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Skiing in the Pyrocene. Good winter snowpack exposes the scale of forest loss

If you were in eastern Australia, then Black Summer was a fire season that you will remember. Crazy fires, loss of life and houses, millions of animals killed, enormous damage to landscapes, including across the mountains.

One particular fire was at Mt Tabletop in the Alpine national park, which was started by a lightning strike on December 31, 2019. It went on to become an enormous blaze of more than 40,000 hectares that threatened the village of Dinner Plain twice, and many houses in the Cobungra area. It also had significant ecological impacts, burning large areas that had been burnt previously, compounding the damage caused by those earlier fires.

Continue reading “Skiing in the Pyrocene. Good winter snowpack exposes the scale of forest loss” →

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The Soul of Walking

All of us are drawn to nature. For some people, that might be a pleasant view of a park from a window. For others it might be an epic paddling trip down a river through a wilderness area. It’s a deep need we all feel in some way. But as there are ever more people on the planet, and more people wanting to go walking and exploring wild areas, the impact of exploring adds up.

Informal trail networks can become degraded from over use, and the untracked zones shrink a bit every year as more people visit the wild places. It’s a dilemma for land managers and also for all of us who love to explore these places.

In this article, Josh Hamill explores the question of how recreational hiking can coexist with the preservation of wilderness areas (he describes wilderness as ‘nature as it is’).

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Mission to Mt Pinnibar, June 2025

Mt Pinnibar is a remote and lovely mountain in north eastern Victoria. It’s quite a journey to get to, and a decent ski in from the gate which is locked in winter. The last time I tried to get in there I found myself in a logging coupe that cut across the road, where previously damaged alpine ash was being logged over again. Beyond the coupe, the road was blocked by an enormous tree that had been placed there by the loggers, which necessitated the most epic 28 point turn I have ever had to do.

I do find the access roads (there are a couple of options to get in there) a bit intense in mid winter. In these brief piece from Trevor Staats, originally published on the Australian backcountry facebook group, Trevor does note the need for all the ‘backcountry safety gear – wheel chains, shovels, recovery straps, air compressor, chainsaw, and more’. Continue reading “Mission to Mt Pinnibar, June 2025” →

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Completing the Trilogy: All.I.Can, Valhalla, Fire on the Mountain

Geez, the world is grim right now, isn’t it? Wars and genocide grind on, authoritarian ‘leaders’ seek to take over democracies, removing basic human rights that have taken decades to secure. The climate crisis continues to escalate, while the large fossil fuel companies and their allies block meaningful action.

But, of course, the world is still an amazing place, full of beauty and goodness. Sometimes that’s what you need to focus on, so you can deal with the other stuff.

Skiing makes me happy. It is one of the great joys in my life. And I love the culture that exists around a love of winter and snow. One of the many manifestations of mountain culture is, of course, the genre of skiing and snow boarding films. Many are joyous celebrations of the mountains, of deep powder, freedom, connection and community.

Continue reading “Completing the Trilogy: All.I.Can, Valhalla, Fire on the Mountain” →

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Contribute your ideas to the Alpine Resorts Strategic Plan

Here is a chance to express your views about how the alpine resorts in Victoria should be managed. There is currently a review of the Alpine Resorts Strategic Plan, with submissions open until July 6.

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Ski in party at Mt Stirling

From Friends of Mt Stirling:

Join us for a weekend of connection, community, and conservation at King Saddle Hut, Mount Stirling!

We’re teaming up with Friends of the Earth Melbourne (FoEM), long-time campaigners for the protection of the Victorian Alps, to bring you a weekend immersed in nature and collective action.

Together, we’ll walk through beautiful alpine bushland, learn from local ecologists about the current and emerging threats facing these fragile ecosystems, and explore ways we can care for Country—supporting both biodiversity and community well-being.

 

  • Kick off the weekend with a shared potluck dinner on Friday night—bring something delicious to contribute!
  • Bring your camping gear, warm clothes, dancing and walking shoes!
  • Hear from those working to protect and manage sustainably this area.
  • We will be organising some music for the Friday night for around the fire.

Bring along a friend! We hope to see you there.

 

This event is taking place on First Nations land. We acknowledge the Traditionals Owners and pay our respects.

 

Please be aware that there is an entry fee to enter the Mt Stirling resort, and the location is about a 3 km walk/ ski/ snow shoe to reach. You will need to be self sufficient in terms of camping gear, food and cooking equipment.

