CONTENTS

ISSUE #187

AUTUMN 2023

Regulars

CONSERVATION

Reconsidering Canyoning Ethics

90

64 Thank

Readers’ Letters 14

Editor’s Letter 18

Gallery 22

Columns 30

Getting Started: A Home Climbing Gym 46

WILD Shot 146

Green Pages 36

Welcome to the Pyrocene 40

74 Anatomy of a Search

Search and Rescue is a service we hope we never need. Caro Ryan, who has worked for two decades as a land search volunteer, gives us a fictional account of how a search effort might typically unfold.

FEATURES

WILD BUNCH

DESTINATION

TRACK NOTES

NONE OF THE ABOVE GEAR

112 You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know 82

Opinion: Going Solo 42

Q+A with Hilary McAllister 44

Profile: Outback Mike 50

Walking Tassie’s Frankland Range 56

Ski Touring in Northern Sweden 64

Anatomy of a Search 74

Tasmanian Wilderness WHA 40th B’day 82

Photo Essay: Chasing the Mountain Light 90

Walking the Razor-Viking Circuit 98

Packrafting the Lagoon River 106

Reconsidering Canyoning Ethics 112

WA’s Coral Coast 120

Hiking in California’s Sierra Mountains 122

NSW’s Colo River Gorge 130

Talk and Tests 136

Support Our Supporters 140

The Tasmanian WHA Turns 40

Four decades ago, UNESCO declared Tasmania’s Southwest to be an area of global significance. Geoff Law looks at the history leading up to the declaration, and at the fights since then to further protect this stunning area.

122

Destination: USA’s Sierras

John Chapman gives an overview of the fabulous hiking opportunities in California’s Sierra Nevada, and outlines a new route he’s conceived of through these fabulous mountains: The Sierra Grand Traverse.

Even on the coldest days, Genuine Thermos® Brand food and drink containers will keep contents hot for hours. The secret is Thermos™ vacuum insulation technology which virtually eliminates temperature change within the container.

A Disappointing Scorecard

Dear Wild,

I became very emotional watching the new film, Franklin. The film relives the Tasmanian dams campaign through the eyes of a young man retracing his father’s rafting trip on the way to getting arrested at the Gordon River blockade.

They were very rich and heady times to be in the movement. The day the High Court announced the Franklin would be saved was the happiest day of my young life. Many of us were optimistic that we were striding towards a more environmentally responsible Australia.

Forty years on, the scorecard is less rosy. The latest State of the Environment report provided a shocking account of the state of Australia’s natural environment. While there have been some notable environmental wins over that time, these stick out as anomalies in the inexorable flow of daily decisions and actions that degrade nature.

The very areas in Western Tasmania that were protected for their wilderness values are now the targets of myriad tourism proposals that would damage them for profit. Then there are the pervasive and insidious impacts of climate change.

The environment movement has never had the resources to address the drivers of this destruction. A key driver is our society’s lack of valuing of the natural environment and our ignorance of our dependence on it for our wellbeing. This couples with an economy that has always sought short-term and unsustainable extraction of profit to the detriment of the environment. Additionally, our economic system relies on unending growth, including constant expansion into new sectors and regions. It is fifty years since the release of the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth, which warned of the risks to humanity of ongoing economic expansion. Its message is more relevant than ever.

To secure long-term the precious natural areas essential for our recreation, we need to move to a sustainable settlement with our natural environment, which will require radical changes to our thinking and to our economy. The futures of our society and Australia’s wondrous landscapes and species depend upon it.

Jonathan Miller Curtin, ACT

SEND US YOUR LETTERS TO WIN!

Each Letter of the Issue wins a piece of quality outdoor kit. They’ll also, like Jonathan in this issue, receive A FREE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION TO WILD. To be in the running, send your 40-400 word letters to: editor@wild.com.au

Beach Inspector

Hi Wild Mag,

Here’s a snapshot of a fair chunk of rubbish collected along a meagre 80m stretch of Cowley Beach along QLD’s Cassowary Coast. Not a reflection of the locals, but from the tidal fronts drifting in from the northern counterparts of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

Rachel Schmidt Mena Creek, QLD

Quick Thoughts

On Wild’s social media posts about commercial developments being proposed for NSW’s Gardens of Stone SCA:

“Sigh. An ‘adventure theme park’. What is wrong with the people managing our public lands?” MC

“These development types are the great takers in life.” JP

Time To Testify

Kia ora Wild, Here’s the Latin root of the word ‘protestor’: It comes from protestari, meaning to ‘testify before’ or to ‘bear witness’.

It’s sad to see that now even the simple act of protest itself is under threat. How can caring for something be illegal; is it not what makes us human? Nature protesters are actually not against something; they simply protect something they love (Cousteau) and what has been here for years before us.

I went to ‘protest’ at “Protect Putiki” on Waiheke in NZ last year. Well, I mostly stayed and enjoyed the place as it was not that intense at that time, but it always makes for something [special] if you stay at one place for longer with people with the same goal. I’m happy about my protest experience where I’ve met some of the most passionate and wonderful people.

There is a Maori proverb: “People will pass but the place will remain.”

And here’s a quote from John Muir: “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

Cheers, Hajo Späthe Waiheke, NZ wild.com.au/subscribe

EVERY published letter this issue will receive a pair of Smartwool PhD crew hike socks. Smartwool is well known for their itch-free, odour-free Merino clothing, and their technical PhD socks have seamless toes and are mesh-panelled for comfort.

Jonathan’s Letter of the Issue will get something special: A Smartwool sock drawer. It’ll include hiking, running and lifestyle socks, enough for anyone to throw out all those old raggedy, holey and often stinky socks they’ve been making do with.

AUSTRALIAN MADE. AUSTRALIAN PRINTED. AUSTRALIAN OWNED.

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

PUBLISHER

Toby Ryston-Pratt

Adventure Entertainment Pty Ltd

ABN 79 612 294 569

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Toby Ryston-Pratt 0413 183 804 toby@adventureentertainment.com

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WARNING:

FOUNDER: Chris Baxter OAM

CONTRIBUTORS: Craig Pearce, Geoff Law, Megan Holbeck, Caro Ryan, Geoff Macqueen, John & Monica Chapman, David Neilson, Evelina Nilsson, Andy Szollosi, Hamish Lockett, Catherine Lawson, Nathan McNeil, Cam Walker, Tom Brennan, Jacinta Pink, Aidan Williams, Michael Taylor

This magazine is printed on UPM Star silk paper, which is made under ISO 14001 Environmental management, ISO 5001 Energy Management, 9001 Quality Management systems. It meets both FSC and PEFC certifications.

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The activities in this magazine are super fun, but risky too. Undertaking them without proper training, experience, skill, regard for safety or equipment could result in injury, death or an unexpected and very hungry night under the stars.

Wild is a registered trademark; the use of the name is prohibited. All material copyright Adventure Entertainment Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without obtaining the publisher’s written consent. Wild attempts to verify advertising, track notes, route descriptions, maps and other information, but cannot be held responsible for erroneous, incomplete or misleading material. Articles represent the views of the authors and not the publishers.

Wild acknowledges and shows respect for the Traditional Custodians of Australia and Aotearoa, and Elders past, present and emerging.