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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
All NSW	(General)	(General)	(General)

Author

Outback NSW - any climbing?

gdawg

1-Jun-2010
8:59:55 AM

I did a bit of climbing in Mootwingee about 10 years ago. Its nice quartzite but we had to remove heaps of large blocks to clean the faces up. I recall it was a bit scary at the time. heaps of potential i reckon. It might be worth contacting some of the stations that surround the NP. You might be able to access some of the more remote, less public spots from their tracks.

If you are going that far (Broken Hill) to climb then you might as well drive another 6 hours and head to "the moon". You won't regret the decision. You can take a shortcut from Yunta up to Cradock. It's dirt so it will probably take the same amount of time as going via Jamestown but its nice country.


nmonteith

1-Jun-2010
9:14:52 AM

On 1/06/2010 gdawg wrote:
>I did a bit of climbing in Mootwingee about 10 years ago. Its nice quartzite
>but we had to remove heaps of large blocks to clean the faces up. I recall
>it was a bit scary at the time. heaps of potential i reckon. It might be
>worth contacting some of the stations that surround the NP. You might be
>able to access some of the more remote, less public spots from their tracks.

Any beta on where the bigger cliffs are in the park? It looks like a big area. I won't have more than a day here I don't think...

>If you are going that far (Broken Hill) to climb then you might as well
>drive another 6 hours and head to "the moon". You won't regret the decision.
>You can take a shortcut from Yunta up to Cradock. It's dirt so it will
>probably take the same amount of time as going via Jamestown but its nice
>country.

Yep - don't worry I'm giving my self at least a few days there! I wish it was way more...


rocksinmyhead

1-Jun-2010
9:24:38 AM

On 31/05/2010 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>This might be a little out of your way, but Mt Wudinna in S.A. is one of
>Australia's largest granite monoliths

And Neil wrote:

I might wait until I'm in a wheel chair before attempting that slab.

And the FA has already been bagged....

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1210882749060552944BTITTc

hero

1-Jun-2010
10:21:25 AM

Simey, Tim and James might have something to say about this claim :)

kieranl

1-Jun-2010
10:33:14 AM

And if you're going that way Tibooburra in far NW NSW is worth a stopoff for the Family Hotel and its murals by Clifton Pugh and Russell Drysdale. There are also some granite boulders there (it was originally called "The Granites") but the ones in town were too small. I think there were more boulders at the campground outside town but I didn't get a good look and I wouldn't hold out much hope.


Eduardo Slabofvic

1-Jun-2010
10:35:57 AM

On 1/06/2010 hero wrote:
>Simey, Tim and James might have something to say about this claim :)
>
>

yuk yuk yuk


wallwombat

1-Jun-2010
10:48:04 AM

Here's what M9 wrote about Nangar

On 20/11/2007 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:

>It is more like one continuous horseshoe shaped cliffline, though it rises
>and falls in height becomes scrappy discontinuous a bit in places, but
>extends for a couple of km.
>It is definitely orange coloured and climbs are only natural pro, and
>in my opinion the rock is quite splintered with a tendancy to sharp slithers
>in lots of places, ... ~> hard on your gear.
>Don't be put off adventuring as amongst this however are some good lines,
>particularly on the headwall at the Sth end (hook of the horseshoe), which
>is av. approx 80 - 120m in height (ie 2 to 3 pitches), with overhanging
>territory amongst it.
>Me and mate/s put up about 10 lines (all free), on the Western escarpment
>and 3 or 4 lines (mostly aid), on the headwall, but never got around to
>doing anything on the East escarpment. Forbes Snr Scouts had put up 3 lines
>(& possibly more) in the vicinity of the major weakness (scramble gully)
>at the Wst end of the Sthn Headwall. Though I tried, I was unable to find
>any further detail from the Scouts, but what they did was initialled with
>white paint at the starts thereof.

And here's a photo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ljackson/124909527/

Capt Mulch drove back to Canberra after our Warrumbungles trip a couple of years ago. He sussed out the access to the cliffs and said it was pretty easy. He may have posted about it here somewhere. Try a search

BallBagg

1-Jun-2010
10:48:27 AM

Neil,
a group called "the barrier ranges" consisting of mining engineers, geologists, and even an ABC radio announcer with Morialta expereince pioneered climbing in the broken hill area back in the early 1970's. there are lots of small crags around the town (eg pinnacles) but their jewel was Nuntharungie, a quite extensive quatzite escarpment about 200 km NE of BH (and maybe 50 km west of White Cliffs).

they even produced a guide book with the hardest route "the arete 14". Access permission used to be (in 1973) obtained from the land owner. Doubt if anyone has touched stone there for many years.

Bill


nmonteith

1-Jun-2010
10:58:39 AM

On 1/06/2010 BallBagg wrote:
>Neil,
>a group called "the barrier ranges" consisting of mining engineers, geologists,
>and even an ABC radio announcer with Morialta expereince pioneered climbing
>in the broken hill area back in the early 1970's. there are lots of small
>crags around the town (eg pinnacles) but their jewel was Nuntharungie,
>a quite extensive quatzite escarpment about 200 km NE of BH (and maybe
>50 km west of White Cliffs).

