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Crag & Route Beta

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Sewer Wall ACT

Scottf

30-Apr-2012
12:59:51 PM

Anybody climb out there any more? Thought I read that it was getting cleaned up and rebolted, but after spending all of yesterday trying to find it and when we finally did we found nothing but a few very old very rusty homemade hangers, I think I must have dreamed about it.

allnewmaterial

30-Apr-2012
1:25:55 PM

What that place could really use, besides the obvious scrub and trundle, is a hundred tonnes of aggregate to fill in the mank pond at the base.

I had also heard a rumor about a potential re-bolt. But I guess it didn't happen/wasn't worth it. Better sport to be had at Red Rocks and Coree.

One Day Hero

30-Apr-2012
1:26:46 PM

I got motivated to rebirth the place late last year, a bunch of us put in some hard yards on the end of a brush. However, the long term stable state of Sewer Wall is lichen covered and disused. The place is too difficult to find, you have to risk going in the drink to get to the base of the routes, and the climbing isn't quite good enough to justify the hassle. People won't go there, the lichen will win. I decided to put my effort into bettering Red Rocks instead, because the climbing is nicer and the place is more user friendly.

If you're keen on climbing at Sewer Wall, don't worry too much about the rusty hangers, the steel is very thick, they're not going to snap. Do worry about the silt runoff and all the lichen which has probably regrown with a vengeance over the wet summer........also worry about going in the river with a rack on, and maybe worry about the fridge sized jammed block which you have to pull on to do the crag classic.

One Day Hero

30-Apr-2012
1:29:03 PM

The upside of the wet summer is that the "mank pond" has flushed out pretty nicely. I would have been happy to swim if we'd had hotter days.

Scottf

2-May-2012
11:43:34 AM

Once you know where it is I don't think it is difficult to find or an overly long walk. Getting to the base of the climbing is hard though. One of us ripped a hold off and ended up in the water while trying to get to the base of the climbing. Had a fun day out regardless.

Thanks for the info.

One Day Hero

2-May-2012
1:59:15 PM

Sweet! Which routes did you do? How did the person go after ending up in the drink? Could they pull back onto the rock?

Scottf

2-May-2012
2:25:13 PM

Did not do any climbing the old rusty bolts put us off, added to the fact you have to climb some dangerous shit to get to the climbing and the start of the climbs look to be under water, river is high.

My friend was returning from looking at the climbs, so was free soloing some epic 2.5m rout (down climbing some slabby shit). He was not looking too solid so I call out "your gonna fall", half a second later he pulled a hold off and his upper body just peeled off the wall and splash went in back first into the water. Had a good laugh afterwards once we saw he was not hurt or dead.

One Day Hero

2-May-2012
3:38:08 PM

Ah, right. Your second post made me think that you'd been back for a rematch.

Yeah, the traverse over to the belay ledge is only about 1-2m above "normal" river level. If they're spilling scrivener dam at all, I imagine it might be underwater.

If you take a second rope, you can rap straight down to the belay ledge, probably have someone standing down at the river to direct you. The anchor at the top is a bunch of young eucalypts, backed up with good small cams in the short wall behind. Apart from skipping the death traverse, rapping in allows you to clean the route a bit and suss out the death block. (watch out for your rope on sharp edges and loose rock at the top).

If you think you might not make it up any of the routes, take either jumars or swimmers.

beryllium10

8-May-2012
2:32:21 PM

It's been a long, long time since Mike Peck and friends (including me occasionally) put up some of the routes down there. Lots of scrubbing was required but a good time was had by all. Nice place to climb for a few hours on a summer evening after work, but probably cold and "damp" by this time of year. Red Rocks would be a lot nicer in May.

The bolts should still be solid. They're 3/8" dynabolts sunk to the hilt and the hangers were cut from sturdy angle iron. And there are lots of them. It may take a bit of cleaning to get the routes back in shape, but Sewerside, Doppelwandiger etc, Lure of the Sewer, Gutter Crimes and Mission Brown are all good. So are many of the others but I've forgotten the names.

Swimming is great in summer (contrary to the name, the crag is far upstream from the treatment works). Occasionally looking down from some ledge you'd see a platypus cruising around in the pool below the main wall. One day when planning some photography I slung a rope from the belay chain above the pool, tied on and swung out intending to jug up and take pictures. Let's just say I misjudged the angles and instead took a slow graceful dive into the surf. Very amusing for the bystanders. The camera still takes pictures, but the light meter and electronics never worked again ...

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