A pleasant little Nightmare

June 3, 2018June 3, 2018 | flynny101

02-06-2018

Marchelle Anna Pete and meeeeee.

With the worst of the scrub still recovering the effects of last years hazard reduction burn this is a pleasant trip at the moment.

I pull into the meeting spot and note someone is missing. Ev broke down on the highway, Marchelle informs us. She wont be coming.

Buggar.

But we load ropes and packs into my ute and off we go, weaving our way down into the mighty Wolgan valley in between green pastures, towering cliff lines and Kamikaze kangaroos.

We park at the start of the Ruins walk for Newnes shale works and make our way down river to everyones favorite little pass, The pipeline track

Some carefull tip toes to keep our feet dry on a cold morning

Why you’d need to carve an arrow here is beyond me. Its a clear track and there is no other way to go…..

Well that’s a good way to warm up. We gain the top and make a quick side trip to the lookout.

Looking back up the Wolgan towards Mistry Mountain

Last months hazard burn on the otherside seems to have added some colour to the cliffscapes. Marchelle looking down the valley towards Big Glassy

1-Photo 2-6-18, 10 49 40 am_preview.jpeg — ©Marchelle

After a brief stop we continued up the Pipeline trail spearing off just before it heads down green gully towards Glen Davis.

The trail out along the ridge between the Wolgan and the Capertee is reasonably clear indicating the canyons up this way are getting more visitation than they use to. The views out over the Capertee towards Tayan Pic are superb but soon we veer off trail and make our own way along a side ridge.

In the trackless terrain it is easy to veer off on the wrong ridge and end up in the much wetter Devils Pinch canyon but with the scrub mostly clear after the Haz burn following the right ridge is much more obvious.

Before long we begin descending into the gully that will soon drop into th etop of the canyon. We scramble around the first abseil described in the Jamison guide and find a big tree with an bright yellow tape anchor right at the start of the main constriction.

There has been much talk about using Single Rope Techniques (SRTs) on the ozcanyons group over the last few years and they seems to be gaining more momentuem, especially in the newer generation of canyoners. It’s the norm in most other countries. Thou other countries also tend to have either much higher water flows or much less prevelent anchor options.

Though I trained in their use and used SRT way back in my brief stint as a guide and it made sence to me in thate situation for private groups I’ve always preferred the throw and go, loop the rope through the anchor and every one abseil on double ropes.

When heading out with Tim’s group I’m happy to fit in with their SRT method of isolating the stands with a butterfly knot and people abseiling on alternate stands.

Last weekend I attended a training day with the Upper Blue Mountains Club where we practiced setting SRT with a releasable anchor. IE isolating the abseil strand with the Munter/mule.

The advantage of this is if someone gets stuck on rope for whatever reason you can undo the mule under load and use the munter hitch as a belay to lower them to the ground.

Now in mumblecoughmumble years of canyoning I’ve never come across a situation where I needed to do that but it got me thinking (must be getting old or the weekday job of Safety Cordinator is rubbing off on my weekend self) What if that 1 in 100000 case came along. Sure there are other methods to preform a rescue but are they as safe and as quick and if they didn’t work would I be kicking myself for not using the “Rigging for Rescue” technique?

Anyhoo Anna is pretty keen to put this technique to use in every canyon trip she leads and I thought it might be a good idea to run this trip that way for practice (Ev had done the training day too, so it’s a shame she missed it.)

So I rig the first drop. I really had to think about it as it was a long abseil requiring 2 ropes working out where to put the munter so the knott would not impede it took more thought than it should have, It’s pretty bloody obvious but I guess thats why you practice these thing is relativel benign situations so these it become second nature.

All sorted I head down first.

Hey Chardie, Calls up I from a ledge halfway down. This isn’t where we normally drop in.

It’s a very nice abseil down over 2 big ledges and around a corner.

If it wasn’t for the very dry conditions this would land in a pool that looks like it might get over waist deep, probably the reason we don’t normally drop in there but today was dry enough to get around.

Was a bit worried about the pull down around the corner and over the ledges but a test pull indicated it should come fine and Anna stopped on the last ledge to pull the knot down to her so it owuld be less likely to catch.

Anna. Last person comes double rope as usual.

A short down climb and we round a slight corner to see the cliff face we usually come down directly above the next short drop.

This one is shortish, maybe 10m but its a tad narrow, and I’m not. Big shoulders and stomache bones or sumfink

©Marchelle

This results in some gentle exfoliation as I squeeze on down.

Chardie about to get to the narrow bit. There is some balancing on sticks to avoid more than wet toes at the bottom

From here there is short tunnel like bit and some careful bridging

Marchelle staying high to avoid wet feet

The canyon opens out for a bit with some short abseils and tricky down climbs. We are blown away at how dry it is. Little holes that usually involve contorionistic moves to stay dry are now little more than damp sand and sometimes not even that.

Then there is 3 long abseils in a row. All of them can be done as shorter ones using intrim anchors on ledges and chock stones but they are nice to do as long ones and the rope pull seems fine on all of them.

The first of these involves a tricky start then some delicate moves to stay above some chock stones (going under would make the pull down difficult) then round the corner and down down down.

The next one use to be rigged off the log but pull down was very dificult. An eye bolt has been installed backed up by 2 very old climbing nuts whose wires seem very rusted… IF you are going to use that anchor I’d take nuts to replace the ones there.

