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7 Peaks Alpine Ascent Challenge

The 7 Peaks Ride is an iconic set of rides up seven mountains in the Victorian High Country. You do each ride when it suits you, but has a five month window, with riders being encouraged to do at least four of the rides. The riding season starts this week.

The peaks are Mt Baw Baw, Mount Buffalo, Mt Buller, Dinner Plain, Falls Creek, Hotham, and Lake Mountain. Each ride involves a serious ride from the valley.

As you go you get your 7 Peaks passport stamped.

You can tackle the 7 Peaks any time from October 16 2015 to March 31 2016.

Full details here.

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Casey and Kat blitz women’s XC skiing

Lake Mountain ambassadors, Casey Wright and Kat Paul (profiled here), have blitzed women’s cross country skiing in Australia this season, claiming all the major titles between them.

Their clean sweep of the 2015 race calendar, against some fierce national and international competition, sets them up strongly for the World Championships in Romania in February. While Casey will not be competing, it makes Kat the hot Australasian favourite at the New Zealand Continental Cup from August 28 to 30.

Continue reading “Casey and Kat blitz women’s XC skiing” →

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Lake Mountain skiers show their mettle

Two Lake Mountain cross country skiers are showing their potential for the international stage by snapping up major Australian national titles this season and with the promise of more to come.

Twenty-year old Casey Wright and Kat Paul, 19, recently won their first open women’s national titles at Perisher which Kat quickly followed up with a clean sweep at the Junior National Championships at Falls Creek on the weekend of August 1 and 2.

There is a profile on Casey and Kat available here.

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Lake Mountain needs new ski patrollers

With the snow season just around the corner, Lake Mountain Ski Patrol (LMSP) is recruiting additional volunteers to help look after the thousands of weekend day trippers who head to the resort each winter for some fun in the snow.

To be well prepared for the season, the patrol’s 2015 training weekend will be held at Lake Mountain on the weekend of June 13 and 14 and prospective volunteers are invited to attend. Continue reading “Lake Mountain needs new ski patrollers” →

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Running Wild’s 2014/2015 running program

Running Wild is “a series of spectacular runs in some of Victoria’s best national parks. Our motto is great runs – great places – great people. We do not run “races” as such, we are about the running experience, enjoying the country, experiencing what nature has to offer – weather, terrain and your ability to push yourself and get to know your body and your limits, and the social experience.

That is what running and wild running is all about, however if you want to run fast and race, that’s fine too”.

Their summer season starts in early February. There are a range of mountain runs, including the Lake Mountain Alpine Marathon, the Delatite Dash and the Razorback Run.

The Dinner Plain Mountain Running Festival is a new for the 2014/15 season.

Check here for full details.

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the Great Forest National Park

The Great Forest National Park (GFNP) proposal is a vision for a multi-tiered park system for bush users and bush lovers alike, on Melbourne’s doorstep.

It is a park that will protect and maintain important ecosystem functions critical for the health and well being of all Victorians. The proposal intends to amalgamate a group of smaller parks and add a recreational and ecosystem management plan overlay. The GFNP’s gateway in Healesville is only 60 kilometres from Melbourne’s MCG and stretches from Kinglake through to the Baw Baws and north-east up to Eildon. The proposal is backed by 30 years of research from Laureate Professor David Lindenmayer AO and his team from the Australian National University. The Park proposal adds approximately 355,000 hectares to the current 165,000 hectares in reserve. This will bring Melbourne up to a little over 500,000 hectares of reserve, nearly half the size of Sydney’s reserve system. It is an ambitious project that is gaining momentum by the day.

Continue reading “the Great Forest National Park” →

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Running Wild

Running Wild organises trail runs in some of Victoria’s most spectacular mountain country, including Feathertop, Mount Buller, Lake Mountain, as well as the 160km long Alpine Challenge, which is a major fund raiser.

Image: Running Wild
Image: Running Wild

The organisers say

Our motto is great runs – great places – great people. We do not run “races” as such, we are about the running experience, enjoying the country, experiencing what nature has to offer – weather, terrain and your ability to push yourself and get to know your body and your limits, and the social experience. That is what running and wild running is all about, however if you want to run fast and race, that’s fine too.

They are organising some new runs in 2014: the ‘Vertical K’ Series, the Victorian Mountain Running Championships and the Mount Buller Mountain Running Festival.

If running in mountain terrain appeals, then check out the various races. One of the things I appreciate about the organisers approach is that they see the run as a ‘mutual support event; it is not a race in the traditional sense. For safety reasons all participants must offer assistance to others in distress.’

The Alpine Challenge is especially impressive: it covers ‘some of the best, hardest and most exposed high country in Australia including Mt Feathertop, Mt Hotham, The Fainters, Spione Kopje, Mt Nelse and Victoria’s highest mountain, Mt Bogong’.

Their 2014 season of runs starts in early February.

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Lake Mountain fire recovery

Echo Flat
Echo Flat

The Lake Mountain area, near Marysville, was terribly burnt in the fires of early 2009.

Almost every tree on the plateau was killed or burnt back to ground level (snow gums have the capacity to reshoot from the base after the above ground section of the tree is killed). At Lake Mountain, the fire was particularly severe and killed off many parent trees that had survived the 1939 fires.

The landscape was completely transformed from what it had been. Anyone that knew the ‘old’ Lake Mountain couldn’t help but be devastated on their first post fire visit.

The good rainfalls over the summers of 2010 and 2011 greatly assisted the regrowth across the mountain. Whilst the area will not return to anything near to its former state for many years, the regrowth is going well, and the spring/ summer wildflower display is fantastic.

If you haven’t been to Lake Mountain since the fires, Christmas is a great time to go.

