15 Feb 2012
Festival Of The Canyon 2012
Preliminaries: Photo credits go to David Noble from SUBW, Laura Rianto and Suzanna Rodriguez from UTSOAC (more photos in those links, check em out!), and Luke, Damon and Lucy from UNSWOC. I have no connection to Shane and Immortal Outdoors, I just really liked his old site TDMSKP and wish him luck in this new project. Club websites are UTS Outdoors Adventure Club, Sydney University Bushwalking Club and my own club UNSW Outdoors Club. Track notes for all of these canyons, along with many excellent photos, can be found at Tom Brennan's OzUltimate.com.
So with the uploading and tagging of all the photos on Facebook, Festival Of the Canyon is finally over for another year. Or at least, everyone is over the festival.
The Cathedral Of Ferns campground at Mt Wilson is perhaps the spiritual center of canyoning in Australia. It's also free, does not require bookings, and allows campfires, a very rare thing in this day and age. After a slowish trip up from Sydney with Dave and Bulti, I arrived late on Saturday morning just after 9AM, into the midst of a bustling carpark. After promising 5 minutes to get ready and taking 10, I was packed and running down the fire trail after Damon's party to do Water Dragon Canyon.
Water Dragon Canyon
Water Dragon is not the most popular Wollongambe canyon, being somewhat of a trashy younger upstream sibling of Whungee Wheengee Canyon. But we figured (correctly) we'd be the only ones attempting it, and it would be another one to tick off the list.
Unfortunately we reached the ford at the Wollongambe 1 exit to find this:
The normally ankle or shin-deep wade was many meters deep, submerging trees on the opposite bank and flooding nearly the whole beach. When the whitewater kayakers are going "Whoa, sketchy!" you don't attempt to swim across. So we hung around for a little while eating and chatting to the two other parties who'd intended to do Whungee Wheengee. Eventually everyone turned back, with one group changing plans to go and do Serendipity.
On the way back we got drenched by a mother of a storm, which then turned into hail, then back to rain, and then back into really large and painful hail.
This is what it looked like.
Why Don't We Do It In The Road/Serendipity Canyon
Serendipity Canyon (properly referred to as Why Don't We Do It In The Road Canyon, but if the first descensionist Tony Norman had wanted his name to be in common use, he should have chosen one with less than eight syllables) is a rather crappy canyon whose main selling points are lots of abseils, easy access, and that it's safe to do in wet weather.
Due to this reputation, it was the main attraction at this year's very wet festival. In fact, we reckoned upwards of forty people must have been in it at one point, based on the trip plans in the festival logbook and two commercial groups that were apparently doing it!
Most of these parties, as it turns out, quite sensibly got spooked by the huge storm and bailed before the final constriction, forcing an exit from an open section back up onto the ridge. Except for the UNSWOC party, who showed those Sydney Uni posers by pressing on regardless and doing the whole thing in the midst of the storm. Despite fearless leader Luke's apparent best efforts, no-one drowned, and apparently the canyon didn't even flood that much. I guess it really is safe in wet weather.
Laura and Larissa singing in the rain.
Check out the Wollongambe at the junction though! Fark! Large catchments mean large hydraulics.
Dalpura Canyon
Another wet weather favourite, a party (including canyoning legend Dave Noble) went to do this little North Grose subway. A short drive further south, they apparently didn't get any rain at all!
Hobnail Canyon
Another party regretfully descended into the mire that is Range Creek and the spectacularly crap Hobnail Canyon. This also exits into Bowens Creek South Branch, which I would say is a pretty large and flood-prone creek, but they apparently survived. They may even have had some fun!
Saturday Night
After we dried out under the picnic shelter at Mt Wilson, the weather cleared up and stayed good for the rest of the evening. The Cathedral was turned into a temporary city of tents, drying wetsuits and Dunlop Volleys, a slackline or two, and a fine large, warm campfire.
Shane set up a car battery and inverter rig and managed to run a projector. There were photo presentations, stories from the day, and Shane talked about his new website Immortal Outdoors.
Costume Competition
Then the raffle was drawn and costume competition judged. Money was being raised for the Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue Squad, a quite practical and relevant cause! The costume entries were:
Ellen's horrifying evil clown
Max's even more horrifying mankini.
Damon's white suit with fedora.
From left to right, Luke's dad Greg in the flouro green wig (representing the Springwood Bushwalkers), Luke in top hat and tails complete with a prussik bowtie, and Larissa and Tony as Spongebob.
From left to right, Danny, Laura, Karena rocking disco style, Max again, and Suzanna.
The winner was declared to be Luke, greatly helping was the fact he actually wore his suit all the way through the canyon. He got a bitchin' Resurgance canyoning pack.
There was much socialising and drinking and discussion of ethics until the wee hours of the morning.
Grand Canyon
The next morning Damon, Dave and I were planning to do Wolgan View Canyon, however Damon had a last-minute and disruptive change of plans and had to head back to Sydney. So after dropping him at Blackheath station, me and Dave did Grand Canyon instead (reversed from the bottom, with no abseiling required). Afterwards we doddled down the old Rodriguez Pass track to Beauchamp Falls for lunch. It was a pleasant trip, but a bit disappointing after planning a more exploratory day.
Clatterteeth Canyon/Du Faur's Creek
David Noble managed to pick a beautiful lilo canyon without too high a water level on the Sunday.
Closet Canyon
Luke had his heart set on Closet Canyon, an obscure Rocky Creek tributary that even David Noble had only done once before. With a warning in the guide about "tricky navigation", a late start, a dirt road in terrible condition and 2WD cars, a huge group, and thunderstorms forecast in the afternoon, they DESERVED to have an epic, but apparently it was all good! Who dares wins huh. Luke can do no wrong as a trip leader.
They even got a nice sunset dammit.
Conclusion
What a fun, well-organised, and just plain cool event! Good to see some faces from last year, and have the university clubs partying together again. Thanks again to Ellen and Scott and UTSOC for a good weekend, despite the rain.
And the fact the only canyon I got to do was Grand again...man, it just makes me keener! But Minus reckons he's free for a canyoning trip first weekend in March, and has a 4WD, so hopefully I'll up be in Newnes before too long.
Filed in /outdoors/canyoning
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