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Crag & Route Beta

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Flinders Range Limesone - Brachina Gorge?


nmonteith

20-Jun-2010
10:25:32 PM

Driving through the Northern part of the Flinders Ranges yesterday I found a few small crags of limestone along Brachina Gorge. They aren't exactly Verdon Gorge but I spent a few enjoyable hours doing some ground-up trad and topropes on these small pocketed walls. They are literally right next to the road so a good place for a rest day away from Moonarie when you can't hack the walk up that hill! Surely this has been climbed before? Any more info? I didn't see any bolts but it certainly looked like there was potential for short bolted wall and cave routes. Some crappy photos.

I led this crack at about grade 18 - it was probably the longest thing in the area - about 30m high with the wall above it. I toproped the wall to the left which was excellent quality grey limestone with nice solution pockets.

This little flowstone cave is short but fun looking. About 10m high in this photo - with a few more metres above the photo.

Short bulgy wall with nice pockets.

There are a few caves - but the orange stuff is generally chossy. The better quality stuff is the easier grey slabs on the outside.

patto

21-Jun-2010
10:09:31 AM

Considering the way this is pitched as a geological time museum are you sure the land managers would be happy?


nmonteith

21-Jun-2010
10:26:11 AM

On 21/06/2010 patto wrote:
>Considering the way this is pitched as a geological time museum are you
>sure the land managers would be happy?

Trad climbing here would be very minimal impact and a major campground and road goes literally right past the cliffline (5m away at one point). Walkers don't seem to be restricted from exploring the caves and there is no signs saying keep off, no entry etc. The caves are full of goats anyway... :-)

It's very unlikely I'll ever be back there (being its 1500km from home!) but I just thought maybe others (surely?) must have climbed here. I can't imagine there is much other limestone climbing in SA?


cruze

21-Jun-2010
10:44:01 AM

Out of interest, is there any limestone climbing in the Nullarbor, either above or below ground?


EJ

21-Jun-2010
10:47:06 AM

> I can't imagine there is much other limestone climbing in SA?

I'm not aware of much climbable limestone in SA, but there is plenty of brittle unconsolidated choss. Most of the seacliffs at the southern end of the the York Penninsula and on the west coast are limestone of some variety. To make these climbable you'd need to give them a liberal covering of spray on cement ... does this constitute limestone? :)


nmonteith

21-Jun-2010
10:57:01 AM

On 21/06/2010 EJ wrote:
>> I can't imagine there is much other limestone climbing in SA?
>
>I'm not aware of much climbable limestone in SA, but there is plenty of
>brittle unconsolidated choss.

I believe the cliffs along the Great Ocean Road are also supposedly 'limestone'. The stuff in Brachina Gorge was super solid and some is water polished when it was slabby, with none of that weird 'powder' that seems to coat much of Bungonia. It's not a super crag but if you enjoy mixing an interesting drive, a spot of camping and an afternoon of low stress climbing in the easier grades then this place is perfect.


rodw

21-Jun-2010
11:01:40 AM

Plenty of caves but little in the way of climbing. Underground tend to be shallow long caves or end in water sump pretty early...some of the caves definately worth a visit though Old Homestead Cave (30km of tunnel, bit of a maze so becarefull getting lost) and Abrakurrie cave (11km of tunnels, once through the small entrance like walking down a masive rock strewn train tunnel, has a small lake 1 mile in) and Weebubbe for a swim underground.

patto

21-Jun-2010
11:12:28 AM

On 21/06/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>On 21/06/2010 patto wrote:
>>Considering the way this is pitched as a geological time museum are you
>>sure the land managers would be happy?
>
>Trad climbing here would be very minimal impact and a major campground
>and road goes literally right past the cliffline (5m away at one point).
>Walkers don't seem to be restricted from exploring the caves and there
>is no signs saying keep off, no entry etc. The caves are full of goats
>anyway... :-)
>
>It's very unlikely I'll ever be back there (being its 1500km from home!)
>but I just thought maybe others (surely?) must have climbed here. I can't
>imagine there is much other limestone climbing in SA?

You are probably right. Just bringing up the point, not meaning to be a party pooper! :-)

I did some exploring of Edeowie Gorge at the end of Wilpena. There is alot of rock around that place that could be explored!

Check it out here:
http://tasmania.bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=2311
(not my write up)


nmonteith

21-Jun-2010
11:25:42 AM

RE: Nullabour Caves
How publicly accessible are these Rod? I've always wanted to go and check them out one day but i just presumed they would be locked and you would need to be a member of the Nulabour Masonic Society of Cave Divers or something to get entry.


davetheyounger

21-Jun-2010
8:03:47 PM

many years ago i was talking to Col Reece at bottom camp and he was quite animated about a limestone area nearby, maybe this is it. Lets face it if it is climbable and in SA Col has been there.

prb

22-Jun-2010
12:25:37 PM

nmonteith re Brachina Gorge:
>Surely this has been climbed before? Any more info? I didn't see any bolts but it certainly >looked like there was potential for short bolted wall and cave routes.

patto re Edeowie:
>I did some exploring of Edeowie Gorge at the end of Wilpena. There is alot of rock >around that place that could be explored!