A tricky start onto a ledge, around a corner, over a boulder and another tricky start and a narrow slot . Seems to be a theme in nightmare.

Looking out the dark final chamber over the Wolgan

The final abseil is awesome but lands in nut deep water. We opt to have lunch in the chamber at the top figuring it would be better to eat up here while we are dry than to get wet and then stop to eat down there in the wind.

It was a nice spot for a bit to eat.

13-Photo 2-6-18, 2 42 16 pm_preview.jpeg — ©Marchelle

15-Photo 2-6-18, 2 42 45 pm_preview.jpeg — ©Marchelle

3/4 of the way down the last abseil I run into the spot of bother and think maybe I’ll need Anna to put the lowering me down method into practice. There is a knot in the rope below me. Usually no big deal. Just stop pull the rope up and undo it (tip for young players. Stop early and pull the knot up to you. The closer you get to the knot the harder it can be to get slack and if you abseil down onto the knot you’ve got buckleys of getting it undone)

Usually when the rope knots itself it just a few loops caught on themselves and a bit of a shake get is clear. This had somehow done a proper job on itself and I had trouble getting it undone while hanging in space. I was nearly ready to call out for Anna to pull the mule and lower me when I got it sorted and continued down.

Now what if I hadn’t been able to undo the knot or hadn’t been on a lowerable system?

I hadn’t yet locked off properly and was trying to undo the knot left handed so I could lock off to get both hands free as my first option. Second option would be to prusik back up to the ledge or top and sort it out there so I’m confindent I could get myself out of that situation. But what if it happened to someone less experienced or without those skill sets? (Other than the obvious everyone on a private group should get themselves those skills sets. Good point but we were all beginners once.)

Those at the top could deploy the spare rope, someone could even abseil down to me to help out. That all takes time and hang syndrome becomes a factor. Abseiling down to help out puts the rescuer at risk too. So much to consider.

Anyhoo I clear the knot and continue down

Looking up from the bottom of the last abseil

I land in the pool. It’s cold. My outie becomes and innie and I make my way to the side to belay the others

20-Photo 2-6-18, 3 01 46 pm_preview.jpeg — Anna on the last drop ©Marchelle

With a bit of team work the first person down can pull the others across to the dry bosun chair style. if all works well. Chardie had rigged a bit too much friction and struggled to pull him self across and ended up in the drink. Anna and Marchelle managed to stay dry.

From here we follow the base of the cliffs around and back down to the car.

All up another great day in the bush with great company.

Party size: 4 all experienced

Time: 6hrs 50min car to car.

I wish I was a glowworm. Glowworms are never glum. How could you possibly be sad when the sun shines out your bum : Anon

How much did the rigging for rescue slow us down? Last year with a slightly bigger group the trip took us 6hrs 23min car to car. Today practicing what’s still fairly new to us took us 6hrs 49min. Though there is probably a bunch of other factors in there as well

So what are my thoughts? I’m still undecided.

Anna was keen to only lock off one side of the rope and keep the other stand at the top to avoid confusion.

I prefer to do a munter/mule in both strands to allow people to rig up alternate strands and quicken things up. If you then need to lower then the person on the spare strand gets off and it’s quick to undo that one altogether and lower the other. Which is fine until you have 2 ropes joined with a knot at the top and then it’s not posible.

So here what I see as the pros and cons. Feel free to comment if you have other ideas.

Pros of releasable SRT using Munter/mule

Simple to set up and fairly quick to tie once you practice a bit
Ability to quickly and safely lower a stuck abseiler down to the ground.
Ability set the end of the abseil strand just on ground/water level to make getting off the rope at the bottom quick and easy

Cons of releasable SRT using Munter/mule

It does take longer to tie and untie (not to mention it’s a ugly looking knot)
Rope wear and tear. A single strand taking full weight obviously is under more strain than if you were abseiling on double strand.
Chardie pointed out abseiling on double rope with an isolating knot at the top gives you some back up if you cut one strand on a sharp edge. Not an advantage if you use throw and go with out isolating.
Only possible to use one strand if the abseil involves joining ropes.
Can be tricky if the anchor is close to/below the edge but not too much more than normal.

So I’m still tossing this one up. the ability to quickly and safely lower a stuck abseiler down to the ground is a big consideration though if you have a competent person at the top with a spare rope is it that much quicker and safer?

If the stuck person is unconcious I’d say yes.

What is the liklihood of that happening though? And does that likelihood justify the slightly longer more complicated set up of each and every abseil?

Also when lowering do you increase the risk of having the rope fail while rubbing over unprotected edges fully wieghted?

I don’t know.

Is it appropriate for all situations? Maybe not.

I’m leaning towards it being a valuable tool that is appropriate for certain applications but should be backed up by various other skills and knoweldge.

Being able to set the end of the rope just to water height is a big advantage in highwater but we don’t tend to have that in Australia.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Views over the wolgan

May 20, 2018September 9, 2020 | flynny101

19-05-2018

Madie, Autal, Catherine, Chris and meeeeee

With the weather turning cold it’s time to focus on dry trips. Depite popular opinion there are a number of dry(ish) canyons not to far from the usual summer trips that are worth a look. This one is a short day in the Wolgan.

The canyon itself isn’t that great in regards to length and depth of the constriction but it has a couple of standout features and great views.

