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Environment, news, culture from the Australian Alps

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Good manners in the mountains

Anyone who spends time in the high country will have seen the exponential growth in visitors during ski season in recent years, especially since the covid times. Resort car parks full, mayhem on the roads, rubbish along the access roads, overcrowding. This is our new reality, so it’s worth thinking about how we can make it work.

Firstly, we should admit that change can be hard. We love these places and are used to the way things are. Suddenly the roads are busier, the car parks and ski runs are full, even the usual campgrounds are busy with people.

Continue reading “Good manners in the mountains” →

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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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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.

Continue reading “Ski in party at Mt Stirling” →

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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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Become a friend of Mountain Journal

Love the mag? Become a Friend of Mountain Journal for $20 a year to support future publications!

Here’s the thing… we might have fooled you with our sleek magazine into thinking we’re a super professional setup, but we’re actually a very grassroots operation.

From the start, Mountain Journal has deliberately been a free, non-commercial magazine: available to anyone online and offline in huts and villages through the alps, bringing you stories of local community members having great adventures and working to protect the mountains, made possible by generous contributions of writing and photography.

Continue reading “Become a friend of Mountain Journal” →

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Australian backcountry festival 2025

The Victorian backcountry festival is back for it’s 8th year. And in 2025, has become the Australian BC Fest.

It will be the same format as usual – hosted at Mt Hotham resort, with tours, workshops, parties, speakers program, repair cafe, and more.

The festival is a 100% volunteer run community festival. The organising committee is working hard to deliver another great festival.

Chuck it in your diary: friday – sunday 29 – 31 August.

Facebook page here.

Website here.

Enjoy. Explore. Protect. Backcountry.

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First Australian screening of Papsura: Peak of Evil

The backcountry film festival is a pre winter institution in Melbourne. We have been screening the festival each year since 2011. This is a first announcement for the 2025 screening and a call for local backcountry films to be included in the festival.

The festival will happen on Sunday May 11, 2025.

Apart from the program of films produced by the Winter Wildlands Alliance, the festival will freature the first Australian screening of Papsura: Peak of Evil.

Continue reading “First Australian screening of Papsura: Peak of Evil” →

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Mountain Journal magazine #5 now available

The Mountain Journal magazine is now in its 5th year of production. We print 1,000 copies and distribute it for free through mountain and valley towns between Melbourne and Canberra during autumn each year. This year we had a guest editor – Anna Langford, who has produced an absolutely gorgeous magazine with the assistance of designer Tess Sellar and beautiful images from a range of people including Matt Tomkins.

The theme delves into what is happening to Winter. As Anna says in her introduction: “Long, deep winters are fast becoming folk tales of the past. But there is still so much to love, and so much we can do to act. To talk about our alpine winters is to lament what we’ve lost, celebrate
what we still have, record it for collective memory, and impel each other to step up and take action“.

Continue reading “Mountain Journal magazine #5 now available” →

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Backcountry film festival – May 11

The backcountry film festival is a pre winter institution in Melbourne. We have been screening the festival each year since 2011. This is a first announcement for the 2025 screening and a call for local backcountry films to be included in the festival.

The festival will happen on Sunday May 11, 2025.

Continue reading “Backcountry film festival – May 11” →

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Mountain Journal magazine #5 – call-out for contributions

It’s that time of year. We are starting to get the annual magazine started. MJ magazine is an annual magazine that is distributed for free in mountain and valley towns between Melbourne and Canberra. And this year we have a guest editor: Anna Langford.

Continue reading “Mountain Journal magazine #5 – call-out for contributions” →

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Do you have a film to include in the 2025 backcountry film festival?

Last winter already seems like a dream. It was so brief (with some moments of absolute powder glory) but gone so soon. Living through the second short season in a row makes us all worry about what’s coming as climate change keeps kicking in (the recently released ‘Victoria’s changing climate report –  available here – highlights the fact that snow pack has been in decline in Victoria since the 1950s).

But to be a skier or rider in Australia is to be an eternal optimist. So we plough on, hopeful that next winter will break the current losing trend.

And, when we can’t get to the snow, there is always the Backcountry Film festival!

Continue reading “Do you have a film to include in the 2025 backcountry film festival?” →

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Celebrating International Mountain Day – in the lowlands

International Mountain Day is marked each year on December 11. This is one of those globally recognised events that often have an annual theme, and according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO), this year it is “Mountain solutions for a sustainable future – innovation, adaptation and youth”.

Out in central and northern Victoria, on the traditional lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung people, there are two sets of celebrations that will happen around the global day. The Dja Dja Wurrung are organising an event at Lalgambuk (Mt Franklin) on the 11th, and the folks from the Great Dividing Trail Network (who look after the trail that runs from Ballarat to Bendigo) are hosting a series of walks to different mountains between the 6th and 10th of December.

Continue reading “Celebrating International Mountain Day – in the lowlands” →

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