Brian Furze

Brian Furze is an educator and advocate for community-based trekking whose work has included the Indian Himalaya, particularly Uttarakhand, for many years. Through this, Brian promotes trekking that strengthens community resilience and fosters meaningful connections between visitors, local communities and place. For him, trekking is a form of mutual exchange, where local guides, porters, villagers and their landscapes are central to the experience of trekkers, not just peripheral or background. He continues to contribute to conversations about characteristics of ethical travel in high mountain regions that are facing significant change. Brian lives in southeast Australia on the Murray River, within an hour of the Australian Alps. He discovered trekking more than 30 years ago - long enough ago to remember the sometimes painful experience of external frame backpacks - and has trekked in various locations, but continues to be particularly drawn to the Himalaya and the mountains and national parks of Australia.