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People and Parks: bearing the brunt of climate inaction

Mountain Journal has run hundreds of articles on the impacts of climate change on wild places in the mountains of south eastern Australia and lutruwita/ Tasmania. Sadly, these impacts are being felt in parks around the continent.

This piece from Madoc Sheehan (originally published here) looks at the environmental and economic impacts of high intensity rainfall events in Paluma Range national park over January/February 2025 and similar climate impacts in the Blue Mountains and Boodjamulla national parks.

Continue reading “People and Parks: bearing the brunt of climate inaction” →

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Best practise fire fighting

The 2024/ 25 fire season was a long one in south eastern Australia.

While there were large and destructive fires in western Victoria (particularly in the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park and Little Desert National Park – details here), there were no enormous ones in the mountains. But if you track what happens in the high country, you will recall that we did have a number of significant ones last summer, including the Mt Matlock fire in the Thompson River catchment (which provides drinking water for Melbourne) and the Mt Margaret/ Licola fire, which grew to around 5,600 hectares. There are some resources on these fires available here.

There is a significant story from this latter fire which is worth retelling.

Continue reading “Best practise fire fighting” →

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VIC government must increase efforts to sustain Ash forests

Ash forests – forest comprised of Mountain Ash, Alpine Ash, or sometimes both – are some of the most iconic forest types in Victoria, or even the world. Covering around 500,000 ha of Victoria and stretching from the Otways to the north-eastern boundary with NSW, their stronghold is in the Central Highlands to the east of Melbourne and through the higher ranges of Gippsland and the north east of the state.

These forests have a complex relationship with fire: these forests can live with some fire – but not too much. Scientifically known as ‘obligate seeders’, after severe bushfire, ash forests are killed, but prolifically regenerates from canopy stored seed. The important point here is that these slowly regenerating forests cannot produce seed for 20 years after they regenerate from fire. This means they are highly vulnerable to shortened fire intervals – the exact challenge that land managers in Victoria are facing with climate change.

Once a mountain ash or alpine ash forest has burnt numerous times, it may eventually fail to regenerate, which can lead to population collapse and a change of ecosystem type. This sounds simple, but ecologically, this is dramatic. A tall forest – high in carbon stocks and habitat – changes rapidly to a short shrubland or grassland.

This not theory. This situation already exists among alpine ash forests. The massive bushfires in 1998, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2019/20 and meant that over 97% of Alpine Ash distribution burnt. These fires overlapped and some areas burnt two to three times across two decades (Fagg et al. 2013; Bassett et al. 2021), leaving 43,000 ha of Alpine Ash forest at risk of collapse (Fairman, 2023).

Mountain Journal has long reported about threats to Ash forests and the need for greater government intervention (check here for some of the articles).

Now people involved in the recovery of Ash forests have recently spoken out about the threats posed to these forests.

Continue reading “VIC government must increase efforts to sustain Ash forests” →

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End of Financial Year appeal for mountain environments

As we get to the end of the financial year, every not for profit group in the universe is asking for donations. This might be of interest if you are interested in funding advocacy for mountain environments.

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Backcountry film festival at Wolf of the Willows

Join us at the Wolf of the Willows Brewery for BACKCOUNTRY FILM FESTIVAL

Thursday 24th of July | Tickets start from $10pp
Doors open 6pm for Dinner | Films start 7.30pm | Duration of films total 2.5hrs

The Backcountry Film Festival is a winter institution in Melbourne, screening each year since 2011. The program is put together by Winter Wildlands Alliance, and celebrates the power and spirit of humans in winter. The festival features 13 films over 2 and a half hours and will be re-screening at Wolf of the Willows in Mordialloc on the evening of Thursday 24 July, 2025.

No allocated seating so get in early to reserve your spot.

You can find tickets here.

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In search of Australia’s longest snow depth record

Phil Campbell has written a short story on the length of the snow record in Australia.

Ask anyone interested in Australia’s snow country where the longest record of snow depth is located, and you’ll almost certainly be told it is at Spencers Creek, in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains.

Snow depth and density measurements have been recorded continuously at the Spencer’s Creek site by Snowy Hydro for the past seven decades, commencing in the early years of the Snowy Mountains Scheme in 1954. The site consists of a series of seven poles at a mean elevation of 1830 metres and is one of three ‘index’ sites maintained by Snowy Hydro for snowpack and runoff modelling, along with two other sites at Deep Creek and Three Mile Dam. Numerous lesser known sites exist scattered at different elevations across the Snowy Mountains, many monitored for a few brief years to fit operational needs at the time, with a handful still monitored to this day.

Continue reading “In search of Australia’s longest snow depth record” →

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