Table of contents for Issue 197, Spring 2025 in Wild

The snowdrifts on the upper glaciers were enormous that season, allowing an opportunity for easier access and a unique shot. Justin and I were scouting ice conditions on NZ’s Douglas Glacier on our first day at Pioneer Hut. We’d just stopped for lunch at the base of Mt Alack, and I took the opportunity between bites to frame the shot as Justin gazed off into the distance. I usually prefer to shoot photos on the move; I pull the camera out, take a few quick shots then get back to the task at hand; this occasion was n esception. After lunch, we started climbing the southern side of Alack, realising shortly after that the attractive white blanket was actually fragile, warming rime ice. It didn’t hold ice screws or tool…

Everyone’s a critic, and it’s no different for the card-carrying gear nut, only in your case (if you are one), the Dredd gaze of Medusa is directed towards the wonderful world of outdoor equipment. But whatever the object of your criticism—gear or non-gear related—one law of the universe decrees that no one will give much of a damn about your whingeing unless you do something about it. This could be anything from a simple suggestion to open the window, to standing as a member of parliament in an attempt to end the Church’s centuries of tax evasion, sorry, tax exemption (oops, a little bit of politics), or anything in between. You’d think there were enough pack brands in the world that the perfect model would already exist for any given…

“I can smell it, yeah, but I swear I can taste it in the water, too.” Geoff Law laughed. Jon Marsden-Smedley kind of shook his head, with a bit of a smile. We were searching for big old trees, and I was convinced I could taste the sweet flavour of Huon pine in the water. Not that I think I was imagining things after a week out bush, but … We were in the highly remote corner of Lutruwita/Tasmania nicknamed the ‘Spero-Wanderer’ on a mission for The Wilderness Society. Our camp, hiding under a canopy of huge myrtle, included a handful of tents nestled in the darkness next to hard-water ferns only a few metres from the white rocky shoreline of the Spero River itself. We took a break on the…

WATER-BOTTLE PRE-FILTER: STERIPEN Often it’s not just bacteria, viruses and other invisible gremlins that you need to remove from water before you make it drinkable; there are visible large elements like dirt, leaves etc that you need to remove before you even give it a final treatment. Steripen’s pre-filter screws directly onto the top of a Nalgene bottle, and can filter out bigger objects and debris and leave clear water which can then be treated by normal methods (boiling, water filters, tablets, steripens, etc). It’s fairly light, too, at 45g. JOHN CHAPMAN CRUNCHIT: JETBOIL Canister gas stoves are awesome. They’re lightweight, convenient and super efficient. But I used to feel guilty about the waste caused by the empty canisters, and often avoided using these stoves as a result. Then I…

meganholbeck.substack.com meganholbeck.com @meganholbeck There’s something disgusting about leeches. Scrap that—everything about leeches is disgusting. Their slimy skin, the way they stretch if you try to pull them off*, the little dance they do when they’re coming for you, waving their heads around in anticipation of latching on to your warm, delicious skin. The fact they suck your blood, like tiny wriggly vampires, slurping down a few times their own bodyweight before dropping off into the bush like the happy fat blood slugs they are. Over the decades, I’ve had several memorable encounters with leeches. I was a teenager when my family visited Queensland’s Lamington National Park, finding scores of beautiful waterfalls, hundreds of shades of green and plenty of slimy bloodsuckers. I still vividly remember Dad’s sock, soaked red, a…

Few things sing more of high adventure than mountaineering, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Wild Earth Ambassador Oliver Foran offers some simple tips to help you start off. Mountaineering has become a major part of my life. Before I was into it, I always thought of it as this untouchable thing that only the gnarliest of climbers and athletes did. I thought of them as the lucky ones. But after falling and stumbling my way into it, I found out that it is actually more accessible than I thought. But that’s not to say I didn't learn some simple lessons the hard way. My goal here is to help you cut out a lot of the hardships by giving you some building blocks to safely get your start. Consider…

Cautiously, I tighten the straps that are supposed to keep the wheels and frame of my gravel bike secured to the raft for the next few days. “The handlebar is really pressing into the raft there,” Xaver says, pointing at my setup. His doesn’t look any better. So, we undo it and strap it up again. It won’t be the last time. None of us have ever tried to stow a bike and loads of gear for several days on a small rubber boat. We don’t even attempt to follow the basic rule of keeping the centre of gravity as low as possible, because it’s utterly impossible. The bike and bags end up on top of the raft, way too high. Xaver expresses his doubts: “I’m curious to see how…

A Traverse of Tassie’s Du Cane Range The Goddess of Chaos had thrown her arms around me. And not for the first time on this traverse. For the third occasion here on Tasmania’s Du Cane Range, Eris—the goddess of not only chaos, but of discord, strife, disunity, of (as the Ancient Greeks would say) daimona—had thrown her psychologically threatening-to-be-dead weight arms around me, leaving me bewildered by ambiguity. Firm earth was tenuous. Cloud was the dominant feature. Scientifically speaking, it was only vapour. In practical terms, however, its impact was three-fold. Firstly, while it wasn’t ‘raining’, the clouds’ water-particle composition meant it may as well have been. These insidious, microscopic particles—stewing and swirling in Eris’s dervish wind—had me in head-to-toe waterproofs. The low temps had also prompted me to start…