We met at the servo bright and early and sorted car pools to drive down to the car park. Mick was joining us for the haul up through the cliff lines but then leaving as he had afternoon plans in the bigsmoke

Madie was running 5min late but, hey she had a 4hr drive to get here so no one blamed her. Oh, in a previous blog I stated she needed a constant supply of chips and chocolate. that was just a bit of fun after she brought a large pack of chips on the trip I didn’t mean it to sound like she was a snack scoffing fatty. She usually eats nothing but kale washed down with a cup of steam, or sumfink. I’m the fat guy on our trips.

Anyhoo.

The frost was lifting off the tops and down in the valley it was a glorious morning so we wasted little time in setting out up the hill.

Our path up is typically steep but relatively easy for the Wolgan.

Some Pretty section of creek and grand overhangs break up the climb

Autal reaching up for that last hand hold….

and soon we are bathing in sunshine on top of the stunning clifflines that seem so impenetrable from the valley below.

Chris stretches out in the warm sunshine

This is where Mick leaves us and heads back the way we came up. For the rest of us it’s a relatively easy stroll up through the scrub to intersect a faint trail along the ridge.

There is a pleasant bit along the ridge before we drop back down through the scrub to our first anchor point above a 30m abseil down through one of the highlights

Autal filming Cat as she starts her descent into the unknown. ©Madie

Over the millenia water running down a sloping face have carved a deep groove into the rock befre hitting a band of iron stone that created a small pool halfway up the cliff line. Evenually this pool eroded deeper and deeper until it bored a hole staright through the cliff

Abseiling down through that hole is an amzing experience and somewhat scarey as at first it looks and feels like you wont fit ©Madie

Madie preparing to drop into the hole ©Autal

From below the hole is stunningly circular

And once through there is still a long abseil to the gully below

A short, dark cave section follows

Then there is some bounder hoping and scambling down beside the creek before it tries to canyon up

Autal at the start of the short canyon section ©Madie

On our trip last year we were greeted with a deep, very cold pool here that soaked every up to their necks. Today we didn’t even get our feet wet.

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click to enbiggen

And then the next highlight is a drop down through this stunning hole through the rock

The light in this section is just magical but hard to capture with a little point and click camera

At the bottom is usually a deep plunge pool that takes some manoeuvring to get across without falling in. Today it was nearly dry but I made them do the bridge anyway 🙂

The hole opens into a chamber with an amzing window out over the Wolgan

Autal in a hidden slot int he wolgan cliff line

Yours truly heading back out into the sunlight ©Madie

Autal emerging from the upper cliff line

We have lunch in the sun light on the halfway ledge and then there is one more long abseil before the quick march down the hill to the cars

It doesn’t get much better than this on a warm Autumn day ©Autal Farkas

A day in the bush with a fun bunch of people is the perfect chatharsis for the stress of the modern world

Party Size: 5 all experienced

Time: 6hr car to car

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Surefire Canyon

January 2, 2018January 2, 2018 | flynny101

31-12-2017

Julie, Madie and me.

Despite doing the nearby Heart Attack canyon a couple of times for some reason I’d never done Surefire.

Meggsie always said it was his favourite canyon, mind you that was back in the days when you could drop a car on top of the exit ridge and then drive pretty much to the start.

Now there is about a 7km walk in and a 10km walk out.

This is one road closure that frustrates me a bit. I understand closing trails that were becoming rutted out messes but this is a flat ridge top trail with little chance of rutting out. The “End of the World” Lookout at the very end of the trail where Deans Creek Merges with Rocky Creek and they flow into the Wolgan is jaw droppingly awesome. Oh well if you want to see it now it’s a 12km walk each way along a flat dull fire trail so plenty of time to enjoy your wilderness experience i suppose.

Anyhoo.

When Julie asked if I wanted to do Surefire I thought it would be a great way to finish off a big year of canyoning and I jumped at the chance. We met Madie at the Zig Zag, pile gear into her ute and head off for a big day of adventure.

The walk out along the original fire trail is as straight forward as it gets. The 1970 mineral exploration trail that branches off that and leads out to the end of the ridge overlooking the canyon is very overgrown and the start is hard to spot unless you know where to look. We lost the trail a couple of times but the ridge is easy to follow and we’d regain the trail with out too much drama.

At the end of the trail we spend a bit of time looking for the borehole put in by Coalex to confirm mineral reserves in the 70’s. I had driven out here 20+years ago and the stand- pipe at the end of the road was obvious but for some reason we couldn’t find it today.

We scramble down to the cliff line and needed to traverse back and forward a bit to find a ramp that would get us all the way down to the creek. Once down it was a easy stroll down a nice gully until the creek dropped into the dark canyon below.

a sure fire-6.jpg — Looks innocuous enough

We suit up, Madie and I opting to go wetsuits, Julie perhaps smarter in just a shark skin thermal top. It was a tad warm.

a sure fire-9.jpg — Madie on the first abseil

a sure fire-8.jpg — Julie happy to be in the canyon

a sure fire-11.jpg

There are 3 or 4 abseils in close succession. Hey Craig get a photo of this. Calls Madie as she turns herself upside down.

