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Tasmania

Cradle Mountain plan to increase tourism

An announcement about a new tourism plan for northern Tasmania has raised the possibility of there being new developments adjacent to the Cradle Mountain National Park.

The Examiner reports that:

AN ‘‘EDGY’’ plan to upgrade Cradle Mountain tourist facilities aims to have a similar effect on tourism numbers in Northern Tasmania as the launch of the Spirit of Tasmania.

The master plan, formed over six months and spearheaded by the Cradle Coast Authority, is expected to be launched late this week after stakeholders are briefed.

Continue reading “Cradle Mountain plan to increase tourism” →

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An inquiry into the Tasmanian fires?

In a good development on the Tasmanian fires, the Senate has formally called on the Federal Government to establish an independent inquiry into the recent fires in Tasmania’s World Heritage Area.

A motion moved by Greens Senator Nick McKim and Labor Senator Lisa Singh passed the Senate on Monday afternoon.

Continue reading “An inquiry into the Tasmanian fires?” →

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TAS fires pose threat to high-altitude areas

Lightning strikes lit well over 100 fires across Tasmania in mid January. As of Feb 3, more than 50 are still burning, and there have been significant impacts on townships, especially in the north west and north of the state.

Check here for details on the status of the fires, why they are so destructive, and whether there are links to climate change.

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New developments on Ben Lomond?

A feasibility study has released which looks at the potential for further development at the Ben Lomond ski field in north eastern Tasmania. It is called Investment in Ben Lomond Skifield Northern Tasmania. It was produced for a range of clients including local government councils, Tourism Northern Tasmania, the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service and the Ben Lomond Committee. The committee is composed of the club / lodge and business operators at Ben Lomond and acts as a lobby group for the Ben Lomond skifield.

It proposes some significant developments be undertaken on the plateau in order to make the ski fields viable and extend the ‘green season’ attraction of the mountain. It identifies the likely financial costs of these developments without suggesting a source of finance. It points out that the development will lead to economic benefits across north western Tasmania rather than just the skifield itself. However, while noting the environmental impacts which could come with these developments, it makes no attempt to quantify these.

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Mt Wellington road to be heritage-listed

Anyone who has been to Hobart has probably been up Mt Wellington (kunanyi), the charismatic mountain that sits over the city. The road up the mountain allows you to get from sea level to an alpine environment with incredible views with just a short drive.

While there is an ongoing fight to stop a cable car which has been proposed for the mountain, the mountain top itself is largely undeveloped. Hobart City Council has just started a process to include Pinnacle Rd as a heritage-listed item in the Hobart Interim Planning Scheme 2015.

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Mt Geryon

I don’t know any Indigenous stories about Mt Geryon, in the southern end of Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park. But I do often wonder what it must have been like for the people’s who lived and passed through the incredible mountain country of central western Tasmania. To approach this mountain up Pine Valley and finally to reach the small clearing (the old ‘climbers camp’) where the bulky western face suddenly reveals itself is always an impressive, and to me, spiritual, experience. I wonder if they climbed this peak.

So many of the features of this region have been loaded down with Biblical titles or names from the Greek Classics, something that irks me whenever I scan the map or skyline. There are some great names: I love Innes High Rocky in the south west. And closer to Geryon, there is Fury Gorge, Pencil Pine Bluff, Cathedral Mountain, High Dome, Walled Mountain, The Never Never, and the beautifully appropriate Pool of Memories. These names evoke something of the place. Peaks named after early explorers also make sense. But just reeling off a list of names from western mythology seems lazy and disrespectful. But I can live with Geryon. The three-bodied giant of Greek Mythology.

It is such a dramatic mountain, squeezed up the end of Pine Valley up against the Ducane range, and hidden in behind the bulkier looking Acropolis when seen from lake St Clair. It provides a dramatic and other worldly aspect to dinner when you’re sitting in Bert Nichols hut on the Overland track. If the word charismatic can be applied to a mountain, then it certainly applies to Geryon. Its dramatic rocky faces on the east and west constantly change their moods and even from The Labyrinth it presents itself as a ‘real’ mountain, with another thousand feet of cliffs and dramatic skyline above the Labyrinth plateau. It can be mild in The Labyrinth and storming up on Geryon and the Ducane Range. The Cephessis scree, which runs from the base of the western face down almost to Cephissus Creek, is an amazing feature, and acts as a giant staircase that leads you right to the cliffs.

Full story here.

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In praise of huts 2

Mountain Journal has previously covered the issue of huts in the high country. As we said then:

“Huts in the mountains can be a vexed issue. Huts will tend to attract people and so tend to concentrate visitation within a larger area. As one example, most people who climb Mt Bogong tend to then turn towards Cleve Cole hut rather than head across to the Hooker Plateau. This tendency to influence visitation can be both good and bad.