“Size weenies should rejoice. The cook set is impressively small.” NEED TO KNOW Materials: BPA-free food-grade silicone; hard anodised aluminium; stainless steel Weights (as tested): Pot/handle/lid - 197g; Cup - 52g; Spork - 8g Packed size (as tested): Diameter - 14.9cm; Height - 4.4cm RRP: $149.99 More info: seatosummit.com.au REVIEW SEA TO SUMMIT FRONTIER ULTRALIGHT COLLAPSIBLE 3-PIECE COOK SET Small package, good thing. A FORTNIGHT BEFORE WRITING THIS, I did something outdoors that I haven’t done in years. Many years. Decades, in fact. Actually make that multiple decades—I went on an overnight trip without my trusty billy. I’ve owned my dented, blackened, aluminium billy since I was thirteen or fourteen; it may well be not just the oldest piece of outdoor gear that I own, but the oldest thing I own…

We get it; we know ads aren’t the primary reason you read Wild. But without our supporters, Wild simply wouldn’t exist*. If you love what we’re on about here at Wild, if you’re passionate about both adventure and protecting our natural heritage, if having a magazine that’s full of well-written, crafted stories means something to you, a magazine that fights hard for our environment, then support our supporters; without them, Wild wouldn’t exist. We know that our advertising supporters aren’t, of course, your only options when it comes to choosing what gear you purchase. But if you’re in a situation where you have a few cool options to choose from, and one of them happens to be from one of our advertisers, then show them their support means something by choosing…

“Again?” asked my wife Alexis. “You say that every time.” “No,” I responded, in an effort to save face. “I don’t.” “Yes, you do.” But I didn’t bother pushing the point, because I knew she was right. Well, she’s always right. But I kind of have to say that, don’t I? Actually, but wait! Do I? Do I really have to say that? She never reads what I write, ever, so I could—given she’d never know and thus couldn’t refute it—just come out and state that, in my disagreements with her, I’m the one who’s right. 100% of the time. Perhaps more. On this occasion, though, she was right. I’d just moaned to her, as I do pretty much every issue, that I had no idea what to write for…

Not long ago, I attended a talk given by Australian mountaineer Matt Rogerson about his small team’s third ascent of the highest mountain within Australian territory—Mawson Peak. The 2,747m peak is on Heard Island in the Southern Ocean, 4,000km equidistant between Australia and South Africa. Being where it is, the weather poses great hardship for any attempt, as the actual climbing appears not to be too hard. But the chief reason for there being so few ascents is not so much the weather, but the difficulty in getting there. The two previous ascents had utilised the most obvious but relatively expensive option of chartering yachts. Expense is often the greatest hurdle hindering expeditions to remote places. Matt’s team solved their problem with some lateral thinking—they hitched a ride on a…

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 over 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. We’ve teamed up with our friends at Wild Earth to bring you something special…

Beep, beep … beep, beep. It’s 3AM—alpine starts suck. “Pretty windy,” Matt mumbles. I just grunt, not wanting to voice my own concerns. We are high in the mountains, snug inside a tiny tin hut nestled into an improbable amphitheatre of crumbling stone monoliths. All night, the hut had been groaning and creaking under the strain of a battering gale. If that anxious racket was the hut’s voice, it was asking “Are you guys for real?” The previous day, we’d dragged heavy packs up 1,700 vertical metres from the valley below. We’re attempting to shoehorn a big climb into a small weather window: The forecast had indicated a 12-hour gap in the freezing gales, during which we hope to traverse Mt Earnslaw. It’s vital the wind drops; temps up high…

“Rick, says Tim Macartney-Snape, … made us realise that good gear could be made in Australia.” WHEN IT COMES TO THE Australian adventurescene, there are few institutions older than Wild Magazine, established in 1981. One of those few, however, is Mountain Designs, and 2025 marks a significant milestone for the company: its 50th birthday. It’s an achievement that speaks of the brand’s passion, of its dedication to quality, and of the incredible vision and drive of its founder Rick White. Rick was a rock climber from Southeast Queensland who, from the 1960s, began putting up daring, bold routes. “By the 70s,” says Tim Macartney-Snape, Wild columnist and the first Aussie (along with Greg Mortimer) to reach the summit of Everest, “Rick was one of Australia’s foremost climbers.” In 1973, he…

Standing atop the Nipple in Mugii Murum-ban State Conservation Area, I felt like I was on the edge of time itself. The Valley of the Dinosaurs stretched below me, ancient and awe-inspiring. I was grateful to share this unforgettable adventure with my uncle Rob, who often comes on trips to weird spots with me that no one else will. It was a journey through rugged beauty, rich culture, and landscapes that whispered stories from millions of years ago. TOBY FORD Central Coast, NSW Toby wins an awesome Nemo Equipment MOONLITE reclining camp chair valued at $249.95. The chair brings comfort to the backcountry, and is barely noticeable in your pack. A unique pulley system allows you to adjust your sitting position on the fly, and oversized tubes create exceptional strength…