For the second year, Mountain Journal appeared as a magazine. This year, the print edition was produced as a collaboration with Mandy Lamont of Lamont magazine. It was distributed across resorts and valley towns during early winter.
The plan is to keep producing a printed annual edition, and I would really appreciate your feedback about this year’s edition and your thoughts on what should be in the 2023 edition.
Continue reading “What should be in Mountain Journal magazine #3?”
Barry Lopez was a wonderful author who focused on exploring the relationship between human cultures and nature. He passed away in 2020. His famous work Arctic Dreams was the first of his books that I discovered, and I have enjoyed his essays for many years. I am currently working through Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World, which was published shortly after he died. It is a luminescent collection of essays and one really stood out for me: Out West. He embarks on a long road trip to try and connect with the western plains of the USA. As he leaves, he loads up the many books that reflect on, or are based in, the areas he would be visiting. There are many famous names and books on the list, from Wallace Stegner, Ansel Adams to Cormac McCartney. He reflects on how history is recorded, how land and place is captured in literature and art, and how our understanding of the past shifts according to the dominant narratives of our time.
That, of course, got me thinking about the books I would have with me as I started a long road trip of our mountains. This is the start of a fairly Victorian-centric list.
Mountain Journal started out in 2010. It was born out of an appreciation for the wonderful mountains that we have here in south eastern Australia and in lutruwita/ Tasmania. Inspired by the mountain culture of the Rocky Mountains and great magazines like Mountain Gazette, it eventually made it in to print (with two annual editions so far – 2021 and 2022).
Each autumn I write a reflection on the year that was. I’m always a bit shocked that another year has whizzed past and there are always lots of issues and campaigns to report on.
Recently I got a chance to talk with Rich and Morgs from the great local podcast Those Tele Guys, now in their third season. TTG ‘is a podcast made by a couple of telemark skiers from Downunder. The show will talk tele, investigate topical issues, share our love of Australian winters and have a good laugh’.
If you’re interested, you can find the chat here.
Locally owned gear shops have long been a cornerstone of the outdoors community. But, faced with the rise in online shopping and the buying power and reach of large chain stores, it’s remarkable that there are still so many locally owned outdoor gear shops in and around the Australian Mountains.
Here are a few of them. If we don’t support them, we will lose them. And as we know, all these places offer local knowledge in a way that online stores can’t.
2023 note: this guide is a couple of years old. If you want to suggest any changes, please send me an email: cam.walker@foe.org.au
Continue reading “Local gear stores. If we don’t love them, we’ll lose them”
Some chats with mountain people
These stories are taken from Mountain Journal #2, a magazine which is distributed across the mountain and valley towns of south eastern Australia (available as a pdf here).
This year we thought we would focus our stories on people who are actively doing good in and for the mountains. This is just the tip of the iceberg: there are the park rangers, the weather forecasters, the fire tower watchers, the garbos and mechanics and road clearers who keep the resorts open, the snow makers, and all the folks who keep the mountain communities open and thriving. But this is a start.
For many more stories and profiles please check here https://themountainjournal.com/interviews-profiles/
For the second year, we have produced a print version of a magazine, based on content from the Mountain Journal website. In 2022, the magazine is a collaboration with Mandy Lamont of Lamont magazine. Distribution of magazines across mountain towns and resorts starts on June 7.
While 2022 feels like our first ‘normal’ year since the pandemic started, the ‘new normal’ of climate change has become incredibly obvious over the past few years. After a horror summer over 2019/20, fires burnt in the northern hemisphere through their summer and into winter, with fire authorities in places like California warning that they no longer experience fire seasons, and that large fires can occur year round. In the past southern summer, much of the east coast was hammered by terrible floods, and WA faced an awful fire season. Here in the south the mountains were green, although in lutruwita/ Tasmania a series of fires burnt in World Heritage Areas, sparked by lightning and flourishing in the dry conditions.
A reflection on another year of Mountain Journal can be found here.
After two disappointing winters, where the Backcountry Festival had to go on line, we are excited to announce that planning is well underway for a big gathering at Mt Hotham this year.
The 2022 festival will happen over three days in early September (2, 3, and 4). It has been extended to three days to allow people to attend more tours and workshops.
Continue reading “The Victorian Backcountry festival is back for 2022”
The winter 2022 edition of Mountain Journal magazine will be published as a collaboration with Mandy Lamont of Lamont Magazine, and will be distributed across southern capital cities and mountain towns in early winter. We welcome contributions to the 2022 edition. You can find a pdf of the 2021 edition here.
The theme this year is ‘giving back to the mountains’. We are looking to feature short profiles (400 – 600 words) of people who are doing great things in the hills – ecological restoration, volunteering, campaigning, building community. If you know of people with a connection to the mountains of south eastern Australia or lutruwita/ Tasmania, who would be good to profile, please get in touch (or please feel free to send a story for inclusion).
In particular we would love to hear from firefighters – career or volunteer – who have been involved in firefighting in the mountains.
Continue reading “‘Giving back to the mountains’. A call out for content”
Mountain Journal magazine was produced for the first time in 2021. Intended as an ‘annual’ of key events from the previous year, it has been distributed in mountain huts, info centres, and cafes in and around the mountains of south east Australia (you can find it as a pdf here).
We are just starting to think about content for the 2022 edition (to be distributed in early winter) and would welcome contributions.
Continue reading “Call out for content – Mountain Journal magazine #2”
December 11 is International Mountain Day.
Around the world, mountain environments are threatened by climate change and destruction of natural environments. It is the same here in Australia, where we are starting to see the local collapse of mountain forests – both Alpine Ash and Snow Gum – due to climate driven fire regimes (and, in the case of Snow Gum, dieback caused by a native beetle).
There is much we must do to protect these wonderful environments, including building our capacity to fight fires effectively in mountain areas.
And please join the citizen science project if you’re planning on visiting the VIC/ACT/ NSW mountains this summer.
Presented by Winter Wildlands Alliance each year, the Backcountry Film Festival screens stories of outdoor stewardship, grassroots policy and advocacy work, backcountry adventure, and snow cinema by human-powered advocates, athletes, activists, and outdoor enthusiasts.
The 2021 festival will run from DEC 3 – 13 and features 14 films over two hours.
The festival is shown around the world. In Victoria, Friends of the Earth is the local host.
There are three options to watch it this year.
Continue reading “Three ways to watch the Backcountry Film Festival”
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