Despite the focusing issues the light in the canyon was superb. I can see why Meggsie liked it so much.

a sure fire-16.jpg — Julie at the top of drop 3

There follows a short walk inter-spaced with some scrambles along a stunning section of canyon.

a sure fire-20.jpg — I guess with the road being closed the long walk in and out has meant the canyon has retained an almost untouched feel to it

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a sure fire-28.jpg

And then we came to a section where stick jams create a false floor and there is an anchor set up on a large log wedged across the canyon walls.

a sure fire-31.jpg — Julie on rope descending into the dark chamber

a sure fire-32.jpg — Madie at the top of the 4th abseil

This chamber was dark enough that Madie chose to put her head torch on but just as she began her descent a shaft of light beamed down to illuminate her. It was kinda magical

a sure fire-33.jpg — it had been almost pitch black when me and Julie descended

More glorious canyon continued

a sure fire-41.jpg — Julie in a deep narrow section of canyon

We came to another drop we needed to abseil. Tom’s track notes say it may be able to be downclimbed but we found it very slippery and perhaps the log jammed in the drop had moved… either way we thought it best to rope up.

A short, cold swim through the narrowest bit of canyon followed, the only real swim of the trip.

a sure fire-44.jpg — looking through to Julie on the other end of the swim

a sure fire-50.jpg — Madie emerging from the swim, head torch blazing

from here the canyon opens up slightly but is still high quality

a sure fire-55.jpg

a sure fire-61.jpg

We eventually reach the lunch cave and stop for a well earned bite to eat.

the usual exit is to head back up stream 300m and take and side creek up a gully, perform some dodgy acrobatics to climb out, then wander up through pleasant coachwood forest to regain the ridge top and old fire trail.

I know an easier exit, Julie informs us. 400m downstream is a short steep gully that gives easy access to the top then it’s a short distance up the ridge to the firetrail. We took it 8years ago, much easier.

OK, we make our way down with some boulder hopping and route finding then head up the chosen gully.

The gully wasn’t as quite as simple as promised… Looks like the 8 years since her last visit has filled it with deadfall. Clambering over, through and up it zapped a bit of energy.

Well for me and Julie it did. Madie seems to have an endless supply of energy and positivity so long as there is regular supply of chips and chocolate. That’s pretty… This is fun….Wow, that’s cute….

We come to a short, “interesting” climb up through a hole. I slip up with a little bit of grunting and groaning (It’s been a long time since I considered myself a rock climber) and then drop a rope for the ladies, because that’s the kind of gentleman I am, or sumfink.

Your truly hauling his arse up the dodgy climb in the gully that avoids the usual dodgy climb photo ©Madie Paige

Eventually we find ourselves on a wide ledge and Julie leads us back toward the canyon, rather than continuing up the gully.

There’s a old bushwalkers saying around these parts “The Nose always goes… Sometimes.”

We follow Julie back to around the corner to the nose of the ridge past a narrow, steep ramp that might be doable, to a wide ramp with easy walk up access to the top. Works everytime. Occasionally.

The view from the top, down Surefire gully to where it empties into Rocky Creek is top notch and we take a moment to grab a drink and soak in the views.

Now it’s just up this open ridge to the top of the knoll and the old fire trail is just over the other side. Julie explains.

Up we go in high spirits.

Except the knoll has a false summit, and then another, and another…. The higher we go the thicker the scrub gets. I’ve got scratches all over me, Julie is cut to bits, Madie is still smiling and having a great time….

We finally get to the top of the not so grassy knoll and give a sigh of relief at finding the old firetrail.

Now it’s just a 10km boring fire trail slog back to the car.

Let me know when you see the gate. Says Madie at some stage. Oh don’t worry I’ll be whoo-hooing says i

Sometime later, it may have been 1.5hrs it might have been 40 days and 40 nights I kinda lost track of time but eventually I let out a whoohoo.

Madie pushes past me. Race youes to the car. Call she as she breaks into a sprint.

Seriously too much energy… We “let” her win

all in all a big day and a great, if somewhat short, canyon. I’m sure in another week or so I’ll admit the walk in and out was worth it 🙂

Party Size: 3 all experienced

Time:9.5hrs car to car

Doing what you want is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

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Stunning light in Rocky Crk Canyon

December 23, 2017December 29, 2017 | flynny101

23/12/17

Gaz, Lauren, Renee, Jodie, McKennzie, Rob, Sav, Dick, Luke, Swav and me

I think I have mentioned before that Rocky creek canyon is my all time favourite. I’ve no idea how many times I’ve been through but I still get goose bumps every time we get to the spot on the entry track where you start to hear the little waterfall at the start.

Anyhoo

We leave town at sparrows fart and make our way up to the carpark. We are early but there is one other car already there. It looks vaguely familiar but I don’t take a lot of notice as we gear up and swing down the entry track towards Twister (not Sheep dip).

I’m a bit excited.

Wet suits get donned. stuff gets crammed into dry bags. For some reason I always seem to get a lot of go pro footage but not many photos in Twister and the opposite in Rocky but I digress.

1 rocky-1.jpg — Rob double checking where to aim. Yep that big wet bit.

For quiet a few of the group this is their first canyon and despite a few nerves on the jumps the smiles are big

1 rocky-3.jpg — Curro getting into the swing of it.

