Table of contents for Issue 180, Winter 2021 in Wild

[Letter of the Issue] SOLITUDE FOR SMELLY BUSHWALKERS Dear Wild (Re: Your ‘Luxury Lodges = Wilderness Lost’ articles in #178 and #179), We are experiencing the confluence of three significant factors. One is the rise of uber capitalism and the ruse that business generates most of our employment and wealth. Little credit is given to the public sector that enables business to operate effectively, or our universities and other research institutions that generate most of the knowledge on which industry depends. We should value our natural and cultural heritage sufficiently that they are adequately funded without resorting to the current [privatised and outsourced] business model where profit remains the dominant motive. Secondly, risk management is so dominant that many in the general population are convinced they cannot undertake an adventurous…

Forty years ago, Wild emerged on Australasia’s magazine racks and keen lovers of the natural planet have enjoyed it ever since. It is sobering to think that most current readers were not on the planet when Wild was born. However, I was—along with many—enduring the most dreadful days of the campaign to save the Franklin River from the Gordon-below-Franklin dam. Things looked bleak. A new outdoors and adventure magazine seemed peripheral to the cause, but we at the Tasmanian Wilderness Society lashed out and bought a full-page colour ad (Ed's note: see p72; the photo of the Franklin in the ad was taken by Bob himself). It was a tilt towards optimism that the future would see Australia’s unprotected wild places saved, starting with the Franklin. Besides that, Wild gave…

To celebrate Wild’s anniversary, I decided to revisit Issue #1 to see how outdoor gear has changed in four decades. As I turned the pages, names from yesteryear came flooding back—Puradown sleeping bags, Brixia boots, Typhoon foul weather clothing. There was also a full-page text ad, written in close type, that told the Mountain Designs story, which at that time was only eleven years old. But the big news, perhaps, was an ad announcing that Macpac and Wilderness had combined to form Macpac Wilderness Equipment! As expected, some of the gear advertisements looked a little … dated. Sleeping bags scored the highest representation with four dedicated ads, the most memorable being New Zealand’s Fairydown, who promised the ‘lightest bag in the range’ at a positively buoyant 1.87kg. Kimpton Feather Industries…

Protect Our Winters (POW) is a not-for-profit organisation that’s mobilising the winter sports community for positive action on climate change. Since its formation in the United States in 2007, POW now has over 130,000 supporters, and has formed chapters in all corners of the globe. That includes Australia, where a chapter was established in 2018. Wild’s editor James McCormack asks POW Australia’s Lead Advocate Josh Fletcher about the organisation’s goals here in Oz. WILD: If you’re a snowsports enthusiast, winters in Australia in terms of snowpack already seem dodgy enough. What are the threats specifically to our winters here? JF: The simple fact is that if temperatures continue to rise, then so does our snowline. If you’re a skier in Australia (resort or backcountry, it doesn’t matter), there’s at most…

Filmmaker (and Wild contributor) Nathan McNeil talks about the genesis of the movie, and the difficulties in filming and moving through Southwest Tasmania. “Rob Saunders mentioned a loose plan to go to the Southwest National Park in Tasmania to find his great uncle’s grave. When we met to chat in greater depth about the plan, he explained the history of John Stuart, and how he died in the 1950’s on a climbing and bushwalking expedition to the very remote Federation Peak. Rob then said there was some uncertainty about what led to John’s death, and that he was buried under a rock in a place now called Stuart Saddle in the Eastern Arthurs, and that there was no recorded location of his grave. I was sitting across from Rob in…

(Warning: This piece discusses suicide, self-harm, and mental illness.) The wilderness has long provided solace to humans, welcoming us in all our troubled incarnations onto its surging rivers, lonely backcountry trails, and windswept mountain summits. Into the wild we carry our troubles, frustrations, and our angst, to shake it all off on the flanks of rugged ranges and raging seas, trading sweat and adrenaline for the sense of calm that nature—effortlessly and always—instils in our busy minds. Whatever the magic that nature works on us, it’s something that outdoors-loving people have trusted for centuries. Nature soothes us, and in troubled times, sizing ourselves up against all that nature can throw back at us can be precisely the salve we need. Sometimes, sweating and struggling, facing challenges and solving problems (and…

Looking through any old magazine is like opening a time capsule from another era, revealing the dreams, the heroes, the aspirations and the achievements. The first impression of Wild Issue #1 is that it’s so tactile, so real. You can see the grain in the images, the effort in the design. The blood and passion and commitment are tangible in the stories and the magazine, and you can imagine the community it was set up to serve, thirsting for the first delivery of their very own publication. This Wild-shaped window into ‘80s Australian outdoor culture also points to bigger transformations. It’s obvious how much the internet has changed the role of magazines: There is so much space devoted to information you’d now find online—functional, newsy snippets about what people are…