They are part of the cultural history of the high country, and reflect major stages in the post colonisation era: cattle grazing, forestry, hydro, even fire watch towers and, more recently, huts built for recreational purposes. We also have a number of strange and random anomalies, ones that don’t really make sense: Craig’s hut near Mt Stirling as an example, which was built as a set for a film. There are, of course, those whose primary function is safety, such as Seaman’s hut near Mt Kosciusko, and huts that belong to clubs or even schools (Geelong Grammar on Mt Stirling)”.

With growing risk of wildfire, and many huts simply ageing and starting to fall apart, there is the chance that the overall number of huts will decline in coming years. Some are carefully looked after (the Kosciusko Huts Association lists the known caretakers of huts in the Snowy Mountains) but others are falling into disrepair.

I am more interested in indigenous history of the high country than huts, but I do appreciate the cultural value they hold for many people and the practical value of refuge huts.

Continue reading “In praise of huts 2” →

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Mt Wellington cable car proposal looking less likely

There is a welcome development regarding the cable car which is planned for Mt Wellington (kunanyi). It has been long resisted by local residents.

The Tasmanian Planning Commission has recently announced the findings of a review it had carried out into the planning process. It found that there had been significant problems in the planning process around this development. It is now up to the Wellington Park Management Trust to decide whether to rezone the development boundary on the pinnacle in order to allow for a commercial ‘pinnacle centre’ to be located just above the organ pipes and a cable car on the face of Mt Wellington.

The following comes from Residents Opposing the Cable Car (ROCC).

Continue reading “Mt Wellington cable car proposal looking less likely” →

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Three Tassie eco-tourism projects approved

In theory, new eco tourism projects are a good idea, and will get more people out into wild environments in a way that doesn’t damage the environment. But when it comes to the current Tasmanian government, I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.

The following comes from The Great Walks website.

Three eco-tourism projects have been given the green light to operate in Tasmania as part of the Government’s bid to open up the state’s national parks to eco-tourism.

Continue reading “Three Tassie eco-tourism projects approved” →

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Mountain Journal turns five

It’s autumn, and so it must be time for the annual reflection on the Journal. Hard to believe its half a decade old!

Much of my motivation in starting MJ was simply to create a forum where I could appreciate our mountains and the people who are drawn to live and play amongst them. Early on, I did a few interviews with people I admire, and always love to run stories on people getting out amongst our wonderful mountain environment.

Over the past few years, the visitation has swung towards politics and backcountry adventure. This was the case in 2014 in terms of visitation. Sadly this is probably because there have been so many negative decisions taken by the Victorian Coalition government as it relates to the High Country. With the election of the ALP in November, the key threat to the Alpine national park – alpine grazing – has again been stopped.

While MJ was never really planned to be a ‘track notes’ type site, it has been interesting to see very strong visitation to the few trip reports that have been posted.

Check here for the full report.

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Hands off the Tasmanian World Heritage Area!

In January, The Australian newspaper reported that:

“TASMANIA’S  Liberal government is to take the “wilderness’’ out of the state’s iconic Wilderness World Heritage Area, rezoning it to allow tourism developments, more aircraft and ship access, and even selective logging.

The radical plans, which have provoked outrage from conservationists, are contained in a draft ­revised management plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.”

The natural and cultural values of this incredible landscape are under threat, but you can write a submission about the management plan.

Friends of the Earth in Melbourne is hosting an information night to let people know what is being planned and how to write a submission.

Please come along and find out what is really going on and how you can help Tassie campaigners to protect this global treasure!

Featuring speaker Robert Campbell (President of the Tasmanian National Parks Association), amazing photography, films, snacks and drinks.

Thursday March 12, at 6.30 pm.

At Friends of the Earth, 312 Smith street, Collingwood.

A Facebook page for the event is available here.

 

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Campaign to drain and restore Lake Pedder gains momentum

The following comes from the ABC (journalist is Rosemary Bolger). It chronicles the latest stage in the decades long campaign to have the dam waters above Lake Pedder in south west Tasmania drained so that the original lake and ecosystem can be restored.

Check here for details on the campaign to have the lake restored.

A long-running campaign to drain Lake Pedder and return the natural jewel of Tasmania’s south-west to its former glory is ramping up again.

Despite opposition from a small group of environmentalists, the lake’s still waters were swallowed up in 1972 by a massive inland sea created to supply the Gordon Power Station.

Harnessing the power of the green movement that emerged from the failed campaign, protesters went on to wage one of the biggest environmental fights in Australia to block the damming of the Franklin River.

Continue reading “Campaign to drain and restore Lake Pedder gains momentum” →

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