The first weekend of September 2022 saw a few hundred backcountry enthusiasts gather at Mount Hotham for the first in-person Victorian Backcountry Festival since 2019. A purely volunteer-run event, it ran over three days with a rolling schedule of backcountry tours, workshops, talks, short films, gear repairs and competitions.
Many of Mountain Safety Collective’s members were closely involved with assisting the festival as guides, coordinators and speakers, with our signature sponsor Arc’teryx providing free demo gear, Mammut sponsoring prizes for the avalanche rescue competition at the Avalanche Training Centre, and Capital Brewing serving some much needed refreshments for the volunteer guides.
Gearing up each morning after the safety briefing.
Friday morning kicked off the with the daily safety briefing before groups were allocated for the first of the guided backcountry tours. Split into introductory or intermediate tours depending on attendees’ experience, this saw as many as 21 groups exploring 6 distinct areas around Hotham’s backcountry.
As people trickled back from the first day’s touring, the first series of speakers got started at 2pm in The General, which served as the central hub throughout the festival. Friday’s talks focused on “Climate change and the Victorian Alps - preparing for the fires of the future”, MCed by ABC News’ Melissa Clarke, herself an avid backcountry skier.
Checking the terrain with guide and MSC Ambassador, Drew Jolowicz, for a tour across The Razorback.
Saturday saw a lot more people arrive for the morning tours with the afternoon speaking schedule discuss “Getting the skills you need to get out - and back - safely”. There was some harsh irony on Saturday afternoon while these talks were happening when a skier who wasn’t participating in the festival fell down an icy slope in one of the touring zones and needed to be rescued by our volunteer guides alongside Hotham’s ski patrol. Despite the drama of the rescue that saw the victim needing to be winched to safety demo a deep gully, the skier luckily escaped any serious injury.
MSC’s Assistant Forecaster, Kyle Boys, scoping options for the morning’s tour.
That evening saw everyone trekking up to the outdoor bar for a beautiful sunset, music, food, beer and socialising.
Sunday was rinse and repeat, with perfect weather to explore The Razorback out towards Mt. Feathertop. MSC ambassador Tim Macartney-Snape took this as opportunity to summit Feathertop itself in an energetic one day push, but most people lapped up the sunshine and stayed close to the resort.
MSC’s Owen & Alex enjoying a post-tour bevy from Capital Brewing on The Razorback
Sunday’s program wrapped up with talks on local and international adventures, with Hamid Shafaghi showcasing his homeland Iran, Luke Frisken tempting everyone to explore Georgia, Thredbo backcountry guides taking us through the NSW Main Range and Hotham’s Bill Barker keeping things local and talking about the avalanche problem we experienced this season.
The challenge was then thrown down for NSW to organise next year’s backcountry festival by Cam Walker. We’ll need to wait and see about that, but a huge thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this year’s festival such a resounding success for the backcountry community - great weather, ripple snow and an wonderful people to share it all with!