UNSW Bushwalking & Mountaineering Club

Newsletter - November 2001

Well, this is the last newsletter of the year. It seemed like only yesterday that the session was starting. Anyway, there are still BMC trips being run. In fact, now is a perfect time for just about everything outdoors. The canyoning season is really starting to crank up. The wet canyons that are off limits during winter are starting to look very appealing. With exams approaching, what better way to relieve the stress? Daniel has a knack for running trips right in the middle of exam periods. This session it is a snowplay bushwalk down in the Snowy Mountains. Check out the trips list for more details on this and other trips.

Cooking Corner

Do you have a favourite bush recipe? If so, send it in for all to enjoy (send to Andrew acollins@climb.wow.aust.com). In fact, any tips for the aspiring adventurer are welome.

Useful Outdoors Things

What to take and what to leave behind when going on a bushwalk, canyon, or any outdoor trip can be a very contentious issue. Some like to pack light, others prefer to take the luxuries. The following is not a checklist, but just some things to consider taking:

• Pack towel: perfect for when the inside of the tent gets wet, or a nice alternative to the drip-dry after a swim.
• Cord: weighs nothing, and has a thousand uses: stringing up tarps, emergency shoelaces etc.
• Hat: on a hot summer's day, you'll kick yourself if you forget this
• Beanie: a lot of body heat is lost through your head. A beanie weighs little, packs down, and is a great insurance piece.
• Dry bag: for canyoning. Much better than sealing everything with plastic bags. Also, if you leave some air in the bag, it really helps keep you afloat during swims. Don't underestimate the ability of freezing cold water to cut your swimming ability.
• First Aid Kit: you really shouldn't go bush without it.
• Sun Dried Tomatoes: pack down well, and taste oh-so-good with your lunch.
• Small, screw-lid platic containers: to store your sun dried tomatoes in! Also great for jams, pesto, honey, etc

Andrew.

Geology of the Blue Mountains

Here we�ve compiled a few "rock facts" to add to your general knowledge. Since most of the Club�s activities are held within the Blue Mts. region, it would be useful to know a bit more about the crag you are climbing or the terrain you are walking on!��since I�m not a competent biologist, I�m sure that someone else out there could complement these notes with their knowledge of the fauna and flora, so for now just ROCK ON!

The Blue Mountains is renown for its spectacular cliffline scenery, which is located on the central western section of the Sydney Basin. The sedimentary rock units found here, range in age from Early Permian (Shoalhaven Group and Illawarra Coal Measures rock units) to Middle Triassic (Narrabeen Group, Hawkesbury Sandstone and Wianamatta Group rock units)�.that�s between 200 to 250 million years old!!!.

The Narrabeen Group is responsible for the awesome rocky scenery found at Echo Point, Kedumba Walls and Grose Canyon. Of all the rock units which are part of the Narrabeen Group, the Burra-Moko Sandstone (�funny name) is the most significant cliff-forming element of the Blue Mts. This sandstone is mainly composed of cross-bedded coarse-grained quartzose and lithic sandstone with some interbedded layers of claystone. Some iron minerals (such as haematite, goethite and siderite) are common within the sandstone�s composition, which give that "rusty" red pigmentation on the cliff faces and exposed rock.

Although the Hawkesbury Sandstone is the main rock unit of the coastal cliffs in Sydney, it only occurs as a thin outlier along the western Blue Mts. It, however, rapidly thickens towards the east to the lower Blue Mts. This rock unit is mainly composed of medium to coarse grained quartzose sandstone, with some mudstones and the occasional clay layers, such as the distinctively white-coloured kaolinite. Due to the characteristic cross-bedding of this rock unit, it has been suggested that these were deposited by periodic current flows of fluvial nature�..i.e., one "hell-of-a river system" so many million years ago!

(Source: Herbet C. & Helby R. (1980). "A Guide to the Sydney Basin". Department of Mineral Resources, Geological Survey of New South Wales).

Carolina Roman.

Trip Reports

Contact Andrew (acollins@climb.wow.aust.com) if you have a trip report that can go in the newsletter.

Of Rock, Meat, Milkshakes�and a nut.

Any self respecting climber should be set drooling just by the mention of the name "Arapiles". To the uninitiated, Arapiles is a large chunk of rock sitting in the middle of the Wimmera Plains, in Western Victoria. As far as the eye can see there is nothing but flat fields and bright yellow canola. And then there's Arapiles�.described in one of the guidebooks as a "scab on the landscape", Arapiles is much more than just a scab! With great rock, and approximately three thousand climbs (mainly trad), ranging from grades 2 to 33, it's the ultimate climbers' paradise. So it was with these thoughts in mind that eight of us -Andrew, Ben, Heather, Jennifer, Keo, Lutz, Marc and myself - set off last holidays to this climbing mecca to spend a week of relaxing and climbing.