1 rocky-6.jpg — Macca taking the leap with out hesitation

1 rocky-11.jpg — Soon she is styling it up

1 rocky-10.jpg — Lauren was probably the most nervous on the jumps but she didn’t let the nerves get the better of her

1 rocky-12.jpg — Jump. Slide. Jump. Slide. Repeat. Twister is a hell of a lot of fun

1 rocky-13.jpg — But all too soon it’s over and we have a 30min walk down to the Junction where the little stream that the entrance track follows meets with Rocky

1 rocky-14.jpg — The soft morning light on the way in promised some thing special once we hit the canyon

Up ahead the waterfall can be heard. My pace quickens. And then Rocky creek comes in on the right and where our little stream meets it it plunges into an inviting slot

1 rocky-15.jpg — I realy can’t describe the feeling I get looking in here. Must be a bit like a coffee addict catching the aroma of the best coffee they have ever smelled

1 rocky-16.jpg — Rocky creek never disappoints me

1 rocky-17.jpg — If they thought the water in twister was chilly they are in for a surprise. I feel a bit sorry for curro who was toughing it out in a rash shirt.

1 rocky-22.jpg — One of the small drops in the canyon

1 rocky-23.jpg — The swims start short but get longer towards the end

1 rocky-24.jpg — After a fun constriction the canyon opens up breifly and offers a fun slide or small jump in a sunny pool

1 rocky-26.jpg — The walls soon close in again and up ahead the sun beams look magical

1 rocky-28.jpg — And they keep getting better

It was about here I walked around the corner and see the light of a camera ahead. Think I might have walkedinto someones carefully composed long exposure shot.

Sorry, calls I, How awesome are these rays.

Is that you Flynny, comes the reply.

Oh Autal. I couldn’t see who it was, how are you mate.

We have a quick chat. He has been in there for a while already and is keen to stay a while longer chasing the changing light. We leave him to his snaps, can’t wait to see them, and continue down.

1 rocky-35.jpg — The soft morning light casts and etherial glow

1 rocky-40.jpg

1 rocky-43.jpg — The lower constriction really is sublime

1 rocky-44.jpg — And just before the junction with Budgary( originally Buggery) creek we emerge back into the light.

We do our best to catch a bit of sun to warm ourselves while having a quick snack.

Now it is posible to continue down the creek aways and then climb out via a break in the cliffs then follow the ridges back to the car. I prefer to reverse back up the canyon. In the little time it takes to turn around you can guarantee the light will have changed. Plus you see things you missed on the way down.

We grab packs and head back up the canyon

1 rocky-47.jpg — As I said the light changes

1 rocky-48.jpg — And you get to experience the canyon from different angles

1 rocky-49.jpg

1 rocky-52.jpg — The sun ray were awesome on the way down but not half and hour later they were on a complete other level

1 rocky-54.jpg — Rocky creek canyon dwarfs you, engulfs you and reminds you your troubles aren’t even a blip on the geological time scale

1 rocky-58.jpg — And the beams progress from sun to tractor

1 rocky-61.jpg — Almost need UV protected sunglasses

1 rocky-64.jpg — Light behaves both as a wave and a particle and sometimes like a solid bar of awesome

1 rocky-66.jpg — Everytime I turned around I though I have to get a photo of those rays

1 rocky-67.jpg — And still they got better

1 rocky-69.jpg — I could have stayed here all day. I was wishing I’d set up the camera on a tripod in a time lapse and could just sit and watch it all unfold

1 rocky-71.jpg — The little TG-4 was pushed to it’s limits with the contrast but did a reasonable job

1 rocky-72.jpg — Ok the others are well ahead of me now I tear myself away and continue up the canyon

1 rocky-74.jpg

1 rocky-78.jpg

1 rocky-80.jpg — Renee negotiating on of the little cascades on the way up

1 rocky-81.jpg — Curro feeling a tad shivery in his rash shirt by now but not far to go

1 rocky-83.jpg — I can see the exit up ahead. I assure him

1 rocky-87.jpg — Lauren is keen for a swim under the falls

1 rocky-88.jpg

1 rocky-90.jpg — Back where it all began.

All in all a great day out.

With the early start Autal was the only one we saw in the canyon itself. A few groups walking in as we were walking out and a few cars in the car park but much quieter than I thought i would be on such a nice weekend near christmas.

Party Size. 11. 4 experienced 7 beginners though most of them have experince in varying outdoor activities

Time: 4hrs 20min car to car

Rocky creek canyon dwarfs you, engulfs you. Your troubles fade in the face of it’s grandour. They aren’t even a blip on Rockys geological time scale

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Newnes Canyon, AKA Starlight, AKA the Amazing Wallaby Tunnel

October 8, 2017October 14, 2017 | flynny101

07-10-2017

Ed, TJ, Sav, Tina, Rob, Autal and me

Most people do Newnes ( or Starlight) Canyon as a round trip, climbing up the pipeline trail, working their way around the ridges and abseiling in. And don’t get me wrong that’s a great way of doing it but there is a lot to be said about doing it as an up and back from the bottom.

The canyon is off limits over winter as it is an important hybernation cave for bentwing bats and disturbing them during their sleepy time invariable leads to a percentage of them dying as there is no food around food them to replenish the energy it takes to come out of hybernation.

Anyhoo, I had planned to do this earlier in the year on the last weekend before the closure except in the week leading up NPs put out a notice that they were hazard reduction burning and all the canyons in the area were closed…….

Fast forward to the other end of hybernation season and we were good to go.

The plan was to ride down the maintenance trail from the locked gate, stash the bikes then make up way up to the cliffline and into the canyon.

