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The Gallery - updated. Work day Sun 27th May

Access T CliffCare

20-Jan-2012
2:49:21 PM

The Gallery Walking Track
UPDATED POSTS BELOW
For those climbers who are physically blessed to be able to climb the routes at The Gallery in the Vic Range, Grampians, you may have noticed last year that after the floods, the climbers access track was closed due to flood damage. Parks staff also laid branches across to deter people from travelling that way. - possibly not aware that this is a climbers track and of the previous history of it. Unfortunately, this caused climbers to then realign the track around the right hand side of the Aboriginal art shelter and through a revegetation area. Interestingly, years ago, PV worked with climbers to create a separate climbers track(the now damaged one) that directed them away from the shelter. This was for fear of erosion and impact to the site. So…not so good that this was occurring again.
Following a climbers query about the new track and the old one being closed, I contacted Dave Roberts, ranger at Halls Gap, who was very appreciative of the information and acted upon it quite quickly. Current situation is as follows:

PV have opened up the first part of the loop up until where the track heads up to the Gallery.So basically you head up there and back down, the same way. Please use this access and not around the right side of the art shelter. I have not yet had the opportunity to visit myself so any feedback on this would be appreciated.
It was also noted that there are some sections that are eroding quite badly on the climbers track so I will be visiting sometime soon to look at what we can do to control it. This is not a PV maintained track, care of this will be up to us climbers to maintain – this is the way that PV would like to see most of the climbers tracks managed. From my reports -” On the first part of the track there is one stretch where there is some deep erosion probably half a metre deep for 20 metres. The second part of the track is basically obliterated and probably needs marking with tape.“

I will be looking for volunteers after the initial inspection to help with the work and am hoping that those climbers that do use this track and the cliffs to climb at will be involved. Stay tuned!

*** Should there be any cairns remaining that are still directing climbers past the art shelter and revegetation area, please take it upon yourselves to remove these. Cheers!

Cheers,
Tracey

nmonteith

20-Jan-2012
4:24:12 PM

Great work Tracy. I think the erosion trench was probably caused more from a single flash flood moment rather than years of climbers walking up that hill.

phil_nev

20-Jan-2012
6:00:12 PM

Happy to help with the track works when you get sorted.
Keep me posted.

Access T CliffCare

6-Mar-2012
12:29:37 PM

Hi All,

I will be meeting with the walking track Ranger on Monday 12th March at Buandik to go and check out the track to the Gallery. If anyone is interested in being present, we are meeting at the carpark at 9.30 am.

I have also set a date for the work day to repair the track. This will be 26th May so mark the date in your diary and drop me a line if you are keen to help out. After I have visited the site, I will have a better idea of the actual work we will be doing and can give more information on what we will be doing.

Cheers,

Tracey

Access T CliffCare

16-Mar-2012
11:55:55 AM

I'll have some more info up soon on the recent inspection I did on the climbers access track to The Gallery, Grampians but in the meantime - As noted previously, I am looking for climbers who use this area to put aside some time and help out at the upcoming working day in May to work on the track. I originally have it marked down as Sat 26th May but am curious to know if the Sunday would be more preferable to climber/volunteers seeing as the Sunday is usually a shorter climbing day anyway?? let me know your thoughts and I can reschedule if need be.

On 20/01/2012 nmonteith wrote:
>Great work Tracy. I think the erosion trench was probably caused more from
>a single flash flood moment rather than years of climbers walking up that
>hill.
Yep, for the most part, you're certainly right there. For a startoff, whilst a popular area, The Gallery track wouldn't see anywhere near as much traffic as other areas and has held up quite well. The problem with all tracks, especially steep ones, is that water directs itself to them and this is where the rutting comes in and the whole issue just accelerates. The flooding in 2011 certainly gouged deep trenches as you noted.

Cheers,
Tracey

Access T CliffCare

11-May-2012
12:47:02 PM

Hi all,

So far I have only had 2 people put their hands up for the work day at the Gallery. I am going to need more than that for the work day to go ahead. Considering the size of the crew that was there on the day I inspected, I was hoping for a little more interest in looking after the area. This is your opportunity to contribute to climbers being involved in self regulating. Looking after the areas that we climb in goes hand in hand with this.

I have changed the work day to Sunday rather than the Saturday seeing as though Sunday is generally a shorter day for people anyway and would imagine that this is preferable. That way people can still get a good full days climbing in on the Saturday.

I really need to have a good idea of numbers so I can plan the work and tools required You can get an idea of the work planned by reading this. http://cliffcare.org.au/2012/03/30/access-environment-officer-report-april-2012/ I am hoping to get a brief lesson for the volunteers in the morning on the day, on how to construct water bars which will be the majority of what we will be doing. I am also hoping to get our chainsaw guy in again to help clear the trees that are down over the track
Drop me a line to let me know if you will be coming.

