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Metropolitan Collieries Pty Ltd convicted of offences after overflows of coal-laden water near the Royal National Park Metropolitan Collieries Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy, has been convicted in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales for three offences under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW). Metropolitan Collieries was prosecuted by the Environment Protection Authority (‘EPA’) and pleaded guilty to two offences of water pollution and one offence of contravening its environment protection licence relating to the maintenance of a dam. Metropolitan Collieries Pty Ltd operates the Metropolitan Colliery, a small underground coal mine located in Helensburgh NSW near the Royal National Park and the Garawarra State Conservation Area. Camp Gully Creek, which flows into the Hacking River, runs adjacent to the south of…
Perseverance, that’s what comes to mind when I look back at this image. We were on the West Coast of New Zealand, trying to find a way to reach the summit of Mt Aurora via its east face. It’s not a prominent peak, nor a very technical one, but its west face offers a very nice ski line and that was our plan for the day. The base of the east face is relatively steep, and the conditions at the time were very deep with a typical crust on soft snow. I was putting the track in, and it took me more than half an hour to progress 100m in the above-knee-deep snow. The rest of the group was waiting for me to be out of trouble to safely carry…
[Letter of the Issue] RESPECTFUL DISAGREEMENT Dear Wild, Thanks for your excellent most-recent issue (#195) of the magazine. I read Ross Taylor’s piece on the Arapiles climbing ban with interest. Many excellent points are made in the article. I think Ross is missing a point, however, and is blaming Parks Victoria. They have unfairly become the whipping post. Reading the piece, I was constantly reminded of Jennifer Peedom’s movie Sherpa and the interview with a sherpa who says that he doesn’t want to climb the mountain as it is a deity to be respected and cared for, but that he has little choice economically. At Dyurrite, climbers do have a choice. In the movie, some of the climbers show little respect for the mountain, for themselves, or for the sherpas.…
I’ve been thinking a lot about the past lately. And it’s Wild’s fault. Well, actually, it’s Dan Slater’s fault. Oh, and Adam Flower’s too. Dan, as you’ll read later in the issue, has written an excellent piece that delves into the philosophy of big trips. What defines one? How do they change you? And how do you even go about tackling one? Anyway, since I’ve done a couple of big trips myself—a 53-day solo hike through the Japan Alps, taking in all ten of the country’s highest peaks, and, in my younger days, a 52-day solo hike through the Canadian Rockies, with that trip starting just days after a separate 13-day hike just north of the 52-day one; for all intensive purposes they were the same trip—Dan decided to interview…
Sliding down the face of the wave, I can’t help but let out a little whoop. The clichés are true: It’s like flying, a pure thrill of movement. I don’t think; I just adjust my weight and turn to ride along the wave. I’ve been surfing for years, without much commitment, progress or skill. But this bit has finally clicked. Rather than putting in another stroke or two so I feel secure, I’m springing to my feet early, watching the wave drop away in front of me and then gliding down its slope. And each time I whoop with the thrill. (That’s on the good waves. There are plenty of others.) When it goes oh-so-smoothly, there’s not much conscious thought. Instead, I’m paddling for a wave and then suddenly on…
Thirty degrees with the sun glowing hotly onto red rock feels good for a moment or two … if you’ve just stepped out of a cold, sunless cavern. But if you’ve been toiling up a long hill under that sun, carrying a pack full of climbing gear, as we did just a couple of weeks ago, it was something to escape from as soon as possible. Luckily for us, aspect favoured us. Shade had not long crept over our destination, so we could dump our packs, mix and drink a generous draught of rehydration salts—refreshingly lime flavoured—and then let the dry air suck up our perspiration while we admired the stunning surroundings in comfortable shade. The cliffline known as Moonarie—an amphitheatre of multi-faceted buttresses that forms Wilpena Pound’s outer southeast…