I’ve done it this way several times and have always been able to get all the way up to the bottom of the abseil point (the top of the canyon) no dramas. However, last summer people were reporting deep swims in the tunnel and while that is normal after heavy rain the fact that the water hung around post rain had me thinking maybe something in the floor or blockage had changed.

Not tha I was too worried about long swims after the dry winter we’ve had but the thought of a deep wade through stagnant, bat shit filled water wasn’t that inviting. I needn’t have worried as the tunnel was as dry as a nun’s nasty.

But I get ahead of myself

While bikes arn’t necessary they do turn an hour long fire trail walk either way into the 20min ride and the ride down was uneventful, almost. Tina had a small off at the bottom of a loose down hill on a sandy corner and hurt her elbow. As a mad trail runner that didn’t bother her. a sore elbow would not stop her from running so no worries. We hide the bikes in the thick scrub and head across the river which is about as low as I’ve ever seen it.

Up the hill we went taking a bit more of a meandering route than I usually take which made the climb up fairly simple, then we took in the views down the Wolgan from the base of the upper cliff before working our way around into the canyon.

Looking down the magnificant Wolgan Valley

Entering into the lower canyon is like entering another world. The micro climate is completely different to the scrub out on the exposed hill side

This is magical, Flynny, says Sav as we make our way up through ferns, coachwoods and vines so big that at first you think you are stepping over a fallen tree, only to realise its a living vine.

I smile to myself, this is just the appetiser and I think that is the reason I like doing the reverse trip of Newnes Canyon. The starlight section is so awesome that when you come through it from the top you are in such awe of the top section that you kind of over look how spectacular this bottom section is.

There are a few scrambling sections but everytime you would otherwise be blocked tree roots and vines have grown into the perfect pass up.

And then, just as you are thinking the walls are petering out and the canyon is about to open out the upper cliffs encroach and suddenly the canyon closes in

A lovely narrow section of canyon follows and again people remark how awesome it is. But again I know it gets better

Autal in the long section of deep, narrow canyon

Tina with head torch on as the walls get higher and the canyon gets darker

The canyon breifly opens out and what was dry, bare and sandy suddenly becomes damp, lush and green

And then we reach the Amazing Wallaby tunnel, better known as the Starlight section, high up the walls close in so much, become so twisted, and are jammed with chock stones that it forms a high narrow tunnel.

I feel on previous trips the glowworms were far more abundant, maybe that has to do with the dry winter, maybe it’s just the time of year as I think it’s around mating season for the flies, maybe it’s just modern headlights are so bright now you don’t notice the worms unless you tuen them off and give your eyes a few minutes to adjust, or maybe the bats had a wormy feast when they awoke

After 300m or so of tight twisting tunnel the roof opens back up and just around the corner is the waterfall that is the normal absiel in point.

I have known people to absiel in here but be blocked by deep water in the tunnel so they had to prusik back out and abseil in further down. I also know of at least 1 group who pulled their ropes without checking the tunnel was passable and were forced to spend a couple of days huddled here waiting for rescue…. When absieling in the first person need check all the way through the tunnel before getting others to absiel or pulling ropes.

And after taking time to enjoy just being there we leave Ed and TJ to get about photo phaffing with their good cameras and the rest of us make our way back down

Autal in a narrow squeeze admiring the bats far above

We have a bit of lunch and then explore up a side canyon called Upside Down canyon.

The bottom section of Upside Down involves some tricky climbs up through small holes. I made the first look far harder than it was mainly as I forgot had the go pro on a chest mount and had to do some contortioning so as not to scracth the crap out of it.

Rob squeezing up through one of the holes. It’s about 7foot straight down, if you squint you can make out Tina down below him

Our path was blocked by this small waterfall

I remeber the water fall from previous visits and started brisging up, the walls were a tad slippery, I had no doubt we could get everyone up, what I did doubt thou was getting people back down safely without ropes… I’m sure there use to be a log or something here to make the down climb simpler.

Anyhoo despite knowing the top section has some pretty bit I decide it’s not worth the risk today so we turned tail and headed back down.

Ed and TJ are still phaffing so we sit back and just take in the surrounds

Honey comb walls. we sat and watched the bird dart in an out of pockets and holes

I’d noticed this massive vine knotted around the base of the tree on the way up and was hope to catch it in the right light on the way back down. The light did not disappoint. Another advantage of doing the canyon as an up and back the changing light can be magical

And before long we are back at the Wolgan river

The ride back up the valley is a bit more difficult than the ride down but for a mountain biker it’s still better than trudging along a fire trail.

Party size: 7 mixed canyoning experience levels but all experienced outdoors

Timing: 6hr 20 with lots of photo phaffing and chilling out

People talk about their comfort zone as though it’s a place they want to stay don’t they realise your comfort zone is the most dangerous place to be

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What a Nightmare!!!

August 19, 2017August 19, 2017 | flynny101

Nightmare canyon

19/08/17

Tim, Kent, Sheila, Marchelle, Ev, John, Doug, Craig, Pete and me

Nightmare canyon, it sounds, um, nightmarish but it’s a pleasant, if somewhat short, canyon in the Wolgan valley with some interesting abseils.

I’ve been enjoying heading out with Tim, Kent and their band of canyon addicts, they run great, well organised trips.

Anyhoo, it was back to the Wolgan and up everyones favourite little hill, the Pipeline trail

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You can’t walk up the pipeline without a side trip to the lookout. It’s the law.

