Issue 189, Spring 2023

Wild

Australia's Wilderness Adventure Magazine

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Wild
EDITOR: James McCormack EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Ryan Hansen GREEN PAGES EDITOR: Maya Darby PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Caitlin Schokker PROOFING & FACT CHECKING: Martine Hansen, Ryan Hansen DESIGN: James McCormack FOUNDER: Chris Baxter OAM CONTRIBUTORS: Selina Sp
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Letters
[Letter of the Issue] (Re: Wild #188’s cover story ‘The Chase’, written by Tim Van der Kroght about his team’s three-week effort to find Australia’s best backcountry lines.) Hi James, It was Tuesday September 20, 2022. Peak snow depth and a perfectly
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The Cover Shot
Truly full circle. This shot and the accompanying article are pretty symbolic for me. Anzhela (Ange) was the instructor on a multi-pitch guiding course I was doing in the Blue Mountains. At the start of the year, I wrote some big goals for myself; th
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Natural Diversity
The other day, I was bushbashing off-trail through rainforest near my home. It was lush and green. The smooth, clean trunks of coachwoods punched upwards. Vines looped from the sky. Ferns smothered the ground; the boulders were smeared with moss. The
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Get A Free Yeti Rambler Mug (rrp$44.95)
Best enjoyed while sharing tall tales around the campfire, the Yeti Rambler Mug comes in at a solid 710ml (24 oz) capacity, making it the perfect size for beverages that are just as tall as your tales. With its kitchen-grade, stainless steel construc
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Lessons From Nature
@meganholbeck www.meganholbeck.com I’m amazed by naturalists: the way they can identify birds, plants and animals, and provide explanation, wonder and insight, seems to me like a particularly useful type of magic. It’s one I’m trying to learn by cons
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Gallery
Corn snow conditions let Janina Kuzma rip full-speed turns on the classic ski mountaineering Northeast Face of Receveur Peak, Westland/Tai Poutini National Park, New Zealand. Glaciers on the South Island’s West Coast are amazing spring skiing destina
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Double Duty
Way back in Issue #182 I wrote a column on going ultralight, in which I mentioned lighterpack.com—a simple website designed to help hikers minimise their carry weight by itemising and categorising every little thing that would be in their pack. I tri
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Light Up My World
I grew up with no electricity. It was in rural Tanzania; neither the countryside nor the homes we lived in had power, and at night, we depended on kerosene lamps to extend the day. The brightest were pressure lamps, which required tedious pre-heating
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Green Pages
Around the nation, governments are aiming to silence environmentalists by radically changing protest laws. Around Australia, we’re seeing an unprecedented attack on people’s right to peaceful protest, a cornerstone democratic freedom that has protect
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Gordonvale Reserve Revisiting The Bushwalkers Rest
The walk to Lake Rhona is one of Tasmania’s iconic hikes. Long a trail known only by word-of-mouth, this eight-hour one-way walk to a glorious alpine lake reminiscent of Pedder has recently become more prominent thanks to social media. But while more
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Phytophthora Battling The Biological Bulldozer
(Unless otherwise credited) Victoria’s Otway Ranges are stunning and precious, home to windswept coastlines, breathtaking waterfalls, remnant Gondwanan cool-temperate rainforest and vast swathes of grasstree-dominated heathlands. It’s no wonder the G
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A Royal Comeback
(unless otherwise noted) “She’s about 500m from here,” says Patrick Giumelli. Patrick, a rewilding program ecologist from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is tracking platypuses in the Royal National Park, which lies just south of Sydney. While the par
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MELINDA OOGJES & PAUL PRITCHARD DOING IT SCARED TOGETHER
Melinda Oogjes and Paul Pritchard have a tendency to see the humorous side of things. Hiking the 223km Larapinta Trail in the blistering heat of the Red Centre with one half of your team suffering from a harrowing brain injury that’s robbed him of mo
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Nepal Ends A Golden Age Of Trekking
When Nepal banned independent trekking on April 1st this year, lovers of solitude and snowy, mountain-teahouse treks were left reeling. Introduced suddenly and without widespread community consultation in Nepal, the new regulations blanket all the co
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Solo (wo)man
My first multiday solo hike happened due to a COVID-19 related tantrum. The lockdown of a neighbouring area left me without work for a week, and without a playmate, so I made a snap decision to go for a six-day hike in Central Queensland, a place wit
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Spring On The O.t.
YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD A THING OR TWO about the Overland Track. You might even know a few people who have done it, or better yet, done it yourself. It is one of Australia’s most popular hikes, and for good reason. It’s stunningly beautiful. It’s acces
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Exploring With Kids
It’s 4:30AM, pitch black. We're camping in Carnarvon Gorge NP, and the remote site is particularly quiet and secluded. The camp area is surrounded on three sides by Carnarvon Creek, and is set down deep between sandstone walls. The echoes here are im
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Mountainfilm
Mountainfilm on Tour, the tour which brings best films from the famous Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Colorado, starts it’s annual tour of Australia & New Zealand in September. The tour is being presented by Colorado Tourism Office, Osprey Packs
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Fear. An Honest Review
As I throw the rope down and then watch it uncoil—over the backdrop of the Grose Valley, over the bright epicormic growth of the bush, over the airspace I’m about to step into—I go through the last checks in my head. Shoes, draws, ascending gear, a f
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The Sixth Season
RUSKA IS THE FINNISH WORD used to describe the spectacular natural autumn phenomenon that transforms the countryside of Lapland into an explosion of colour. Golden birch leaves hang from white, gnarled branches, a beautiful contrast to the flaming-re
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Goulburn River Gold
A handful of photos. A few words. And an unfamiliar name. That’s how it started. One ordinary evening (‘ordinary’ in the sense that I was doing the usual—avoiding sleep in favour of scrolling through maps and websites for more inspirational photos an
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The Best Worst Trip Ever
The question has been hiding in plain sight. Where the feck is K1? And what about K’s 3, 4, 5 and beyond? Fame and fortune in the Grand Explorer tradition await. Tally-ho old chap, off we go! Actually, I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time. See
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Reflections On The Razorback
The sound is almost hypnotic. Like a metronome, my skins glide and thud as they connect with a faded track from the day past. Crystals bounce off the exposed skin of my face as a northwest wind blows a change. Overdue snow is imminent. Like ants befo
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Blood Meridian Exploring The Giles Massif
“People die out here all the time.” It was an eerily dark day in Central Australia, a day suffocated by gun-metal clouds, and we were being driven from Alice Springs to Ormiston Gorge, our walk’s start and end point. Our driver continued: “A 20-year-
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5 Spring Ski Tours In The wanaka Backcountry
ADVENTURE SEEKERS AND OUTDOOR ENTHUSIASTS will be familiar with Wānaka, New Zealand and its alpine landscape. In the summer months, there is amazing tramping, paddling, mountaineering and even canyoning. And in winter, the main attractions are skiing
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Gordon River Road
SOUTHWEST NATIONAL PARK IS TASMANIA’S largest expanse of wilderness and its largest reserve, covering almost 10% of the entire state. It is famous as the home of some of our country’s most challenging multi-day hikes; the Western and Eastern Arthurs,
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Unsung Heroes
Scrub gloves are the perfect way to protect your hands while wriggling through Tasmania’s sub-alpine flora on warm days. Cyclone’s Invisigrip Tough Gardening Gloves (get ‘em at Bunnings for just $7.98) have a rubber palm and breathable mesh panel on
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Granite Crest Jacket
REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE. They’re three golden words we should live by. But when it comes to Patagonia’s Granite Crest Jacket, you could add a fourth ‘R’ word to the list: reincarnate. Because reincarnation is effectively what Patagonia has achieved wi
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Feathertail -12°c Quilt
AS PART OF THE ULTRALIGHT (UL) revolution, back-packing quilts have become increasingly popular among adventurers seeking light and roomy alternatives to sleeping bags. That’s especially so in the US, where the massive UL thru-hiking scene means ther
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Support Our supporters
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 h
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Veil 2l Vest
ARE YOU A TRAIL RUNNER who is sweaty? Inflexible? Clumsy? One who needs to shave a few grams? If, sadly, you’re like me, you’ll be answering yes to all of the above. And if that’s the case (and frankly, even if it’s not the case), Rab’s Veil 2L vest,
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Support Our supporters
PAST Outdoors offers a carefully selected range of hiking, camping and expedition equipment tailored to meet the needs of your next adventure. They also manufacture a range of ultralight shelters that can be heated with a titanium wood stove. When yo
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Wild Shot
Lachlan wins an awesome Osprey MUTANT 22 climbing pack. It features integrated rope carry, a wide-mouth zippered opening, customisable options for carrying crampons/other items on the front of the pack, a secure and easy-to-use ice tool carry system,

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