Sunday 27th May
Time: 9.30
Meet: Buandik picnic area

Cheers,
Tracey
cliffcare@vicclimb.org.au

Access T CliffCare

20-May-2012
1:52:17 PM

Bump

ajfclark

20-May-2012
4:34:49 PM

Should be along Tracey... Will see who else I can bring along.

Miguel75

20-May-2012
5:28:43 PM

I can't make it due to it being the Shabbat... But I'll pray for a big turn out;)

davetheyounger

20-May-2012
5:42:36 PM

I will be going up on Friday night to climb Saturday before the working bee. So I am looking for someone to climb with, and have space in the car for one.

Access T CliffCare

21-May-2012
11:55:37 AM

On 20/05/2012 ajfclark wrote:
>Should be along Tracey... Will see who else I can bring along.

Thanks Andrew, appreciate it. If you do have an idea of who is coming could you let me know numbers wise.

cheers,
Tracey

davetheyounger

24-May-2012
8:56:49 AM

Change of plans for me, I will still be there Sunday, but a knee injury and no desire to mannup and climb in cold showery weather means I wont be climbing saturday.

Access T CliffCare

3-Jun-2012
11:49:12 PM

The Gallery work day, despite having a small turnout, managed to get a huge amount of work done and the guys and gals who rocked up should get a huge pat on the back. Jacqui, David, Andrew, Gareth and Cameron – thanks heaps!

David, our chainsaw guy cleared all the trees that were over the track and also a couple that weren’t yet down. For these trees it was only a matter of time before they would be. The aim of removing those that are over the track is to try and ensure that people will:
1) stay on the correct track and not create new tracks around obstructions
2) more incentive in the long run to use the climbers access track as opposed to the track+ that goes up and around the cultural heritage art site Billimina.
+Many climbers are still using this and have always used this regardless of the fact that the climbers access track was created quite a while ago, especially to keep them away from the art site and further erosion. The recent floods more recently, did close down our access track and this work day was in response to that.

Major treefall area -2 large trees down completely over track and difficult to work out where the track actually goes

This is the major treefall area before clearing

Water bars were also constructed with an aim to divert water off the track and into the vegetation. This will limit further erosion on the track and prevent deep rutting.

A new climbers access post supplied by PV, was also installed at the intersection where the Billimina art site signage occurs. With the old Grampians guidebook and a new guidebook currently giving directions to head up the way past the art site, this is unfortunately, directing too many climbers especially those new to the area( include international visitors) up the wrong way. While I understand signage is not everyones cup of tea, every climbing site needs to be assessed on its own particular needs/requirements. Signage is not going to happen across the board for every climbers track, but in this particular instance, we ( pardon the pun) really need to get people back on the right track. From PV’s perspective, they are really keen for us to continue to use our own tracks, be in charge of maintenance of them but at the same time, promote the fact that this is not a PV managed track – for anyone that does head up there.

All of this work is in order to maintain the climbers access track. Access being the operative word. It is not a track that is supposed to be maintained like a PV track where requirements for public safety tend to be a long list. This track is to allow access that impacts as least as possible on the surrounding environment. That’s not to say that if we get a report from a climber that there is a really hazardous obstacle that we can’t do anything about it though.
The track as with other climbers access tracks will be checked yearly by a climbing area custodian (just chasing up one now) but its really important for all those that use the area to report any sections that look like they aren’t holding up or have trees down over the track that will cause diversion. This way we can get in there and fix up anything before it becomes a major job. Actually this track closure issue and consequent work day was through the reporting of it by a climber. There is a section of the track quite near the top which could need some work or a slight realignment. I’ll be keeping an eye on it and if deteriorates, tackle it in about a year.
Thanks once again to the volunteers and also to Kyle, the walking tracks ranger at PV who gave a little instruction on water bar construction and placement and then left us to get on with the job.
While I have you here – all of this will also be uploaded to the CliffCare site as well as our Facebook pages. The more people that subscribe to the blog as well as Facebook means that whenever any new access updates are uploaded you get them in your inbox. Whilst I put as much as I can on Chockstone,being a forum, this will drop off the page so if you don’t happen to see it when visiting Chockstone you will miss it. The more people that can be better informed about any access changes – and these are constant – the better. As soon as possible I will also put an updated Gallery access (hopefully with a map) on Crag and Route beta so that if anyone does search for it specifically it should come up.
You can see more photos of the work that was done at our smugmug site here http://vicclimbingclub-cliffcare.smugmug.com/Access-Environment-at-Climbing/The-Gallery-Grampians/22913272_nsDpmx#!i=1840604965&k=dVTJttt
Cheers Tracey

MichaelOR

4-Jun-2012
11:01:55 PM

Awesome work Tracey and team!

Miguel75

5-Jun-2012
11:10:37 AM

Excellent effort team. Thanks for your efforts.

There are 15 messages in this topic.