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Click to enlarge

Hazard reduction burn late last year has left the ridge denuded of the usual nightmareish scrub

And it wasn’t long until we drop into our creek

Tim leads down the second drop which looks delightfully…. I mean nightmarishly tight

The kind of absiel that wakes you at night in a cold sweat

What terror awaits us around this corner? Probably a demented clown or something, We’ll let the girls go first

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Marchelle disappearing into the abysys

Everyone knows lime green is Disney’s colour for evil

Well except when you plunge into the nut deep pool. My outie became and innie again.

Oh sure they pull Kent across so he doesn’t get wet… Favouritism

Like the fossilised remains of this dragon

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But it also has it’s grandour.

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Then all too soon we are back in the valley at the ruins.

Party Size: big but all experienced and a rope for every drop

Time: 6.5hrs car to car

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing views…” Edward Abby

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Windows

August 5, 2017August 6, 2017 | flynny101

05-08-17

Tim, Yuri, Scott, Louise, Peter, Sophie, Craig, Autal and me

Ah Windows 95, while Machintosh ensured “1984 wouldn’t be like 1984!”, Windows 95 took Graphic User Interface and plug and play and made it accessable to the microsoft masses who had thus far been stuck in MS-DOS. It may have been the first and last time people got excited about a Windows release.

Anyhoo.

Windows Canyon is nothing like that.

It’s more of an absiel trip with canyony sections and the access as well as the length and tricky starts of the abseils has probably kept the masses at bay.

We park up and do the meet and greet. This time around Tim is going to be ringmaster it’s his circus and we’re his monkeys and he rallys us up for the pep talk then we are off

Up we go. Out of the wind it’s a pleasant winters day wind jackets and thermals will soon be shed

In the spirit of adventure we opt to go a slightly harder route up that contains a little shimey up a rock climb

After climbing up through the cliffline the cliff edge is a great spot to have a drink and a bite ot eat

Yuri on a brittle shelf way above the Wolgan

Don’t worry it is a bit of an illusion as there is another wide ledge just below and the pedistal is way more solid than it looks.

Autal thought he’d replicate Yuris photo and handed me his brand new TG5 camera. Now over night it was windy. All morning it has been windy. But we really didn’t get too much wind all trip, except as Autal approached the pedistal where a gust of wind plucked the beanie right off his head and made it soar.

Like wow, I’ve seen some pretty impressive paper planes in my day but nothing that caught on the wind like that beanie. Go little beanie. Go!

It went and went and went and went before finally dropping down into the tree line and snagged in a tree in the distance.

Bye bye beanie

Oh well a bit of scrub bashing later and we were in our gully

Scott leading one of the tricky to start abseils

Craig 1’s new rope gets a test out. Flynny’s rope law. New ropes always tangle

Over the chock stone or under the chock stone?

Louise absieling through the arch “Window”

A window on the world. Louise setting up ropes

Another great day in the bush with great people

Time: a tad under 5hrs car to car

Thanks to Tim for organising and making it run so effortlessly.

“Get out there now and make sure you become part of the glorious past in somebody else’s future!” Andrew Penny

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Tiger Snake Canyon

July 2, 2017August 4, 2017 | flynny101

01-07-2017

Ed Tal and me

Tiger snake is a cool little canyon. The two canyon sections are very short but the top one is tight with some interesting climb downs/absiels and the bottom section is magnificantly deep and narrow making it very cave like. One of the few “dry” canyons where you need a head torch in the midde of the day.

It’s a hard subject to photograph well but we had a goal in mind for sun set shots at a spot close by and thought this would be a good way to fill in the day.

-7.5° is almost a record low over night temp for the ‘Go, lucky its a short day and we weren’t planning to leave until 10am. By then most of the frost had melted and while cold, the sun was shining nicely.

The walk in was fairly uneventful and we reach the cleft where the small creek drops into the upper section without incident

Tiger Snake-1.jpg — It’s an awe inspiring fissure, Narrow and dark

In all our previous trips we have absieled directly down here. It is an awkward absiel, as you have to bridge out over the narrow section to a bit that gives a bit more room, then you are pretty much down climbing on rope, if you slip you are going to swing in and get grated into the narrow bit… This time we deside to check out the alternate anchor point from higher up on the pagodas next to the slot.

The views fromthe top are amazeballz

Tal and Ed checking the view and enjoying the sun shine

It also gives you a great perspective over the top section of canyon. It really is narrow and short

Tiger Snake-3.jpg — That dark slot drops 15-20meters down before openning up just around the corner

Tiger Snake-5.jpg — The abseil from the higher anchor point is still narrow and awkward but you don’t feel you are goign to get pulled back into the narrow slot, plus you miss a little pool so keep your feet dry for a bit longer

Once in there is a slipery down climb, another advantage of the high anchor and long ropes is you can leave them set to assist you dont this bit and along the log to keep your feet dry again

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And then it’s the infamous bundle of sticks anchor. Where some one has placed a surperfluous fixed line.

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Tiger Snake-10.jpg — Hmmm that water looks cold, might take a few balancey moves to keep our feet dry

Tiger Snake-12.jpg — Tal descends as Ed watches on

Tiger Snake-13.jpg — Ed unclipping on a tiny ledge as he contemplates how to keep his feet dry

With the advantage of a bit of hieght I managed to bridge across easily. Tal had a bit of a go but decided the risk of slipping in outweighed the thought of getting his socks wet so just stepped in. Ed took a bit of time and all but done a Van Dam like set of splits but made it across the small, wet, slippery, sloping ledge.

