Budawangs Beta

[RasAlt3]

Hi all,

My brother and I had a fantastic trip to the Budawangs over the Easter long weekend just gone. We climbed Mt Cole, Mt Owen, Shrouded Gods Mountain and Donjon Mountain. I had never seen much info on Shrouded Gods and Donjon in particular, so thought I would share some beta below. I note this forum states ‘Please avoid publishing details of access to sensitive areas with no tracks’. I wouldn’t consider the Budawangs particularly sensitive, as long as you stick to the rock shelves on the tops as much as possible. If others think the below is too much info and I should pare it back or delete, please let me know. I've included photos at the bottom of this post, and also included the links in the relevant sections (which I think opens the image in its own window)?

I would also preface this with saying the routes described below require off-track navigation experience to complete safely, as well as moderate scrambling experience (with the exception of Donjon which requires climbing skills, more info below). If you have not done off-track walking before, make sure someone in your party has this experience and is comfortable leading, or consider trying your first off track walk somewhere less remote (with less cliffs and associated exposure!).


Mt Cole and Mt Owen Traverse, return to Monolith Valley

We started at the north-eastern corner of Mt Cole, following rock slopes towards the south-west and gaining height easily. Once on top of Mt Cole, skirt around the north-western edge of the highest areas to stay on rock shelves and avoid the worst of the scrub, before aiming for the saddle between Mt Cole and Mt Owen. The descent off Mt Cole into the saddle is relatively straightforward as long as you are comfortable with a little exposure. We downclimbed onto a tree and descended to the saddle. Once at the bottom we saw a small incision/gap in the rock on the northern (Mt Cole) side that would also have been ok to descend, and would be a fairly straightforward chimney ascent.

The ascent from the saddle to Mt Owen is an easy scramble up a rock gut just near the saddle. Once on Mt Owen, follow cairns along the western side of Mt Owen all the way to the southern tip – the last section requires a short descent and ascent right to the southern edge. Excellent views of The Castle from here. The logbook looked to have some weather damage and is likely in need of replacing. Not sure if anyone manages this. An alternative would be to drill a hole in the bottom of the metal case, as water was pooled inside.

We retraced our steps to the saddle between Mt Owen and Mt Cole, before starting our return to Monolith Valley. Initially we tried to follow the creek that flows east towards Monolith Valley between Mt Owen and Mt Cole, but this was a bad idea. It’s chocked with logs, rocks etc. and would be very slow going. We ascended back to the northern edge of Mt Owen and followed easy rock shelves marked by cairns towards the north-eastern corner of Mt Owen. As you get closer to Monolith Valley you will start descending slowly, before you reach a large gap in the rock pagodas that provides a ramp north into the creek that divides Mt Cole and Mt Owen. Be careful to follow the cairns in this section – there are a lot of them and some may lead you astray, use your common sense. The photo below looks towards Monolith Valley from the north-eastern portion of Mt Owen; the ramp you need to follow is down and to the left in the photo.

Monolith valley from north-east corner of Mt Owen: https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb

Once at the bottom of the ramp, don’t drop right into the creek. Follow cairns to the true right of the creek (southern side) until you get close to the point where the creek takes a turn to the south. We missed the drop north into the creek initially here and had to do some back-tracking. It is a steep but fairly safe descent down (north) into the creek once found. Follow the creek east for a short section (about 50m) before crossing the creek. Here we again followed the creek too far (as it turns south) and ended up ascending to the rock pagodas that divide the creek and Monolith Valley a little too far south. We ended up finding the way into Monolith Valley without too much issue, but I’m sure there is an easier way. If you follow the route from Monolith Valley to Mt Owen it may be more obvious than the way we went. I assume (if you are heading east towards Monolith Valley) that you need to ascend to the left (away from the creek, to the east) as soon as you cross it and the creek turns south, but I’m not sure. The descent back to the track in the Monolith Valley is straightforward.

Below are some markups of the topo map and an aerial of our route; it is an approximation but hopefully gives a good enough idea of the route.