What’s your favourite cover? Here’s Wild’s editor’s fave: While Martin Stoll’s photo for Issue #175 is probably the most meaningful Wild cover ever, I can’t go past 1987’s Issue #23 cover as my personal fave. It’s silly, muddy, and screams Tasmania. Issue #22’s was up there, too.…

If it weren’t for the fact that Mt Zeil/Urlatherrke is the Northern Territory’s highest peak (1,531m), I doubt it would ever make anyone’s peak-bagging bucket list. And even being one of Australia’s State 8 (the highest peak in each Australian State/Territory), there are still only a handful of hikers who manage to climb its summit each year. As a footnote, Mt Zeil was the last of my own State 8 summits and—as you’ll read—one of the toughest of the eight mountains I’ve climbed. Located at the western edge of the West MacDonnell Ranges, Zeil’s summit offers fantastic views toward the more-famous Mount Sonder (1,380m) and the peaks surrounding the world-renowned Larapinta Trail. However, in order to enjoy these views, you must endure hours of scrambling over jagged, hot rocks, weave…

Now, hopefully you’ve read Xavier Anderson’s piece ‘The DWR Problem’ in this issue of Wild. If you haven’t, check it out (p42), but in short, most Durable Water Repellent treatments involve the use of PFCs, which are harmful to both humans and the environment. When Xavier initally wrote the piece though, while both he and I knew of a few garments out there with PFC-free DWR, neither of us knew of waterproof/breathable garments existing that not only don’t use DWR, but that don’t use chemicals at all. But then we learnt about Helly Hansen’s proprietary waterproof/breathable fabric Lifa Infinity Pro which, in short, instead of using chemicals, achieves waterproofness via fibre selection, and through physical manipulation of the materials, such as heating and stretching. To be fair, the fabric is…

Forty years is a long time, whether for a human, a business, or a magazine. And when you consider how much has changed since 1981, it’s amazing that Wild Magazine is still going. We’ve gone from A-frame tents to ultralight flies; steak and potatoes to freeze-dried risotto; first Australian ascents of Mount Everest to plans for fat-tyred bike expeditions across Antarctica. And throughout it all—the early days of planning and graft, the boom years in the 80s and 90s, the advent of the internet and the resulting digital disruption—Wild has been publishing at least quarterly, sending packets of inspiration out into the world. I’m in my forties too. From this far along the track, I can see the importance of the long game, and have realised that a lot of…

Wild is no ordinary magazine. Since its establishment in 1981, Wild has been the inspiring voice of the Australian outdoors. It is a magazine of self-reliance and challenge and sometimes doing it tough. While it is not necessarily hard-core, what it certainly is not is soft-core. It is not glamping. It is not about being pampered while experiencing the outdoors. Wild does not speak down to experienced adventurers. And Wild does not look on conservation as a mere marketing tool. For nearly four decades, Wild has actively and fiercely fought for the environment. Campaigning to protect our wild places is part of our DNA. Show that you care about stories that matter by subscribing to Wild. Better yet, subscribe to Wild yourself and tell your friends and family how great…

Though these days Wild is produced using modern, digital production and design techniques, it was while recently reminiscing about Wild and its longevity that I was brought back to some of the old publishing techniques used in the early days of desktop-publishing technology. These production techniques may seem like they’re from the age of the dinosaurs, but to Wild’s staff, we were just so excited to be a part of these new and developing technologies. Here’s a sense of what production was like back then, looking at Issue #33.…

When the bike-tour company shuttle driver arrives at our motel in Omarama, he is visibly distressed to find our gear piled on the driveway. His usual Alps to Ocean (A2O) clients have a wheeled suitcase and a daypack, ride rented e-bikes between lodges, and carry only the day’s provisions. We have two bikes, two child seats, a bike trailer, camping gear for four, three food bags, two daypacks, and two small children. He is sceptical of our plan and our ability to pull it off. When we disembark at the Tekapo B Power Station, our chosen starting point, we surprise him by assembling our bike trailer and packing it with all our gear in less than five minutes. He reckons maybe we’ll be OK, after all. In fact, we surprise…

I wanted to try out my son’s Osprey Aether Pro 70L pack for a multidayer at Mutawintji. I called it ‘borrowing’. My son called it ‘theft’. My wife arched an eyebrow. I mean, hello, it was me who’d paid for the thing! Anyway, I pulled off the heist, and was so impressed by the comfort of its harness system that when a new generation of Osprey packs was released, I was eager to give one a crack. The upshot? I was impressed. I ended up going with the Aether Plus 85, although because I went for the S/M version, it was actually 83L (the L/XL is the full 85). Advertised at 2.76kg (my scales said 2.95), the Aether Plus 85 was heavier than the pack I’d been using, but without…