Tiger Snake-16.jpg — The top section finishes with this 17m absiel next to a small water fall

It is possible, with some good scrambling and down climbing skills to do the entire top section, including this bit, without abseiling but it is risky and why would you miss this one? It’s a very nice abseil

Tiger Snake-17.jpg — Ed on rope Tal on firemans belay

It’s a short walk down the gully, the creek is dry again with the wtare from the canyon soaking into the sandy soil, to the lower constriction

There are acouple of ways in. Entering straight down the creek is nice but it is an awkaward drop and you do get wet at the bottom. This is the way I have been on all previous trips except the last one.

The other way is to scramble along the top of the canyon on a dodgy ledge to a anchor high up on a chock stone bridge. You do miss a bit of very pretty canyon but with a bit of scrambling/climbing skill you can make you way all the way up to the bottom of the awkward drop.

On the plus side the high entry is a great absiel down a dark hole and you keep your feet dry

Tiger Snake-22.jpg — Ed Disappearing down the rabit hole

Tiger Snake-24.jpg — It’s 20-25m straight downinto the darkness between walls so narrow that half way down you turn around to put your feet on the oposite wall

We spend some time in the dark depths snapping photos. Hopefully Ed gets some shots he can work with. My little TG struggled a bit in the darkness with my small head light trying to light paint the walls. My bike lights might have been better able ot illuminate the scenes.

Tiger Snake-27.jpg — Ed sitting high up on a delicate arch within the darkness of the canyon

Tiger Snake-29.jpg — Ed on a narrow bridge getting ready to defend 13 dwarves and a hobbit against a Balrog!

Tiger Snake-33.jpg — Ed at the exit portal

Tiger Snake-36.jpg — Tal and ed making their way downthe boulder scramble below the canyon

Tiger Snake-37.jpg — What goes down must go up. Climbing out

After doing all the “extreme” stuff I go arse over tit on the flattest part of the trail back to the car. I slipped on a slimey log, thought I’d caught my slef only for the momentum of the haeave pack to tip me over and drive my head into the ground. Mush laughter was had at my expense..

Driving back along the Coach rd we are stopped by a car coming the other way. How much further is the camp ground? says he

Which camp ground ar you looking for? say I

The one at New-nes, is it New-ness? says she

Newnes. You wont get there going this way.

We lost GPS when we turned off the highway.

Yep but you turned off the highway 20km to early and have gone 30km out of your way. 45years ago you could drive down from here…

they ask if there were any spots to camp up here and decide on a rough camp rather than trying to drive all the way back around in the fading light. Did I mention -7.5°? The night promised to be just as cold and they don’t really look like the outdoors type.

We point the way to a bit of a area where they might set up camp and wish them well then head off to capture a sun set from the cliff lines above the Wolgan

Tiger Snake-44.jpg — Sun set over Donkey Mt. People might pay thousands of dollars per night to stay atthe resort below us but they wont hae views like this.

Tiger Snake canyon

Party Size 3 all experienced

Time: about 5hrs car to car with a lot of photo phaffing

‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”” — J.R.R. Tolkien

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The Dry Canyon

June 25, 2017 | flynny101

25-06-17

Catherin, Devon and I

So after our trip through River Caves Mandy had to be back in town early but the rest of us decided to take the drive out to the dry canyon which is always a great one for showing newbies

It’s a bit pongy today, says I. Probably that dead dingo, says Catherin. Don’t know how I missed it. Poor thing looks to have taken a few wounds and sort refuge up in a little alcove but didn’t make it through.

Dry canyon-2.jpg — Standard dry canyon shots to come

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And with plenty of time in the day we decided to slip over the tops to bask in some sunlight and take in the views

Dry canyon-7.jpg — The pagodas that from the Dry canyon with Donkey Mt in the back ground

Dry canyon-9.jpg — At least here we can look down on the rich bastards in the Emerites resort

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Dry canyon-11.jpg — Its a long way down into that dark cervice to where we just were

Dry canyon-12.jpg — It doesn’t feel like it arcs so much when you walk through it

Dry canyon-14.jpg — Heading back up the middle canyon section

Dry canyon-15.jpg

All in all a pleasant day in the great outdoors

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“the great French climber called it ‘The conquistadors of the useless.’ Yeah, the end result is absolutely useless, but every time I travel, I learn something new and hopefully I get to be a better person.” – Yvon Chouinard, 180 Degrees South”

	Popeye Canyon Lower… on Popeye canyon, upper
	Popeye Canyon Lower… on Banks
	Hole In the Wall… on Banks
	Banks – sleepw… on Nose Dive
	Banks – sleepw… on Hole in the Wall and Banks…

sleepwhenwearedead

blue, mts, canyon, canyoning, mtb, mountain bike, gardens of stone, Lithgow

Wolgan

A pleasant little Nightmare

Views over the wolgan

click to enbiggen

Surefire Canyon

Stunning light in Rocky Crk Canyon

Newnes Canyon, AKA Starlight, AKA the Amazing Wallaby Tunnel

What a Nightmare!!!

Windows

Tiger Snake Canyon

The Dry Canyon