The Olden Days (aka the late 1970s). Echo Flat with an intact snow gum forest
The Olden Days (aka the late 1970s). Echo Flat with an intact snow gum forest

The snow gum woodlands and lower alpine ash forests were absolutely devastated in the fires. Regeneration in the snow gum country is now substantial, with regrowth over 3 m high and in most places at least one third the height of the remnant dead trunks.  In addition large numbers of Snow Gum seedlings are also thriving.

The open heath and bog areas have been slower to recover, but ground cover is now almost complete.

If you knew the pre-fire landscape, then coming back can be emotionally devastating. The two known stands of Mountain Plum Pine on Echo Flat did not survive the fires. These trees had previously been dated as being between 700 and 800 years old. The remaining colony of Leadbeaters Possums have been removed to Healesville Sanctuary because it wasn’t deemed biologically viable. Most of us won’t see the likes of the original forest, and the landscape itself can seem forlorn.

But life is coming back. There is great walking on the plateau, and the local economies need your support.

For details on the post fire recovery, check here. For general info on the resort, check here.

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new management at lake Mountain & Baw Baw?

wtg_14The Victorian government recently called for Expressions of interest for long term private managers to take on running the Lake Mountain and Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resorts. Tender applications have now closed.

As noted recently on this site, the Victorian Government has previously decided to open up the state’s national parks to further development and private investment. The depth of this agenda is not yet clear.

The government describes Mt Baw Baw as
“an all-season alpine resort, open year round for summer and winter adventures. It is Victoria’s affordable, family friendly ‘learn to ski’ destination. Activities include downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, tobogganing, terrain parks and other event in the white season, plus walking, hiking, cycling, downhill and mountain biking and a number of events in the green season”.

And Lake Mountain as
Lake Mountain is a Crown Land reserve which is open year round for summer and winter experiences. It is Victoria’s affordable family getaway in the great outdoors, and is Australia’s premier cross country skiing and snow play resort. Only a two hour drive from Melbourne, Lake Mountain is Melbourne’s closest alpine resort.

Given the prognosis of expected warmer conditions and less reliable snowfalls as a result of climate change, any private operator considering taking on a new project in these lower elevation resorts will need to be building up the ‘green season’ activity at the resorts.

This begs a fairly obvious question: with the pro development agenda of the current state government and a limited ability to run economically viable resorts based on snow activity at lower elevations, what devil in the detail might emerge once the new operators are announced?

Let’s hope this doesn’t become an opportunity for new operators to radically increase the footprint and impact of activity at these resorts.

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7 peaks Alpine Ascent Challenge

Image: http://theclimbingcyclist.com/7-peaks-domestique-series-ride-5-falls-creek/
Image: http://theclimbingcyclist.com/7-peaks-domestique-series-ride-5-falls-creek/

Victoria’s 7 peaks Alpine Ascent Challenge is an at-your-own pace cycling challenge which takes in all of Victoria’s Alpine Resorts.

The ‘riding season’ is now open. You can tackle the 7 Peaks (Mt Baw Baw, Mt Buffalo, Mt Buller, Dinner Plain, Falls Creek, Hotham, Lake Mountain) anytime from October 18 2013 to March 31 2014.

The challenge is for people – over the next five months – to ride each mountain at a time that suits them.

The organisers say:
‘The 7 Peaks passport will be the proof of your cycling toughness, stamping it along the way for every summit you successfully ride. Once you have completed your peaks and submitted your stamped passport, you will go into the draw to win some amazing prizes. Ride four peaks or more and you get the chance to win this year’s major prize. There’s also 7 amazing alpine winter experiences to be won’.

Further information available here.

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Public ski resort groomed for private sale

The following comes from the Victorian National Parks Association.

Media release. Thursday, 28 November, 2012

art-Lake-Mountain-Village-420x0Lake Mountain, Melbourne’s closest and most affordable alpine resort, will soon be given over to developers in a long‐term lease that effectively privatises public land.

“The Baillieu Government should not be acting like a real estate agent for land that belongs to all Victorians. It should be managing our natural heritage responsibly, for future generations,” the Victorian National Parks Association’s Phil Ingamells said today.

“The Baillieu Government’s announcement that it is handing over management of the Lake Mountain Alpine Resort to a private recreation company, in preparation for auctioning the leasehold, may be the first of many such developments. Our alpine resorts, national parks and other public land are all vulnerable to this policy,” he said.

Importantly the Alpine Resorts Act, which governs the management of Victoria’s alpine resorts, makes it clear that resorts are for the use of all sections of the community, not just the big spenders.

A recent State Services Authority inquiry into Victoria’s alpine resort management said the resorts need to provide for a far greater section of the community, not just high‐end tourism.

The inquiry also recommended that resorts such as Lake Mountain, which will be the first to lose their snow cover as global warming increases, should be placed under the management of Parks Victoria.

“But the Baillieu Government seems determined to hand our finest bits of public land over to private control, and make them playgrounds for the wealthy,” said Mr Ingamells.

“Developments in private hands inevitably grow. This is a short‐sighted move, and one that will be very hard to reverse. Victorians of the future will almost certainly look back at this time with great regret.”

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Concerns over financial viability of alpine resorts

This report comes from the ABC. May 23, 2012

Concerns over viability of alpine resorts

A report into the sustainability of Victoria’s alpine resorts has found Lake Mountain and Mount Baw Baw need continued government assistance to support their long-term viability.

A report by the auditor-general found the resorts have recorded financial losses and asset depreciation over the past five years, despite funding from the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

It identifies workforce and contractor costs as contributing to their poor performance, demonstrating the need for structural change.

The auditor-general’s office says the findings raise concerns about the long-term sustainability of the alpine resorts.

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