Trump has emboldened racists, homophobes and bigots not only across the USA but also around the world. A growing number of people are actively opposing the ‘normalisation’ of hate. Many people and even businesses who would normally consider themselves to be ‘non political’ are finding that they need to speak up and get active.
One simple example of this has been the outdoor industries becoming active in opposing Donald Trump’s anti environment agenda.
Another example of (perhaps unexpected) opposition to bigotry and homophobia comes from the ski resort of Aspen Snowmass in Colorado, who have launched a campaign to clearly explain the core values of the resort: based on unity and non-discrimination.
Continue reading “A mountain community stands up against hate”
Feral horse levels in the Alpine National Park are at critical levels. Their hard hooves cause serious damage to the sensitive alpine environment. Without intervention, their impacts will cause severe long-term harm to the park’s special endangered native alpine wildlife and plant species.
Parks Victoria (PV) is expanding it’s horse removal program in the Eastern Alps and seeks your feedback. Feedback closes on 2 February.
Continue reading “Parks Victoria seeks feedback on wild horse removal program”
Skiing/ snow boarding and MTB riding are natural partners. So many of my snow obsessed friends ride outside of winter. Despite the introduction of Fat Tyre bikes, not too many people ride above snowline in winter at least here in Australia.
But there is the spring tradition of assessing snow through riding MTBs along still closed roads – heading towards Mt Kosciusko from Charlottes Pass, riding the Dargo road to get to the southern slopes on Blue Rag Range, or riding from Falls Creek to access the Fainters are all stand out trips.
But this new film from Patagonia, The Last Hill (15 mins) pushes bike packing with skis to another level.
Climate change is bearing down on us. The threat posed to people, economies and natural ecosystems is of a level only surpassed by the risk of nuclear war. For those of us who love mountains and winter, the threat is obvious enough: shorter, more erratic snow seasons.
While here in Australia we face a dwindling snow pack, it’s the same story in ranges around the world. For instance, in the Northern Cascades National Park, which contains 1/3 of the glaciers in the Lower 48 states of the USA, the glaciers have lost a half of their mass over the past century. Since 1955, the mountains of the western ranges of the USA have lost 23% of snowpack.
This is having a direct impact on local economies. Low snow seasons in the western USA between 2000 and 2010 cost the ski industry more than US$1B in lost revenue.
Many resorts and individual players in the snow industry have been stepping up and joining the fight against climate change. Park City in Utah is one of the latest.
Continue reading “Park City has pledged to reduce it’s carbon footprint to zero by 2032”
Mittagundi is a legendary outdoor education centre and pioneer-style farm on the Upper Mitta Mitta River, north of Omeo. It was established with the belief that young people, mountains, purposeful work and challenges are natural partners. Mittagundi is a home away from home for more than 500 young people each year.
This January, Mittagundi turns 40! You’re invited to join the celebrations.
Mt Buller and Mt Stirling Resort Management and the Mount Stirling Stakeholder Group are preparing a contemporary vision for the Mount Stirling Alpine Resort. Mount Stirling 2030 is a vision that reflects community and stakeholder aspirations, celebrating the social and environmental values of the mountain and addressing challenges of climate change.
Mt Buller Mt Stirling Resort Management seeks your feedback on Mount Stirling 2030, which is being prepared to guide future management decisions for the Mount Stirling Alpine Resort.
The consultation period is open between Monday 18 December 2017 and 5pm Sunday 21 January 2018.
Continue reading “Mount Stirling in 2030 – Draft for Consultation”
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