There's a lot of rock in the Flinders, and much of it has been checked out by Colin Reece and others. But he kept coming back to Moonarie because it's the best there is. Climbing in national or conservation parks in SA is "legal" at four designated areas: Morialta, Onkaparinga, Waitpinga and Moonarie. Beyond that, it's a question of climbers' judgement as to the worth of a crag versus the risk of upsetting the authorities. In my view, bolting and/or publicizing routes in Brachina Gorge next to a popular tourist road would seriously threaten the good relationship we enjoy with the Flinders NP management. This would be one reason why long-term local activists (eg. Reece, Barker, Neagle, Witham, etc.) have mostly concentrated their efforts in the Moonarie area. Explore, take a rope, do some, err, "really steep bushwalking" in Brachina, Edeowie or a thousand other places, and have a good day as Neil did above. But I suggest leaving it at that in areas that aren't "legal".


nmonteith

22-Jun-2010
12:29:36 PM

Sounds like good advice PRB. I don't think the area I climbed should be bolted. Most of it can be done on trad - and the harder things are easily top-ropeable.

Moonarie certainly is a kick ass crag. I reckon its possibly the 2nd best 'crag' in Oz after Araps. (i'm talking about a single crag not an overall area, the Gramps has better climbing but way more spread out)

prb

22-Jun-2010
3:00:25 PM

Yeah, any crag has its own strengths and weaknesses, and Arapiles certainly has more areas and climbs. But the best climbs at Moonarie are the equal of anywhere; routes like Downwind, Against the Wind and Dry Land on The Great Wall for example.

I've always thought Devil's Peak near Quorn should get more visits. Good bouldering and really good single pitch climbs on mostly superb quartzite. But the walk up is probably a bit tougher than at Moonarie!


nmonteith

22-Jun-2010
3:16:06 PM

On 22/06/2010 prb wrote:
>Yeah, any crag has its own strengths and weaknesses, and Arapiles certainly
>has more areas and climbs. But the best climbs at Moonarie are the equal
>of anywhere; routes like Downwind, Against the Wind and Dry Land on The
>Great Wall for example.

I thought I was going to die on Dry Land last week. So many mirage horizontals with no holds and no gear! Superb route though... :-)

kieranl

22-Jun-2010
6:22:19 PM

On 22/06/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>I thought I was going to die on Dry Land last week. So many mirage horizontals
>with no holds and no gear! Superb route though... :-)
Glad someone else found it scary. I was climbing fairly well when I did it and I still felt pretty strung out for a long time. Full-value memories.


Chuck Norris

22-Jun-2010
8:28:12 PM

Was it mentioned in Neagles "Flinders" guide? My copy is in storage, but I am sure I've come across people talking of climbing there before (it may have been col or MarkW)

BTW the most likely person to rate that crag would be Nick, and he would have been 110% certain to write it up and publish it so if it isn't in his guide then who knows?

gdawg

28-Jun-2010
6:44:50 PM

On 21/06/2010 cruze wrote:
>Out of interest, is there any limestone climbing in the Nullarbor, either above or below ground?

I was looking over the cliffs along the Nullarbor at xmas past. Looks like some good, loosish, limestone seacliffs. Bring star pickets to rap in or anchor off your car (hand brake on).

gdawg

28-Jun-2010
6:52:29 PM

On 21/06/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>RE: Nullabour Caves
>How publicly accessible are these Rod? I've always wanted to go and check them out one day but i >just presumed they would be locked and you would need to be a member of the Nulabour Masonic >Society of Cave Divers or something to get entry.

The caves appear on 1:250k topo mapsheets. I was there at Christmas past. We were able to find most of the caves. Weebubbie is awesome for a swim on a hot summers drive (very close to Eucla). Ignore the big sign that says "closed to the public". The nearby abandoned repeater tower is a fun solo (great view from the top).


Goshen

2-Jul-2010
10:44:13 AM

On the subject of Limestone in the Flinders; I was there last year on a short outback trip, and did a walk down Chambers Gorge (about 2h or so NE of Wilpena). All limestone, and on the whole, a truly unimaginable pile of choss! On the way in was an 80m high wall in the gorge that did have a very nice looking line, steep, and perhaps even enough protection to avoid death - but that's a guess.

However, the main feature that grabbed the eye was a high cliff up on the range. Yes, a pain to get to - but it looked VERY good - especially at the left hand end, with some clean looking walls / corners / arete's. At least 30m high (the photo is fairly foreshortened). I certainly agree with the point that Moonarie is awesome, and why would you bother, but anyway, I just wanted to share :-)


nmonteith

2-Jul-2010
11:45:05 AM

ohhh that corner on the left looks awesome! Chambers was on my 'list' but I just ran out of time. The good thing about Chambers appears to be that it isn't a National Park or Aboriginal Reserve. The maps I have appear to mark it as private land, but with public access?

There are 22 messages in this topic.