It’s a perfect autumn morning in Pretty Valley. The grass and tents are frosted with ice, the air is cold and invigorating, the silence immense. Sitting and waiting for the sunlight to spread across the plains from the hills to the west, it feels so silent you can hear the earth itself humming. In the shallow valley below, white mists form above the marshy landscape and braided waterways, rising until they meet a temperature inversion, which creates a ceiling effect that stops further upward movement. The flat topped mists then flow slowly towards the south east. Finally, the sun starts to warm my back. The air fills with bird call, the parrots sweep through, chitting as they fly past. After a cold night, it seems like everyone and everything is glad to be alive this morning.
Once a year we produce the Mountain Journal magazine. It is distributed through mountain and valley towns from Melbourne to Canberra each autumn. 2024 will see the fourth print edition, and will be back from the printers in the next couple of weeks and distributed after that.
In the meantime, please enjoy this PDF of the magazine MJ4.
The annual Backcountry Film Festival is put together by the Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA), screens around the world, and is hosted locally by Friends of the Earth and RMIT Outdoors Club.
The 2024 season will screen in Naarm/ Melbourne on Monday April 22.
It will be screening a collection of short documentaries and ski movies about the pursuit of adventure in the mountains, artistic vision, friendship, and how the snowsports community is adapting to a changing environment.
Continue reading “2024 Backcountry film festival Melbourne screening – April 22”
Connor Ryan is a Hunkpapa Lakota skier based in Colorado. Prominent for his work with Natives Outdoors and his film Spirit of the Peaks (and more recently his series called the New Radical), he is a strong native voice in what is still largely a community dominated by Anglo people.
Recently while speaking at a conference organised by the Winter Wildlands Alliance he was asked for his thoughts about how environmental advocates can become better story tellers.
His response really resonated with me.
JAN 2024
What even happened last year? Another mild summer, no big fires, then truly dazzling amounts of autumn snow, a great start to winter, then, nothing. Rain and warm temps and misery and the snow pack was gone, not to return. Early end to the season in many places, especially the lower resorts. The usual denial and grumpy guys ranting on line if you dared to mention the ‘climate’ word. Muddy spring and now, another mild summer – a bit different to the El Niño scorcher we had been expecting (so far at least).
Yes, this is the new reality. Climate systems turned on their heads. Wild floods up north, while more than 14 million hectares burnt across the Northern Territory alone during our spring. Erratic winters and wild swings of weather. Buckle in, because it’s not going back to ‘normal’ any time soon.
Then there are the wars raging across many parts of the planet.
And yet, the world can still feel right. Those long autumn days with a slow wander across snow plains, the light rich, the air cool, the distant peaks calling. We are blessed to live in a safe corner of the planet with beautiful hills and forests, rivers and high plains. The freedom and safety to explore. Let us be grateful, as we work for a better world for all.
The 19th Annual Backcountry Film Festival is put together by the Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA). It will be screening a collage of short documentaries and ski movies about the pursuit of objectives and ideals in the mountains, artistic vision, friendship, and how the snowsports community is adapting to a changing environment.
We are yet to set the date for the 2024 festival: it will happen in Melbourne in late April or early May.
We normally start with some speakers from local backcountry groups and feature a couple of short locally made backcountry films, then get into the WWA program.
Continue reading “2024 Backcountry film festival lineup announced”
We love receiving feedback on the magazine. Lately there have been quite a few emails come in from people who have spotted copies of the magazine in places as scattered in Derrick Hut and a cafe in Thredbo. But this is the first time the feedback was a mountain poem.
Stephen Whiteside has provided this one as part of his efforts to help create a body of bush verse that relates to the snow country.
Continue reading “‘Giles’, Mt Bogong, and Cleve Cole Memorial Hut”
If you’ve got a bit of spare time, or need to do a long drive, and are looking for some outdoors content to listen to, here are a few ideas.
Date claimer / Call out for local films
Each year the Backcountry film festival (BCFF) celebrates the connection between humans and wild winters. It is a ‘collage of human-powered stories and backcountry-inspired experiences. Backcountry Film Festival ignites wild conversations and inspires action to communities that celebrate the present while looking towards the future’.
For more than 10 years, Friends of the Earth has held the BCFF in Melbourne before winter. The 19th Annual Backcountry Film Festival is screening documentaries and ski movies about athletic pursuit in the mountains, artistic vision, friendship, and how the snowsports community is adapting to a changing environment.
In 2024 we will again co-host the Melbourne screening with the RMIT Outdoors Club. We are looking at dates in late April or early May.
We are looking for some short Australian made backcountry films to be included as part of the evening. Yes, 2023 was grim. But if you have a film you would like to see screened at the festival before an enthusiastic audience, please get in touch: cam.walker@foe.org.au
Continue reading “Backcountry film festival – Melbourne, 2024”
Mountain Journal magazine comes out once a year and is a free journal that is distributed throughout mountain and valley towns from Melbourne to Canberra. Now in it’s fourth year, this is a call out for contributions for the 2024 edition.
You could either contribute to the cover theme (mountain icons), one of the regular sections (see below), images for a photo essay, or an image for use on the cover.
Contributions would be needed by January 20, 2024.
The Backcountry Film Festival (BCFF) is produced each year by the Winter Wildlands Alliance, WWA (based in the USA) as a celebration of the human-powered winter experience and a gathering place for the backcountry snow sports community.
The Melbourne screening is co-hosted by RMIT Outdoors Club and Friends of the Earth, and is generally held in early May.
WWA produces a fantastic line up of films, generally from the northern hemisphere. At the Melbourne screening we are also keen to showcase locally made backcountry films (last years saw a screening of Racha, about a trip to Georgia, and The Australian Alp, a wonderful homage to Mt Feathertop.
If you are planning to produce a film from this winter and would like to screen it to an enthusiastic backcountry crowd at the 2024 BCFF, please get in touch.
Cam.walker@foe.org.au
Despite sad snow conditions, the 6th Victorian backcountry festival will happen over three days in early September.
It will happen in and around the Mt Hotham resort, with all the usual components of the festival that we love – the tours, workshops, repair café, demo village, speakers program and outdoor bar. This year we have two festival hubs – The General, plus the Last Run Bar.
Please register for the festival here (you need to register to be able to book tours). Check below for full details.
Continue reading “VIC backcountry festival powers ahead despite low snow”
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