Bluegum Forest - alternate route

[Vern]

Just to change the day up a bit we decided we’d abseiled in from Fortress Ridge. There are some abseil points that got us about 130m down the escarpment and then it was up to us to find an abseil line down the next 100 or so. It took a little longer than expected due to the ropes getting tangled in trees on the way down but otherwise it was a great drop in to the Govetts George.

Descent from Fortress ridge

About half way down I heard something whistle past our heads. I though a rock had come loose but it turns out it was a falcon at full speed heading straight down. Really impressive! I'd heard they were fast but seeing it was something else.

Abseiling into Govetts George

Once at the bottom of the escarpment we bush bashed down the ridge to meet Govetts Creek. A fairly easy off track walk which I expected would be more dense with shrubs than it actually was. It was nice to finally hit the creek and fill up on the fluids.

Govetts Creek

[Vern]

We then found the track to Bluegum Forest and headed out on some easy walking to have lunch at Acacia Flats. We headed into Bluegum Forest for a short time before crossing the river and heading up to Da Faur Head. This was the aim of our trip to do a bit of training for our November trip. It was a hard walk and we pushed fairly hard but it gave some great views.

Bluegum Forest

The line up the escarpment again is also pretty remarkable. It heads up the face in the next photo. We got to Da Faur Head and stopped to take in the view for a while as the sun got lower. It was a great spot and somewhere I'd look to return to again sometime to explore a bit further. We then headed to Lockleys Pylon and back along the track to meet Mt Hay Rd and a short road walk back to the car.

Da Faur Head

A great way to spend a day!

Grose Valley

[Wollemi]

http://www.sydneyrockies.org.au/pdfs/to ... iption.pdf

[Vern]

Yeah that's the abseil we did. It's an amazing spot. I only knew it was there because of that website. Another great web resource! I looked for other abseil trips into the Grose Valley but couldn't find any. Most seem to be on the Jamison Valley side of the highway.

[tom_brennan]

Another couple of ways into the Grose Valley
http://ozultimate.com/canyoning/abseili ... photos.htm

[FatCanyoner]

Of course if you really want an adventurous way in to the Grose... http://fatcanyoners.org/2011/05/02/enough-rope-200m-abseils/

Great trip by the way. There are plenty of descents put in by climbers that the rest of us don't know about or simply don't use. You might want to consider the abseils near Mirrorball as another similar trip, which has an easy walk out via Pierces Pass. The great Blue Mountains climbing guide would likely have dozens more similarly impressive trips with big wall abseils that can be matched with interesting bushwalking exits.

[Vern]

I knew you guys would have some other ideas. There's some serious abseils there. Looks great. If only I had enough rope I'd have a go. Unfortunately I only have 2 x 60m static and 2 x 50m dynamic so I'll have to continue my multi pitch descents for the moment. Some great photo's in those reports too!

[tom_brennan]

No need to one-up me, Tim!

As FatCanyoner says, there's plenty of other climbs in the Grose Valley that have adjacent abseils that could be used to descend. Consult the relevant climbing guides for info. They can require a bit of searching to find. They can be combined with some interesting exits too.

[iandsmith]

Wow, something I'll never do, thanks for sharing. Wasn't long after you guys did that I was wandering around the gardens of Leura and Mount Wilson. Loved the pictures as well, top photography; cheers, Ian