Blue Mountains Canyon News

This page has been set up to provide news of interest to canyoners and those who go canyoning in the Blue Mountains near Sydney. Please feel free to submit any items of interest to David Noble

This page was set up and is maintained by David Noble.

2009

October 12

2008

June 3


April 10


The Summit Gear Edelrid Canyon Photography competition has been a great success, with well in excess of 200 entries received!
This Saturday 12th April at 6.30 pm at Summit Gear Katoomba is the exhibition opening and prize giving, and all OzCanyoners are welcome. It will be a night of great photos, great company, and great stories from a bumper summer in the canyons.
The fine print: 80 Bathurst Rd KATOOMBA, on Saturday 12th April (this Saturday!) at 6.30pm.
See www.summitgear.com.au



February 3


2007

December 23


December 17


There is now a report in the accident register site. Quoting from it -

At this point there are two options for descent; either down the groove  on the left (facing downstream) that usually has water flowing down it, or alternatively on the right which is usually free of water. Both  options have been known to have a fixed rope in place and there is a log anchor on the right (often with slings around it) that would allow descent by staying out of the main flow of water. It is also possible  to drop off the centre of the rock into a pool of water although care must be taken to avoid a large rock that is often just under the water. A number of people have been injured here after hitting the rock. In low water the left groove is an easy scramble that for most becomes a safe slide into the water as it becomes hard to hold the handline.

Some comments -

In my guide "Blue Mts Canyons" for Wild magazine I wrote about this drop -

Before long there is another awkward short drop; it can be jumped, but this requires great care as the pool contains many submerged boulders. In low water it can be downclimbed on the left. In higher water an abseil down the right side is needed. (emphasis added)

In a posting to the OzCanyons yahoo group of 9 Nov 2004, I wrote about Claustral Canyon -

A few points -

The minimum rope for Claustral is 22m

If in flood - you can climb out before the abseils, downstream of the two waterjumps. I have climbed out onto the Camels Hump - and it was not too difficult to scramble out of the canyon, and I know of another party that climbed out on the true right - although they later had to abseil down a cutting onto the Bell Rd.

Where there are pools - it is a good idea to use an abseiling device like a piton brake or rappel rack rather than an ATC - to avoid the danger of dropping the device into the pool.

and in relation to the short drops in the Thunder Gorge section -

In really high water - they are not climb downs - and must be abseiled (emphasis added) - eg the last drop, after the tunnel, do on the right, off the high log. If you can climb down - then the water is not too high

For the second drop - the one where the accident took place - I have never seen a fixed rope in place on the true right - and it is not a climb down or hand over hand - it is an abseil. The left hand route is a climb down (in low water) - and no fixed rope is needed for this. It is quite easy to chimney - squirm down to a hidden ledge near the bottom and then carefully drop into the water - not too far out because of the submerged boulder - which slopes out towards the waterfall.

Here is a picture of the drop - taken in low water



The drop occurs because of the huge boulder. The left hand (low water) route is just right of the middle of the photo. Only a tiny amount of water is flowing down the groove. The right hand (high water) abseil route is from a log wedged on top of the second, smaller boulder on top of the huge boulder. The route goes down the groove on the left of the photo - next to the shadow. Once the abseil rope is deployed - start the abseil from the large boulder, not from the log. At the bottom - you can traverse the slopping ledge, shown on the left looking back, if you want to avoid turbulent aerated water.

I have placed a short movie of the left hand route here. This movie was taken last saturday - in fairly high water (but probably a fair bit lower than the party involved in the accident experienced). In the movie - you can see the fixed rope still in place at the top.





The above two images (frames of digital video) show the top of the drop showing the left hand route in the relatively high water of last Saturday.



This image shows a member of our party abseiling the drop using the right hand route.


December 10


I know many of you knew Ian Knapp, both personally and via this forum.
Yesterday whilst doing Claustral Canyon, Ian accidentally became wedged
in a stream of water and was forced under due to the pressure of water
and drowned.

Ian was last in our party of 4 and became jammed above the last fixed
rope climb down, about 200m upstream of the exit track, so it was
extremely difficult for the rest of us to get back up to him. Due to
the extraordinary rock climbing skills of one of the party we did
finally reach him but it was too late.
The weather conditions were fine and the volume of water in the canyon
was high but definitely not extreme. I have done the canyon safely
with Ian in water conditions that were much higher.
I know this forum can sometimes go a little "over the top" in people
presuming what may or may not have happened in events where they were
not present. Under the tragic circumstances I ask those who may be
tempted to conjecture to respect Ian's family and please refrain. I
was there and am happy to discuss the circumstances one a one-to-one
basis.

For those who want to know the safety message it is that we should not
used fixed lines placed directly in the stream of water (especially
when water levels are high), as is the last one in Claustral. The
member of our party who managed to climb up to Ian is a professional
canyon guide in France and he commented that in Europe where they often
experience very high water flows in canyons they never use fixed
scramble lines that take you into the main stream of water.
There is a substantial log with slings on it on the opposite side of
the creek and that would be the more appropriate place for a fixed
line/short abseil.

Jim

Thanks to Jim for permission to reproduce his email here. Another friend of Ian's - Julie Burton has placed a pictorial tribute to Ian here.

There is a new report here in the Lithgow Mercury and there is a police report here that says that Claustral Canyon will remain closed.

December 7


November 23


November 21


The Department of Lands will be holding a public meeting to gain valuable public input into the future management of this Reserve, which will now be open to the public for recreation following the successful resolution of risk and access issues.

The Minister’s office is arranging for a media release to be in the local papers and radio, however we have your contact details as an interested stakeholder and so would like to extend an invitation to you to attend the meeting:

Date: Monday 26th November

Location: Clarence Rural Fire Service station

Time: 6.00pm

Please reply to this email with your intention to attend so that we may ensure sufficient seating and other arrangements.

Regards,

Tamsin

Tamsin Martin

Team Leader Environment


Department of Lands
Tel. 6391 4309
Mob. 0428 934 330
PO Box 2146
Orange NSW 2800

October 2


March 9


Older news items are archived

here (from November 2001 to 2005)

here (from April 2001)

here (from June 21 2000),

here (1999) and

here (1998)


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