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Swimming in the dam at Dam Cliffs in the Blueys?

flyingtraverse

21-Jan-2009
10:47:12 AM

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone knew the swimming conditions at Dam Cliffs (off Bell's line?) in the Blue Mountains at the moment?

Ta


nmonteith

21-Jan-2009
10:52:54 AM

They were in tip top shape three weeks ago. Heaps of water and looked pretty clean.


Cranky

21-Jan-2009
10:57:24 AM

I agree with Neil, and I'm sure the 10-15 people swimming there 3 weeks ago do too.

Marssan

21-Jan-2009
2:54:51 PM

Climbed there last week and had a great swim at the end of the day.

Be sure to try the Deep Water Solo out of the water to the top of the cliff, it goes at
about 16-18 taking the path of least resistance. You may have to traverse a bit to find
said PoLR.
Take a pair of climbing shoes you don't mind wetting cos the rock is a bit sharp on the
feet.

climbingreen

21-Jan-2009
3:41:40 PM

Dunno...but if you're looking for swimming, I was there and theres a cave just below the waterfall at Centennial Glen/Porter's Pass that's nice and deep as well as cool temps

Karl.

Olbert

21-Jan-2009
8:57:53 PM

Swimming is great at the moment! Make sure you jump in off the big jump and scare the shit out of yourself. There is a nice dws line about 22/23 up the overhanging cliff on the opposite wall, as well as a nice line up the left arete.

devlin66

21-Jan-2009
11:58:23 PM

Is the big jump the one that punts you out into the section immediately behind the top dam? That is such a long way from the top and it is very cold and dark when you turn to come back up. Never again will I do that jump.


nmonteith

22-Jan-2009
7:52:32 AM

..iIt's about half the height of Craftys DWS!

devlin66

22-Jan-2009
10:25:55 AM

Are you refering to the main cliff or the one up stream at the Dams?


nmonteith

22-Jan-2009
10:35:57 AM

Probably just the main cliff (the one you walk past on the way to the climbing area? with all the DWS up the front of it?). I wasn't aware of one higher up. The main cliff would be about 10m yere? Craftys is close to 20m when i measured using a person's body length in a photo.


nmonteith

22-Jan-2009
10:45:29 AM

I'm intrigued now.. i hadn't realized it was such a complex waterway. Are their bogans at the high dam as well? More DWS?

Rob668

22-Jan-2009
11:42:04 AM

On 22/01/2009 nmonteith wrote:
> Are their bogans at the high dam as well?

I thought they were called Westies in Sydney.

Your assimilation is taking a long time :-D


nmonteith

22-Jan-2009
11:44:18 AM

and they used to be called Bevans in QLD... so confusing!

widewetandslippery

22-Jan-2009
11:48:07 AM

I thought calling social and ethnic nicknames on chockstone was a no go?

I thought all queenslanders were called elizabeth because they're all queens.


tnd

22-Jan-2009
12:02:35 PM

I certainly don't think Neil should be disparaging the good 4-wheel driving, beer drinking, pie-eating, singlet-wearing folk of Lithgow, just because they like to spend weekends at the Dam Cliffs and Newnes township. ;-)


nmonteith

22-Jan-2009
12:06:47 PM

i just need to buy me a singlet and I'd fit right in!

citationx

22-Jan-2009
12:16:42 PM

On 22/01/2009 Rob668 wrote:
>On 22/01/2009 nmonteith wrote:
>> Are their bogans at the high dam as well?
>
>I thought they were called Westies in Sydney.
>
>Your assimilation is taking a long time :-D

We use "bogans" here too. nothing wrong with cross-culture...

devlin66

22-Jan-2009
12:33:01 PM

They are bogans no matter where you are.

Neil, I don't think there would be any more DWS. It was about 15 years ago I did the jump but remember having to jump out a long way from a svery short run up, maybe two steps, just to clear the waters edge let alone the branches in the water. When you go up there it was from the highest bit of rock. The picture in my head would put it at that 20-25m mark maybe. Pretty silly stuff when I think back to it.


nmonteith

22-Jan-2009
12:36:18 PM

sounds truly terrifying. i only jumped from the top of Craftys because i didn't realize how high it was and you had to run blind down a slab so you didn't see the height until you had committed to the jump and cleared the slab. From those sort of hieghts a lot can go wrong if you hit the water at a strange angle. We watched a guy do a running back flip off the top of the 10m cliff at the Dams a few weeks back. Perfect landing as well. Smart ass.


scottah

22-Jan-2009
1:15:36 PM

I was there less than a month ago, and I can can attest to
* Good water level
* Fun DWS up the main cliff
* Long Jump from the top
* Bogans, camping... they were a bit drunk and saw everyone climbing with gear, so
they thought hell, let's try it withOUT gear, and started soloing the easier stuff... surprisingly no one was injured by the time we left.

One of the guys there said someone earlier that day, split the webbing on their toes
from the big jump, hit a submerged rock... (we heard about this after we had jumped it
ourselves.) So I guess do some investigative diving around where you plan to jump into
first!

There are 41 messages in this topic.