As the dispute continues between Facebook and the Australian government over the media licensing laws, Mountain Journal has been caught up in the cross fire. All the content has been removed from our facebook page. This has happened to many other community, environmental, snow and outdoors related groups.
Until we get our page reinstated, I thought I would add mountain related news stories here on a daily basis. Newest content will be at the top. Continue reading “Daily mountain news”
After moving online in 2020 due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the Victorian Backcountry Festival will be back at Mt Hotham in 2021.
The Festival celebrates the growing movement of ‘all things backcountry’, focused on human powered winter activities such as cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, telemarking, alpine touring, split boarding, photography and snow camping. This will be the fourth year that the Festival has run, and the second time at Mt Hotham.
The Festival aims to not only provide an introduction to the ever-growing suite of backcountry activities, but to also make it more accessible to the general public, whilst educating them about mountain safety.
Continue reading “The Victorian backcountry festival is back in 2021!”
Dinner Plain in the Victorian Alps is hosting a 4 day adventure festival over the weekend of January 23 – 26 (the Survival Day/ Invasion Day/ Australia Day weekend).
It will feature a range of free and paid events, including:
Check the Dinner Plain website for full details, and bookings.
I can’t remember when I first discovered Mountain Gazette magazine. Somewhere in the distant past. The last time I found it ‘in the wild’ was in a mountain hut above Breckenridge in Colorado a couple of years ago, where old copies had been left by backcountry skiers and riders. MG was an inspiration for this website. I always loved its quirky and idiosyncratic take on ‘mountain life’. After a long absence, MG is finally back in print and the first edition (# 194) is wonderful.
The magazine started its life in 1966 as the Skiers Gazette. It morphed into Mountain Gazette, stopped production in 1979, then was reborn in 2000 and ran until 2012. Now, Mike Rogge has purchased the magazine and given it a new, new life. And it’s gorgeous.
Continue reading “‘Mountain Gazette’ gets another life”
Mountain Journal covers anything that seem relevant to mountain environments and mountain culture here in south eastern Australia and lutruwita/ Tasmania. It has a strong outdoor adventure and environmental protection ethos, which influences what issues we cover.
As we move into the end of year reflections, I wanted to ask readers what they enjoy and what they want to see more of on the website.
Continue reading “Call out for feedback and stories”
As 2020 races towards Christmas and New Year, lots of us are thinking about presents and holidays. Here’s a few ideas about some of the great businesses in north east VIC that you could support. As we all know, these regions were hard hit by last summer’s fires, two rounds of pandemic lockdown and a shortened ski season.
This is like #emptyesky for gear and adventure operators.
Continue reading “Support mountain businesses this summer”
The Backcountry Film Festival is a pre-winter tradition in Melbourne, with screenings usually happening in autumn. Other towns and cities in Australia sometimes also host the festival. Sadly, in 2020 the festival couldn’t go ahead as a screening because of COVID-9 lockdown.
We want to test whether to host a virtual festival before Christmas, or wait until next year in the hope we can hold a ‘real’ (face to face) screening.
Continue reading “Backcountry film festival – should we go virtual?”
Your chance to give back to Victoria’s Alpine Region, hit hard by bushfires and Covid-19.
The Victorian alpine community has a special place in all of our adventure hearts, filled with beautiful mountains, great people and businesses, amazing food and memories shared through generations.
But the community we all love is hurting – first with the bushfires, then the cancellation of the 2020 ski season due to Covid-19. They need our help.
Which is why the team at Amer Sports have brought the Australian outdoors and snow industry together to create an online auction for you to support the alpine businesses doing it tough in Victoria.
Continue reading “Victorian Alps relief auction”
Last summer’s fires burnt through communities right along the east coast of Australia and across large sections of the High Country. The sheer scale and ferocity of the firestorms made many individual fires unfightable. Many covered long distances in short periods of time, racing across the country. In some instances, like at Mallacoota in Victoria’s far east, they literally pushed communities to the beaches and into the water.
The fact is that these are the fires of the ‘present future’ – the climate change fuelled era that we are already passing into. This means ever worse fire seasons which, in turns means greater impacts on the people, businesses and communities that live or rely on increasingly fire prone landscapes. As noted by fire historian Stephen J Pyne, we now live in the ‘pyrocene’ – the age dominated by fire.
As was shown by last summer, the economic costs of fire seasons can be devastating. But there is something else going on that is obvious – on a personal and emotional, even spiritual, level. Many people are struggling with post traumatic shock, and many now hold a deep unease about the places they call home. Many people now openly express fear of the bush, and the fires that will come, summer after summer.
Continue reading “Living with the Fear”
The Backcountry Film Festival is a pre-winter tradition in Melbourne, with screenings happening each autumn. Other towns and cities sometimes also host the festival. Sadly, in 2020 the festival couldn’t go ahead as a screening because of the COVID-9 lockdown. Hopefully we will be back to ‘business as usual’ in 2021!
The program is put together by the Winter Wildlands Alliance, who say: ‘We believe in the power of humans and their spirit. Our mission is to manifest that power in communities through stories of activists, adventurers, and the outdoors to inspire and activate’.
‘The 16th Annual Backcountry Film Festival will be 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’.
We hope to screen it in Melbourne in March or April 2021. Stay tuned for details.
There are 10 films in the 2021 season (you can check them out here) covering everything from slacklining in the mountains of Norway, climbing and skiing in Svalbard, doing the “Vallée Blanche” ski route in Chamonix, to gorgeous clips from the Revelstoke backcountry.
Check here for further background on the festival.
HEADER IMAGE: From Life beyond Fear.
LOWER IMAGE From Lost.
The 3rd Victorian backcountry festival should be happening this weekend at Mt Hotham. Sadly, the coronavirus lockdown meant we had to cancel the event. However, we have organised a wonderful, free, online event tomorrow afternoon (Sunday September 6).
It will be a relaxed Sunday afternoon full of FREE backcountry speakers, seminars and workshops. It will be held over Zoom. There are three parallel streams, finishing with a screening of the great Australian backcountry film The Western Faces.
Continue reading “Online Victorian Backcountry Festival 2020”
Because of the COVID-19 lock down, we have had to cancel the Victorian Backcountry Festival for 2020. However, in lieu of the festival that was scheduled for 4 – 6th September, we are planning a relaxed Sunday afternoon (Sept 6) full of backcountry speakers, seminars and workshops to be held over Zoom.
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