Trip report
| 2006-04-15 | Rock Climbing - Basic rock climb day trip at Blue Mnts - Glenbrook Gorge - The Portal |
| Trip report: | |
| Grades: 5 (Climb Out), 8 (The Watch Grabber), 9 (The Chimney), 11 (Scrubby Face), 4 (Access Gully) Description of Trip: Trip commenced with a cappuccino at my place, very civil. We headed into the Glenbrook Gorge NP around 9.30 and headed for The Portal. After sorting out a few pairs of climbing shoes for John & Ros we headed down the Access Gully below the Portal. At the bottom of this it becomes quite steep and has a grade of about 4 thanks to the log. With out the log it would probably be about a grade 8. At the base of the cliff we commenced following a track that soon was taking us away from the cliff. Back tracking to the base of the cliff and traversing around took a long time. As did finding some suitable rock. I really should have scoped this area out better. A suitable site was located about 150m around to the right (facing the cliff) from the Access Gully. I gave a short talk on rock climbing basics and then got everyone to climb The Watch Grabber (5m). Named after the fact that Peter lost his watch down hear somewhere. Above the Watch Grabber was a continuing wall that was probably about a grade 16 (8m). Everyone had a go but it repelled all attempts. Matt & Luke tried on the harnesses and got some air time as I hauled them up about 8 m into the air. Glen and James also took the kids out via a weakness in the cliff - Climb Out. Glen in the meantime came back down and rigged a top rope on Scrubby Face (5m). So with some care, loose rocks under foot, we headed up to the base of the climb. Scrubby face proved to be the test piece of the day and everyone passed the test. Some with style and some because they had a good reach. The other climb we did was The Chimney (7m). This was a nice change as it was in the shade. Everyone climbed this with ease using cave techniques. All the climbs were new routes. Everyone climbed well. We all continued up Climb Out (45m) which is mostly a scrabble up a weakness between cliffs. It is only the last 4-5m that are crux of the climb. Traversing back around we found Sharon, Dani, James and the kids with lunch / afternoon tea. Peter and Erika went back down to the base of the cliff to see if they could find Peter’s watch. No joy. #@*## says Peter it was an expensive watch. All headed back to there respective homes. Thanks for a good day on the cliffs. Report by: David Doughty Members log in for additional info. | |