The thirteen hour drive from Sydney may seem a little tedious, but with the right company and a decent roadmap, it's not too difficult. I was in a car with Marc and Andrew, both lovely drivers, and fortunately the journey was fairly uneventful, except for the "accidental" murder of a suicidal possum called Binky just outside Horsham. We arrived late on Sunday night to find that the others had arrived the day before and set up our tent. Keo quickly popped out of his tent, attired in stunning board shorts, explaining that he'd "just been working the women". Those two poor 'women', Heather and Jen, had little chance to protest and rescue their dignity. Exhausted, we all collapsed in the enormous club tent, also known as "The Spaceship".

Unfortunately, Monday brought the crappiest, gloomiest, wettest weather you could imagine. Needless to say, it pissed down all day. Eight frustrated climbers spent the day-long smoko eating, drinking "beverages" (aka 'beer'), and playing cards. There were only two real highlights to the day. The first was visiting the climbing shop in Natimuk. Some of us felt the need to buy Arapiles t-shirts, while others bought cheap gear. But what really made my day was the caramel milkshake I bought from the Natimuk milk bar. Natimuk's milkshakes are famous for their deliciousness and general milky goodness. As the week progressed, we often found ourselves deciding between doing another climb in the afternoon, or going to Natimuk for milkshakes. Milkshakes usually won out. :-)

I should probably point out that I didn't do much climbing at Araps, due to an injury dating a few weeks beforehand. But I tried as best as I could to climb in my ensemble of one climbing shoe, one scarpa hiking boot, and I really think there's a lot to be said about this method! Nevertheless, I was still amazed by the climbs I did, and the climbs I watched people do.



Above: Ben on the classic Agamemnon (10)

Agamemnon, a two pitch 10, is much scarier than your average 10! After a manky first pitch, the second pitch goes up between two parallel walls, with about a metre or so between them. The leader has to bridge between these two walls, facing outwards, a huge drop below and in front of him. Most of us aren't used to not facing the rock when we climb! The exposure of the climb seems to multiply the grade, but the thrill factor is well worth it.

Another great climb was Arachnus (9), which I climbed with Jen and Marc. At over 100 metres, it provides a neat opportunity to get into multipitching, which is one of Arapiles' great drawcards. There's nothing quite like sitting halfway up a cliff watching the sunset (or abseiling down 100 metres in the dark, and being impaled by a tree, as Jen found out�).

Other climbs our merry group of eight did include Muldoon (13), Surface to Air (17), Tannin (19), Lamplighter (14), Dramp (21?), Tiptoe Ridge (3/5), Watchtower Crack (16), Skink (18), Judgement Day (19), Pilot Error (20), Mari (17), Hot Flap (14), Panzer�.the list goes on. It seems obvious enough that Arapiles caters to climbers of any ability, and is the perfect place to practice leading trad routes!

But we weren't just at Arapiles to climb. We were also there to eat meat, and many thanks go to Keo, our faithful "meat only" chef, who prepared, marinated and cooked kilograms of meat. I'm not exaggerating! Keo managed to feed all of us meat for three (or four?!) nights in a row. The protein overdose was greatly appreciated.

Right: Ben again, this time on Pilot Error (20)

Hanging around the campfire each night was also awesome fun. The whole Arapiles campsite (known as the Pines) seemed to die each night by nine pm. Who knows�.maybe all those people wanted to climb the next day�..but I'm proud to say that our campfire was the soul of the party. We seemed to collect all the foreigners who didn't want to go to bed at nine pm, and would rather hang out with us and chat. Or maybe they were attracted by the fire twirling and poi Keo and Marc entertained us with one night. It was also great to mix with our Sydney Uni colleagues Mic Rofe and Gio. An unexpected visit came in the form of my friend Adele (the little sister of the club's former president Scott Morrison), on her way home from the Grampians.

And last but not least�.mention must be made of Keo's nut. (May it rest in its crack in peace). After completing a climb at Declaration Crag, our friend Keo nonchalantly placed a nut in a crack, not actually as a pro placement�.just to muck around. It was only once he tried getting the nut out of the crack that he realised what a fantastic pro placement he'd made! One hour later, Marc, Andrew and I arrived on the scene to have a go at getting out this stubborn nut. All efforts failed, but to our great amusement, the following night Mic Rofe mentioned a nut on Dec Crag that he'd been trying to get out�.for an hour! I can't begin to imagine how many hours climbers have spentso far , bashing at that nut, trying to get it out. We checked it out again a few days later, to find one very scratched nut�.and someone's nut tool lost in the crack. :-) We can only hope to return and see whether the poor bastard is still there�

I think I've made it pretty obvious that Arapiles is a true climber's paradise. In case I haven't, note that "ARAPILES IS EXCELLENT!". With so many climbs of such great quality, and with the variety of grades available, it's the perfect place for any climber of any level (ahem�.except maybe for those who exclusively sport climb). It's well worth the trek and petrol, and I'd recommend that all of you try making your way there eventually! (Just not this summer�.unless you want to bake on rock.) It's title of Australia's climbing mecca is well deserved.

Ari

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