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199009 [2016/06/15 18:56] – [Morong Deep] vievems | 199009 [2016/06/15 19:21] (current) – [The Storming of Byangee Walls] vievems | ||
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- | According to conventional wisdom, the only way you can negotiate Pickering Point is by abseiling down. However, Wayne Steel said it could be climbed and we were willing to try. After moving most of the cars to Yadboro flat on Saturday, we made a late-ish start with Jan leading the racehorses up the ridge to Pigeon House, and our ' | + | According to conventional wisdom, the only way you can negotiate Pickering Point is by abseiling down. However, Wayne Steel said it could be climbed and we were willing to try. After moving most of the cars to Yadboro flat on Saturday, we made a late-ish start with Jan leading the racehorses up the ridge to Pigeon House, and our ' |
- | with the views somewhat spoiled by thick When the canera-clickina subsided, we | + | |
- | Snadk-and-jumper time on the summit, clouds racing before a fierce wind. made our way to landslide | + | Snack and jumper time on the summit, |
At 12.30 the lunch fire was lit on a huge slab of rock, where we rested in fitful sunlight, boiling our billies and inspecting our bruises. | At 12.30 the lunch fire was lit on a huge slab of rock, where we rested in fitful sunlight, boiling our billies and inspecting our bruises. | ||
- | The creek slowly becalm. less demanding, and we spread out, each travelling at their own pace. Three o' | ||
- | over a sandy bed and large ferny flats spread | ||
- | beneath the trees. At 3.20 I arrived at a particularly inviting place, to find Jan and Maurie Ward staking out their tent sites. "By the time the rest arrive " said Jan, it will be time to think about camping" | ||
- | So we lit a fire, put on sOme billies, and sure enough, by 4pui everyone had arrived. By 5pm the sunlight had faded from the cliffs and we settled dawn on the soft leaf litter of our (alirost) leech-free campsite. Rum, port and jokes began to flow, and Wayne told us a marvellous 'story about The Octopus Which Stuck TO The Kitchen Floor. | ||
- | SUNDAY | ||
- | Another leisurely start, about 8.30am. Across the icy Clyde' | ||
- | Watch that rock, | ||
- | From the depths of his pack, Wayne extracted a massive, fluorescent orange rope. We spent the next three hours clinging to this lifeline as we: | + | The creek slowly became less demanding, and we spread out, each travelling at their own pace. Three o' |
- | | + | |
- | I've | + | So we lit a fire, put on some billies, and sure enough, by 4pm everyone had arrived. |
- | always wanted--- to play | + | |
- | Tarzan | + | __Sunday__ |
- | Frozen, scraped, dirty and distinctly damp, we finally emerged triumphant at the top of Pickering Point. Jan was supervising the peck-hauling, and as soon as mine appeared, I pulled | + | |
- | For the first time in years, I woke a Jumper | + | Another leisurely start, about 8.30am. Across the icy Clyde River, which immediately froze my feet, and up a leech infested slope to the foot of the bastions of Byangee Walls. Morning snack stop was in a vast conglomerate overhang - all cream and gold, like an oriental palace. |
- | day - and I noticed the others were also pretty well rugged up. Muffled and hooded, we ate, defrosted and whenever the clouds parted, photographed Pigeon House from the vantage point of our rock platform. | + | |
- | WENT UP | + | From the depths of his pack, Wayne extracted a massive, fluorescent orange rope. We spent the next three hours clinging to this lifeline as we WENT UP.... |
- | AND | + | |
+ | Frozen, scraped, dirty and distinctly damp, we finally emerged triumphant at the top of Pickering Point. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For the first time in years, I wore a jumper | ||
+ | |||
+ | The rain stopped at 1.30 and we began our struggle with the near-impenetrable scrub, Byangee Walls is not as flat as it looks from the top of The Castle. We struggled up and down, snatching photos of the spectacular views - a tangle of blue gorges plunging away on both sides. Driving cloud added to the drama, had the Ride of the Valkyries | ||
+ | taken place as we watched, it would have seemed perfectly natural. Two o' | ||
+ | |||
+ | After some rummaging among the bushes, we found our exit hole through the cliff line, left along the wombat track to another cliffline. Right, left, down, left; the wombat track grew wider with old footprints everywhere. Spectacular overhangs and neck-stretching glimpses of soaring cliffs. No time to waste in looking, the sun had already dropped behind the ridges. Castle Gap Saddle at last - a brief catch-up stop - just time to drink the last of my water. Twilight now, and we began working our way around the foot of The Castle - boulder scrambling, stumbling over unseen roots, treading in small icy pools. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Wayne took a compass bearing by torchlight and I took the opportunity to pull out my torch. Thank heavens for ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another compass check. | ||
- | What d'you mean, footholds | + | We waited in total blackness, saving our torches. From far downhill he called and we headed towards his waving torch, tripping and falling through the scrub. |
- | just jump up. | + | |
- | .Look - | ||
- | loan see | ||
- | two little -s patches of blue | ||
- | 14=7:rs--- | ||
- | The rain stopped at 1.30 and we began our struggle with the near-impenetrable scrub, Byangee.Walls is not as flat as it looks from the top of The Castle. We struggled up | ||
- | and down, snatching photos of the spectacular | ||
- | - views.,:- a tangle of blue gorges plunging | ||
- | away onboth' | ||
- | taken place as we watched, it.' | ||
- | After son rummaging among the bushes, we found our exit hole through the cliff line, left along the woMbat track to another cliffline. Right, left, down, left; the wombat track grew wider with old footprints everywhere. Spectacular overhangs and neck-stretching glimpses of soaring cliffs. No time to waste in looking, the sun had already dropped behind the ridges. Castle Gap Saddle at last - a brief catch-up stop - just time to drink | ||
- | the last of my water. Twilight now, and we began working our way around the fbot of The Castle - boulder scraMbling, stumbling over unseen roots, treading in small icy pools. | ||
- | Wayne took a compass bearing by torchlight and took the opportunity to pull out my torch. Thank heavens for ' | ||
- | Another compass check. We passed by great cavens running with water, slid over and under huge boulders. With vision restricted to the circles of torchlight, it felt eerily like being underground I remembered those words from Kubla Khan " | ||
- | We waited in total blackness, saving our torches. From far downhill he called and we headed towards his waving torch, tripping and fallin9 through the scrub. | ||
- | The ground seemed clearer - could it be a track?' | ||
Just one thing puzzled me as we sped back to Sydney. Who was Pickering, and why was the point named after him? | Just one thing puzzled me as we sped back to Sydney. Who was Pickering, and why was the point named after him? | ||
199009.1465981012.txt.gz · Last modified: 2016/06/15 18:56 by vievems