It was exactly forty years ago that we’d hitched to Melbourne from Adelaide via Arapiles. The journey had started auspiciously by scoring a lift in a pink Cadillac convertible. Luckily it had been sunny, the wattles were in full bloom, and as always, the rock at Arapiles had uplifted our spirits. My then climbing partner Lincoln Hall and I were on an old-fashioned slide show tour about our recent trip up the elegant north ridge of Ama Dablam in Nepal. Our intention was to raise money for our next subsidised holiday to hopefully another cold and breathless summit. True to form, there’d been good indications that the Melbourne crowd would be healthy in number. How could it not have been in the sport-loving capital of Australia, where amongst others, we…

DON’T FRACK THE OUTBACK Fracking, a process for getting gas out of deep shale rock by drilling horizontally and injecting chemicals that fracture the rock, is one of the biggest environmental threats to the NT. It mostly happens in remote Aboriginal-owned land, and is deeply unpopular with Traditional Owners and the broader population; it pollutes groundwater, releases emissions, and requires industrialisation of the landscape with thousands of wells, pipelines and heavy machinery. Learn more at: alec.org.au/dont_frack_the_outback_alec Hannah Ekin, Arid Lands Environment Centre TEAM KOWARI While Elon Musk aims for Mars, a small group is striving to preserve life in a remote Mars-like landscape here on Earth. Related to Tassie devils, Kowaris are tiny-but-fierce marsupial predators living on the vast gibber plains of the Sturt Stony Desert. They are adept survivors…

Cam Walker is a victim of his own success. The organiser of the Victorian Backcountry Festival (a celebration of ‘all things backcountry’: alpine touring, XC skiing, split-boarding, snow camping, winter photography and more) is, well, no longer the organiser. The annual event is just a few years old, but with numbers expected to swell to 400 for the 2021 iteration, the organising committee has risen from one person to seven. “It’s not my thing anymore,” says Cam. “It’s time for me to let go, and for the community to own it.” But that was always the point. “I just really like community events. If you go to North America, there’s all sorts of backcountry gatherings. I felt we should have one here; it’s an attempt to have a gathering of…

Born in 1882 to wealthy parents, Freda Du Faur grew up in Ku-ring-gai, Sydney. There she learned the basics of rock scrambling, but it was her first family visit to the mountains of New Zealand that really set her heart alight. She persuaded her father to allow her to visit The Hermitage, a popular resort hut below Aoraki/Mt Cook, where she was enthralled by the beauty of her surroundings. Returning the next year, determined to try her hand at mountaineering, she hired renowned guide Peter Graham. Her daring attire and unwillingness to hire a non-climbing chaperone brought gossip from the society ladies, but she was unfazed, and her natural ability and unbridled enthusiasm shone through. In a time when most women were trapped in domestic roles, Freda was an example…

Happy Birthday Wild! Congratulations on reaching 40. Chris would be proud indeed to see how Wild continues to celebrate wild places and seek their preservation. On looking again at the ideals Chris set out in the first issue of his dream—a dream he held from an adventurous childhood—it is pleasing to see that 40 years down the track they are still being upheld. Technologically things have changed, but at the roots the philosophy has not. I quote the message from Chris in his farewell editorial (Wild Winter 2005): “From the outset we were adamant that Wild would be ‘different’—it would not be just entertaining but also truly informative, even educational, and it would also do everything possible to ensure the preservation of wild places.” It is great to see the…

In recent years, quite a few strangers have greeted me like a long-lost uncle. I get big handshakes. Even the occasional hug and kiss. These chance meetings often bring forth reminiscing. Unprompted tales of ridges scrambled and gorges followed, not to mention epic descents, busted gear and campsite shenanigans. The common thread is a devotion to being in the wilds, plus a surprising allegiance to a magazine that’s been giving those experiences a voice for twoscore years. During the last quarter of this stretch, I’ve been in exile on Kangaroo Island. Far from a life of seclusion, this time has become more public than any decade that went before. Among the upshots of guiding at a lighthouse has been a string of accidental encounters, including with a number of Wild…

“I was at West Cape Howe, Western Australia, when I photographed these climbers making their way up the wall with the roaring southern ocean below and a helluva storm approaching. They had about an hour until the rain set in; it’s not the place to get stuck.”Jeremy Shepherd Perth, WA Jeremy wins an OSPREY TALON 22 PACK, valued at $199.95. With trekking pole, ice axe and bike helmet attachment points, it’s a versatile, multisport daypack, at home bagging peaks or on cycling adventures. SEND US YOUR WILD SHOT TO WIN GREAT GEAR! For a chance to win some quality outdoor kit, send your WILD SHOT and a 50-100 word caption to contributor@wild.com.au…