Intriguing - Googling "Nuntharungie" comes up with zilch. On the maps I can see some canyons in Mutawinji Nature Reserve (not the National Park) which might fit the bill - its about 50km west of White Cliffs.

maxdacat

1-Jun-2010
11:24:09 AM

What about White Cliffs?

dalai

1-Jun-2010
11:39:11 AM

Don't know why it's called White cliffs. All I remember going there as a child is all the mine tailings and countless open mine shafts from all the people trying to make a living mining opals...

gdawg

2-Jun-2010
10:18:04 PM

On 1/06/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>Any beta on where the bigger cliffs are in the park?

Not really. We were climbing on faces that were ~25 high. I was staying with a mates family on one of the nearby stations and using their tracks to access the national park.

If you are only there for a day its probably worth staying on the tourist route.

Also, I reckon you are right about Nuntharungie being near or in the nature reserve. Im pretty sure it is the name of a station as well. Check a road atlas or check the phone book for that part of the world. if it is a station then the folks who live out there might have some more info.

kieranl

2-Jun-2010
10:27:27 PM

Exploroz site came up with Noonthorangee Range ,which is north of Mootwingee. Googling NoonThorangee will get you some results.


nmonteith

2-Jun-2010
10:37:52 PM

I've been sent exact GPS co-ord for the old 70s crag - and its slap bang in the Reserve. Unfortunately it appears the reserve is actually closed to the general public due to rock wallabies. Looks like i'll have to check out the main National Park instead.


nmonteith

20-Jun-2010
11:26:51 PM

ok - I'm back from my one week roadtrip from Sydney to Flinders Ranges via random outback towns. 3800km of driving... and I'll start with my first find.

Gundabooka National Park (50km south-west of Bourke)
Spent half a day here and found several nice quartize boulders at Bennetts Gorge - about 1km from the carpark on the foothills of the mountain. Rock quality was superb but it wasn't exactly extensive and the rock was quite smooth and blank mostly. Almost no friction. There was maybe 6 or so good boulders spread over a largish area. Some of the boulders were large enough that a toprope or many many mats would be needed if you wanted to top-out. I even found a bit of chalk on one boulder! Here is a few photos of what I found.

The boulders are below these scrappy cliffs (as viewed from the carpark)

This was the biggest boulder I found. Some nice but scuttle problems down low and some easier highballs.

Lovely bulging rock - like Arapiles but with less friction. V2? on slopers with weird above handjam move. Mantle out then topout.

Nice start on pinches and tough topout which I never did due to mat shortage and ankle weakness.

Awesome arete on good edges then sloping mantle topout with bonus goat trying to butt me off the summit.

Long throws on rounded pockety things. Shortly after this photo was taken my homemade tripod got blown over by a wind gust and my lovely L-series wideangle lens snapped in half. Oh well.

Tomorrow I'll post some pics and info about a few other areas I found on my trip.


nmonteith

21-Jun-2010
12:23:46 PM

On 1/06/2010 BallBagg wrote:
>jewel was Nuntharungie,
>a quite extensive quatzite escarpment about 200 km NE of BH (and maybe
>50 km west of White Cliffs).
>
>they even produced a guide book with the hardest route "the arete 14".
>Access permission used to be (in 1973) obtained from the land owner. Doubt
>if anyone has touched stone there for many years.

The next installment involved attempting to reach this Nuntharungie area. With the help of Google Maps I worked out a plan of attack and went in from the north through a gate. The track headed in the general direction of the cliffs I could see faintly in the distance but it soon disappeared to raw desert flood plains. I had a 4WD so kept driving overland, but kept getting turned by washed out sandy flood channels. I crossed a few ever increasing ditches but after a few kilometres of this nonsense chickened out (by this stage my GF was hysterical - convinced with were going to get stuck in the middle of no-where). I walked a kilometre towards them across the dazzling plains but said GF wasn't coming with me so I turned back eventually.

As close as we got by car - Kathy refused to go any further, by wheel or foot.

View of whole cliffline through 200mm lens zoomed in. It didn't look super (and faced into the sun).


IdratherbeclimbingM9

21-Jun-2010
1:50:44 PM

On 20/06/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>Awesome arete on good edges then sloping mantle topout with bonus goat trying to butt me off the summit.

WW&S has been there before?
~> Possibly his mate looking for revenge?
Heh, heh, heh.


nmonteith

21-Jun-2010
2:06:53 PM

Perhaps he would also be into goat necrophilia?


rodw

21-Jun-2010
2:09:02 PM

Ah neil .......you do realise there is rock closer to Sydney..your not living in Melbourne anymore so you can do away with the epic travel for rock.....lol your missus looks pissed off in that last pic :)


nmonteith

21-Jun-2010
2:16:20 PM

On 21/06/2010 rodw wrote:
>Ah neil .......you do realise there is rock closer to Sydney..your not
>living in Melbourne anymore so you can do away with the epic travel for
>rock...

You are so right Rod. I haven't checked out half the crags and bouldering areas within 5km of my house.

There are 46 messages in this topic.