Topo: https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb
Aerial: https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb


Shrouded Gods Mountain

Shrouded Gods Mountain was a relatively straightforward ascent; a little easier than I had imagined, but still requiring good scrambling skills. You leave the track in the Monolith Valley before it descends into the valley proper; about 250-300m north of the chains out of Nibelung Pass, where the track meets the south-eastern corner of Shrouded Gods. Continue north until you round the south-eastern corner; a wide opening with quite a few large gum trees opens in front of you, which you follow up east for 100 m or so. Look out for a steep gut to the right, which is your route to the top. When we went up this it had a fixed rope that seemed fairly new, but it wouldn’t be much trouble without the rope, as long as you bring your own rope to haul packs (so remember to bring your own rope as you can’t rely on fixed ropes being there, and being in good condition). The gut is shown in the photo below, looking down.

Gut on Shrouded Gods: https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb

Once at the top of this gut, you scramble up some more steep rock east, before an awesome view of Mt Mooryan opens up to the south. From here, find the saddle to your north-east that divides the east-west buttress that you are on from Shrouded Gods itself. From this saddle, follow a narrow ledge west-north-west. This ledge widens and follows a turn north to a small creek line, which is followed to the top. Take care to remember the last section where you ascended from; we struggled to find our exact route back from the top and had to do some nasty traversing on exposed ground.


Donjon Mountain

Donjon Mountain was an excellent adventure, with a terrible bush bash to get to the base, then some sections of exposed scrambling and fun abseils for the descent. Gear we used was a 20m 8mm rope, makeshift harnesses from 240cm slings, locking carabiners and ATC belay devices. I can only recommend this climb if you are comfortable with exposed scrambling, and know how to abseil off a tree. I have been climbing for about five years now (mostly indoors but some outdoors) and would consider myself an intermediate climber. I found the climb quite fun and not too scary, but I would steer clear unless you have some climbing experience and have a decent head for heights. This is really not a place for beginners.

The base of the climb is from the north-eastern corner of Donjon Mountain. To get here, turn off the track to the right as you round the base of Mt Cole, and follow the base of the cliffs around Donjon first to the east-north-east, and then north. The regrowth post-fires in this section was thick. From the track to the top of Donjon and return we did 3.2 kms in just under six hours. While the climb took up a decent chunk of that time, I would say about half was the bush bash there and back. There are signs of an old track that may have been clearer before the fires, however the regrowth since is thick. At times it was a matter of falling into the bush and stepping over the compressed vegetation.

Once you round the north-eastern corner of Donjon, the start of the climb is immediately to your left. The photo below gives you an idea of what this looks like from the base.

View of climb from base of Donjon: https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb

After a short first scramble you will see a small pile of rocks leading to an awkward mantle move (see photo below). Get someone to spot you on this move. After this move a crack to the right needs to be negotiated with care; a few exposed moves get you into the crack, then it’s just a matter of wriggling your way through and up.

First exposed and awkward bit of climbing on Donjon: https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb

Next is another climbing section into a short chimney sequence, as per the photo below.

Second less exposed but still awkward climb on Donjon: https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb

You will then come to a section where the route is difficult to spot. There may be other ways, but we chose a narrow and tall chimney with a tree about two thirds of the way up. The photo below is what you will see as you look up; the chimney is the opening between the rocks on the left hand side.

The view up once halfway up Donjon - the chimney is on the left: https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb

This photo below shows the chimney more clearly, and has my brother at the top (as we were abseiling) for scale. The chimney moves are obviously well protected, but quite awkward as it is so narrow.

The chimney on Donjon: https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb

Once you are past the upper section of the chimney you have done the hard work; a few more short scrambles and you are on the summit of Donjon.

The logbook on Donjon was quite incredible. It looked like a prop in a movie set, it was incredibly authentically weathered, and had been singed quite a bit in the fires. Our entry was the first in almost two years!

Donjon logbook (first entry): https://bushwalk.com/forum/download/fil ... f15e2228bb

To get back off Donjon you absolutely need a 20m rope. Some sections could not be safely downclimbed, in my opinion. We did five abseils in total, off trees. The 20m rope (when doubled up for abseiling, for a 10m abseil) only just reached the bottom of a couple of the abseils.

I hope the above is helpful for intrepid parties keen to give Donjon (and Shrouded Gods, Mt Cole and Mt Owen) a go. Stay safe out there and enjoy!

[yogibarnes]

Nice report. And I have no problem with the description. Good to see someone is still "out there"!

[sandym]

Great report. I hope that the report stays up. I certainly have no problem as the reality is that only a few tracks in the Budawangs get much traffic at all.